All right, kids, the topic of today's story is powered wedges. I'll preface this with a small story. This test is a continuation of a small shootout that we did here at the shop a while back. The original shootout was between L-Acoustics, Turbosound, JBL VP and DAS powered wedges.
We used a Radian 12" wedge as a control since this was our primary wedge for several years. I won't bore you with the details of our little shootout except to say that at the end of the test the JBL VP 7212MDP was our clear winner.
Now onto today's test. This test is between the aforementioned (damn that's a big word, even for me) JBL wedge and the dBTechnologies DVX DM12. Now let us not confuse dBTechnologies with d&b audiotechnik. dBTechnologies is part of the RCF Group. A few weeks ago Mr. UPS shows up with a present, DVX DM12, with a little note that says, "please abuse." Since we already know that the JBL wedge was the clear winner in the last test, we will be testing the dB tech wedge against it.
We give a little spec to start off. The JBL wedge is a single 12" with a 1.5" horn, 50×90 dispersion, and mere 1,750 peak watts of Crown I-Tech power. A few other little gizmos would include an attenuator and switch to change the tuning if you are using multiple wedges. The dB is also a 12" with a 1.4" horn, 40×90 horn that is rotatable and 1,000 watts of power. Its gizmos, if you will, also include an attenuator and a switch. But this switch changes between a full range mode and a monitor mode, which is none more than a hi pass filter. The two modes and the rotatable horn are because the wedge also has a pole mount and can be used as a main speaker. Weight is very similar – the JBL weighs in at 45.5 lbs. while the dB tips the scales at 38.5 lbs. Slight advantage to dB. Max SPL for the JBL is 134dB while the dB is only 131dB. Slight advantage JBL. After all the tech mumbo jumbo, I'd say that they are pretty evenly matched. This is starting to sound like the weigh-in for the next major boxing event. I know you're probable bored to tears by now and saying, "get on to the test. For the love of all that's holy, which one wins?" And I will say to you easy, good things come to those who wait.
Enough of my mindless jabber. We will start with the JBL. First off, the thing gets ridiculously loud. As a monitor engineer, I will say the tuning right out of the gate is fairly flat. We listened to the wedge with a CD as well as with an Audix OM5. We could easily push the wedge to the limit of the amp without a whole lot of EQ correction on the mic. Again, I will say that we are testing these at near Spinal Tap levels. So as with our last test, the JBL is already an easy frontrunner in my mind. Next we will test the dB. We tested with the same CD and the same OM5. As we started to ramp up the volume on the CD we had to do a double take. The overall tone of the wedge was amazing, and it had a lot more fortitude in the you-know-where region than the JBL did. I was very rapidly becoming impressed with the dB wedge. Next, we moved on to the mic, and, as with the JBL, we could push it to limit without much correction. I will say that the dB had a little bit of a "bark" around 1kHz or so. But not near bad enough right it off. As we started to push the dB to the near Spinal Tap levels, we noticed that the low end started to taper off some and the advantage that it had at more moderate levels was replaced with what I would consider to be tie with the JBL.
On to durability. This test was conducted by letting a local club use them as DJ monitors. Up to this point, every powered anything that we have given as DJ monitor has come back to us in various states of disrepair. All that to say that most of the time they come home not working. I was pretty excited to see that when we received them back after the weekend, both wedges still worked. Based on my past experience, I would say both wedges passed with flying colors. At this point I cannot determine a clear winner. And I'm sad to say that at the end of this, you may not be able to declare the winner either. So we'll go ahead a wrap it up with a few closing thoughts.
The JBL name is tried and true and accepted as widely as American Express. It's durable, loud, and after all that, it sounds great too. I would say that its big disadvantage comes in the price. It sells in the range of $3,000. (That's a lot of shekels!) The dBTechnologies and RCF names, while respectable, may not be as "American Express" as JBL. The dB also seems very durable, super loud (and, let us not forget that at the moderate levels, this wedge sounds surprisingly better than the JBL), and its overall tone is nothing to be ashamed of. The biggest advantage to the dB is in price. It comes in at around $1,800. At those prices you could almost buy two for the price of one JBL.
Here's the reason I don't see a clear-cut winner. The JBL has the name. Not only does it have the name, but it has the tools to back it up. There are going to be some bigger soundcos that are going to buy it, even though it's more expensive, based solely on the name and its rider acceptability. The dB doesn't quite have the name that the JBL does, but it packs every bit of the punch. With this wedge, you are going to have smaller soundcos that will buy it based solely on price. Whether you are the large soundco going after the name brand or the smaller soundco trying to save yourself a buck or two, I don't think either of you will be disappointed. Of the 250 shows a year that I do, I would gladly use either of these wedges and be happy. And I believe the artists would be equally as happy, regardless of the name. I would urge you to give the small guy a try. You may be surprised at what you hear.
dBTechnologies DVX DM12 Stage Wedge
Pros: Durable, super loud, low price.
Cons: dBTechnologies and RCF names, while respectable, won't be on most riders.
How Much: $1,944 (MSRP)
