As I sit here contemplating this review, it occurred to me that I have been writing about Yamaha gear for over 15 years now. Not that this really matters for my DSR review, but, just as a reference point, I have seen a lot of innovation come out of Yamaha over the last decade and a half.
But I digress. Let's get on with the speakers at hand.
The Gear
Yamaha is offering us four speaker boxes in their DSR series. A 1×12 bi-amped two-way box, a 1×15 bi-amped two-way, a 2×15 bi-amped two-way box and an 18-inch subwoofer. The two-way boxes all use lightweight 1300W Class-D power amplifiers with switching power supplies. Each of these boxes dedicates 850W for the low end and 450W for the high frequencies.
The obvious advantage of using one power amp for all the two-way boxes is that Yamaha is saving money in research and development, tooling and production costs. A few different manufacturers take this approach to powering their boxes, and I think this is a great way to go.
The DSR sub-woofer uses an 800W power amp. Personally, I would have liked to see the 1300W amp used to power the sub, but I am not a design guy – I just like more power. Now the 1×12 and 1×15 boxes use neodymium magnets on their low frequency speakers and high frequency compression drivers. These two boxes weigh in at 46 lbs. and 61 lbs. They both sport fly points, and the 1×12 box can be used for mains or monitors. The 2×15 is not designed to fly and, of course, neither is the sub. Yamaha uses Ferrite magnets in their 2×15 and sub boxes. These magnets are heavier but less expensive. The 2×15 weighs in at 109 lbs. and the sub at 92 lbs. All the cabinets in this line are made of wood and covered with Line X coating. The smaller two cabinets have pole sockets, as does the sub. Yamaha does an excellent job in their finish work. Basically all the DSR series speakers have a polished, handsome look.
Let's take a look at the back panels of the DSR two-way speakers. From left to right, top to bottom we begin with an XLR and ¼" phone jack input and an XLR thru jack. Next we have a (red) peak indicator light, a volume control knob and a Mic/Line switch. Further to the right, we have a limiter light, protection system light and a power-on light. These lights are followed by a front LED on/off button, HPF (high pass filter) on/off button and a D-Contour (a multi-band dynamic processor with intelligent sensing) on/off switch. D-Contour is a basically a smart compressor.
The subwoofer panel is a little different. Yamaha starts with left/right XLR inputs and left/right XLR thru outputs. These are followed by a peak indicator light, level control knob and a polarity switch. Next, there is a limiter light, protection light, power on light and front LED on/off switch. Each DSR speaker box gets its AC power through a locking EIC cable and, of course, an on/off switch.
Before we get into any of the live shows, I want to talk a little about Yamaha's proprietary FIR-X tuning. All three DSR two-way models incorporate a digital crossover network using FIR filters (finite impulse response). FIR simultaneously optimizes frequency and phase response while adjusting the time alignment between the High Frequency and Low Frequency transducers. FIR claims better clarity and imaging than what is possible with traditional crossovers. Sounds good doesn't it? Would you like to know how well it works?
The Gigs
Yamaha gave me a pair of DSR112 speakers and a pair of DSR118W subs for my review efforts. My first date with the Yamahas was at a restaurant in Los Angeles. I was amplifying an acoustic trio made up of an acoustic guitar, bass, Cajon and two singers. The gig was too small to use the subs, so I used the DSR112 boxes mounted on stands for my mains. I was playing some programmed music before the show and decided to engage the D-Contour switch. This is a pretty cool feature. It will level out the overall mix a bit. It seemed to add a little to the clarity to the music I was playing.
Anyway, let's go on to the acoustic group. Every instrument and all the voices coming through the DSR boxes were beautifully clean and clear. I realize that there are other pieces of gear to consider in every mix. I was using an analog mixer and a dual 31-band analog graphic EQ. However, this is a small rig that I have used dozens of times, and the only difference was the addition of the DSR speakers. That said, this new rig just sounded better.
I had another outing with the DSR speakers. This time, I teamed up the subs with the 1×12 boxes. I was supplying sound reinforcement for a four-piece blues band consisting of a guitar/singer, bass/singer, drummer and a sax player. The subs were fat and tight but did not overpower the 1×12 speakers. Kick drum and bass got a lot of punch from the DSR subs.
In general, all the instruments sounded great through the system. My only complaint is that I could not really crank up the volume. I would love to hear these DSR series speakers at full tilt, just to get an experience of how hard they can be pushed. But, alas, I was in a small venue and high SPL was not an option.
At any rate, that was it for my DSR experiences, and I have to say that I really love these speakers. It sounded like Yamaha spent a lot of research and development dollars creating these speakers and their components. I think it will probably pay off big for them. Competition in the powered speaker market is pretty fierce, but I think that the DSR series speakers will make a place for themselves, simply because of their quality design and overall sound.
