Alto Professional Black Series

Whether aging a fine wine or tweaking a speaker design, good things often take a while to develop. During the InfoComm show back in 2012, I stopped by the Alto Professional booth and was taken aback by a preview of the company’s just-unveiled Black Series loudspeakers. I had been aware of Alto Professional since 2000, when the company was first launched. That young company had ambition and good ideas, but seemed unfocused and often embarked on products which, I suppose, had great appeal to overseas customers, yet weren’t always quite in sync with the needs of pro users in North America.

Under U.S. ownership since 2010, Alto Professional is now on track in delivering the right products to the market and, with the addition of noted designer Bernard Werner driving its engineering team, major changes are clearly afoot. A couple of recent results from this infusion have been the Truesonic line of molded-enclosure, powered speakers (which have been particularly strong in the M.I. market) and the Black Series, which just began shipping last month.

Basic Black

Alto Professional’s Black Series includes three active, biamplified 2-way systems with 10-, 12- or 15-inch woofers (Black 10, Black 12, and Black 15 loudspeakers; street-priced at $749, $849 and $949) and companion powered Black 15 Sub and Black 18 Sub 15- and 18-inch subwoofers ($1,099 and $1,199). Power for all the full range systems comes via Class-D amplification (800W continuous to the LF and 400W to the 1.75-inch diaphragm/1-inch exit HF compression driver), and cooling is passive convection — no fans! Thermal/clipping/overexcursion protection is standard, and a ground lift switch is provided. Onboard DSP provides active control over the EQ response, dynamic levels, and protection, with user selection of five EQ modes: flat, “smile” contour, 80 Hz HP filter, external LF and a custom user setting.

On all the full range speakers, the compression driver is mated to a custom waveguide with a 90° x 60° (H x V) dispersion. The all-wood enclosures are 15mm/18mm plywood covered in a black scratch-resistant finish, with black steel grilles. Recessed top and side handles ease transport. The five sided cabinets can be used upright or tilted 45° horizontal for monitoring. A standard 35mm socket supports pole mounting — either on stands or above the Black 15 Sub/Black 18 Sub. And the 12 M10 rigging points (provided for both the full range and subwoofer cabinets) offer ample options for flying applications.

None of the speakers are exactly lightweights. Between the ferrite LF and HF drivers, onboard electronics/amplifications and solid wood construction, the Black Series pack a noticeable heft. The Black 10 is 45.7 pounds; Black 12, 52 pounds; Black 15, 62.6 pounds; Black 15 Sub, 94 pounds; and the Black 18 Sub weighs in at 104.7 pounds.

Getting In

Along the base of the large (and effective) heatsinks on the side of each 2-way system is the input/output and control panel. An onboard mixer has two balanced combo XLR/TRS (one switchable to line/mic level, the other line-only) with rotary level controls, an XLR output (switchable for pre/post the input mix), the five DSP mode switches, Live Drive on/off, front power LED on/off (for discreet applications), ground lift switch and AC power switch with IEC connector. While we’re on the subject of AC power, the speakers will operate at 100 to 240 VAC, and as a surprise, the Black Series each ship with a 10-foot detachable AC cable, which can easily reach a floor receptacle when the speaker is pole mounted. Bravo!

The Low, Low Down

Certainly optional, but a nice touch, are the complementary Black 15 Sub and Black 18 Sub, also carrying 1,200W continuous/2,400W peak of onboard Class-D power. Like the 2-way speakers, the subwoofers can also be controlled via the Live Drive wireless app, and its built-in stereo crossover offers a choice of five crossover points — custom/80/100/120/140 Hz (with bypass), along with an input level control, polarity and ground lift switches, stereo combo XLR/TRS inputs, XLR outputs, Bluetooth defeat, AC switch and 10-foot IEC cable.

Going Wireless

Supporting the entire line is the Alto Live Drive, a free iOS speaker calibration app for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch that can wirelessly access the speakers’ onboard DSP, allowing remote control for level matching, equalization, delay, muting, metering, HP filter, polarity, metering and more. The app is convenient, fast and easy to use, and even minor tweaks — like individual speaker muting — are highly useful during system setups, while delay is ideal for aligning subwoofer-to-main distances or creating delay times on rear speakers. No network is required — your password-protected iOS (6.1 or higher) device connects directly with the Black Series via 2.4 GHz Bluetooth 2.0 from up to 25 meters away within line of sight. The subs can easily be set to operate in multiple configurations — single sub with two tops, stereo subs/stereo tops, etc.

The iPad only supports control of three simultaneous devices (a limitation of the iOS platform) — say a stereo speaker pair and a single subwoofer. However, two (or more) Black Series subwoofers could be daisy-chained from a mono sub, with the DSP in the first in the chain controlling all the rest, offering full wireless control over a large configuration, and the same could apply to creating arrays with multiple top cabinets.

Out and About

Over a month and a half, I had the chance to check out a Black Series system, both with two Black 18 Subs and with two Black 12 full range boxes, in a variety of settings, ranging from smaller and medium venues to a fairly large (800-seat) church environment. The subs were pretty much what I expected, providing ample amounts of tight, solid bass that fused seamlessly with the tops. Here the muting and level functions of the iOS app were invaluable, especially instantly muting the rest of the system while A/B’ing and focusing on different settings and easily being able to remotely tweak levels. The Black 12’s seemed perfectly suited to the 18 subs and given the similar design parameters, I’d imagine two Black 10’s (which were backordered and unavailable during this review) and a couple Black 15 Sub boxes would make a nice pairing as well.

ALTO DEMOS THE BLACK SERIES AT INFOCOMM (Note: the Black Series’ wireless stereo AUDIO streaming function mentioned in the video was never implemented, but later became the outboard Alto Stealth wireless system, which works with any powered speaker)

As I mentioned earlier, I appreciated the long IEC power cables for hookups, but sorry to say, I’m not a fan of non-recessed switches/controls on the back of the Black Series (and many other) speakers, where they could be inadvertently bumped to the wrong setting during setup. But that aside, I had no other complaints about the Black Series. I was impressed with the HF waveguide design, which provided smooth, even coverage, even at the dreaded off-axis point, where the tail-off was silky with no harshness at all. And used alone (without a sub), the 12S delivered a rock-solid bottom down to 50 Hz with an undetectable crossover point and a linear top-end to 15k Hz and well beyond. And loud? No problem in that department.

When I first received these Black Series speakers, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but having the opportunity to check them out in detail in a variety of situations, their high power, smooth response and wireless control set these apart from the rest — definitely!

At a Glance

Alto Professional Black Series

A new line of active speakers for portable P.A. applications offer wireless iOS control, high SPL’s and linear, even coverage.

Pros: Smooth response; high power; versatile wireless control.

Cons: Somewhat heavy; non-recessed controls easily bumped during setup.