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Road Tests

Radial JDV Mk5 Direct Box

Radial JDV Mk5 Direct Box

How many times can you reinvent the wheel? A direct box may seem like a simple piece of gear — and some are, such as Radial’s acclaimed JDI line of passive direct boxes. But when active processing enters the picture, Radial has been known to break out of that “just a direct box” mold with some creative designs and features that redefine the modern direct box. In fact, Radial seems to do this on a regular basis and improves on it every time. The Mk5, the latest version (and fifth generation) of the company’s popular JDV active direct box, features some interesting and useful innovations that take it well beyond the norm.

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The BBR1MP, as tested has 24 channels of microphone preamplifiers on D-Sub 25 connectors. Shown here with control software running on an iPad and the optional 2-rackspace XLR breakout panel.

JoeCo BBR1MP Location Recorder

The first multi-track recorder I ever owned was a Tascam DA-88. In subsequent years, I used a lot of Tascam MX2424’s, Alesis HD24’s, and for the last six years or so, I’ve almost exclusively used DAW’s such as Pro Tools and Nuendo for live multi-track recording.

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The Reach system can be used singly or in pairs.

Mackie Reach

Mackie has long been an innovator in speaker technology. At NAMM 2015, Mackie debuted its FreePlay “Personal P.A.” system, a grab-and-go rig with an 8-inch woofer and two 1-inch compression drivers, 150 watts of amplification, onboard digital mixing with DSP, Bluetooth connectivity for music streaming and/or remote tablet/smartphone control and more. Now Mackie ups the ante with “Reach,” which expands its Personal P.A. line with a higher powered, more flexible speaker/mixer combination.

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The Roland M-5000 Digital Console offers numerous options for remote operations.

Roland M-5000 Digital Console

The digital console market is crowded in 2015. Every new console I encounter is better (and cheaper) than the last. Features that were previously only found on high-end mixing consoles are cropping up on sub-$30,000 boards left and right. It’s simply amazing how fast the market is moving, and how far prices have fallen in just a few short years.

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Lectrosonics SSM Super Slight Micro

Lectrosonics SSM Super Slight Micro

Lectrosonics, long a staple of the broadcast, film and theater industries, has introduced the SSM (Super Slight Micro) UHF beltpack transmitter. To say this thing is small is an understatement. It measures 2.52 by 1.48 by 0.57 inches and weighs only 2.3 ounces. And even referring to this a beltpack transmitter is somewhat of a misnomer, as it could easily be placed in hats, costumes or a performer’s wig. It’s the ideal solution in many film and theater applications — essentially, wherever you need to conceal that you are wearing a transmitter.

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The main KLANG:fabrik processor, front view

KLANG:fabrik – The Future of In-Ear Monitoring?

KLANG Technologies is small, up-and-coming company located in Aachen, Germany. I’ve spent the last month with its flagship product, the KLANG:fabrik, which is described on its website as “3D In-Ear Monitoring.” My first exposure to KLANG actually came by way of one of my students, who showed me the Fabrik online. At the time, I checked out KLANG’s website and watched one of their videos. I have to admit that when I first heard the term “3D In-Ear Monitoring,” it struck me as a clever marketing phrase, and I quickly dismissed the Fabrik as all hype. In retrospect, having now used the Fabrik for myself, I don’t think I really understood it at the time. Fabrik truly is one of those products that you have to hear to believe.

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The CPD 14 is a three-way design featuring two side-firing woofers, four cone mids and a 1.75-inch compression driver on a center-mounted HF waveguide.

KS Audio CPD 14

When I was asked to write a review of KS Audio’s CPD 14, I have to admit that I had never heard of the company before. In fact, most of my colleagues that I asked hadn’t heard of KS Audio either. I only found one person who knew the name KS Audio, and when I mentioned their name, his response was that they “make amazing studio monitors.” For a company that has been around for over 30 years, it seemed no one really knew much about them, so I spent the past few weeks getting familiar with their product line, including the speakers that I’ve reviewed here, the CPD 14.

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This series of two-channel models offer power ratings from 350 to 775 watts per channel (4 ohms) or 1,100 to 2,400 watts (4 ohms bridged).

Crown XLS DriveCore 2 Amplifiers

Once upon a time, old timers will remember when “one dollar per watt” was considered either the benchmark or goal of many amplifier designs. Well, thanks to switch-mode, Class-D technology, those days are long gone, and today’s models continue to improve on that, both in terms of increasing onboard DSP functionality and higher power levels in smaller, more lightweight packages.

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CAD Audio’s CAD Live D89 (left) and D90, with grilles on and off.

CAD Live D89 and D90 Microphones

CAD Audio has a long heritage in microphones. Its parent company, Astatic, began in 1931 as a supplier of crystal mics for radio applications, along with phonograph cartridges and recording heads, and many years later expanded into the commercial audio/installation market. Even today, many of Astatic’s vintage crystal mic models are still in use and prized by harmonica players.

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Acoustic instruments, percussion, cymbals and hi-hat are ideal sources for the M60 FET

Telefunken M60 FET: Small Diaphragm Condenser Microphones

It’s hard not to like Telefunken Elektroakustik. The U.S.-based company began years ago out of founder Toni Fishman’s love of wonderfully crafted European microphones. He was frustrated by a lack of replacement parts for classic mics, stemming from a vintage Telefunken ELA M 251 he owned, where the plastic ring for the polar pattern switch broke after decades of service, leaving the mic useless for want of a molded plastic part.

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The JBL SRx835 with front grill removed, showing component layout on the front baffle.

JBL Professional SRX835P Speakers

The new SRX800 line of active loudspeakers from JBL Professional was unveiled during Winter NAMM 2015. The series consists of the 12-inch, two-way SRX812P; the 15-inch two-way SRX815P; the three-way 15-inch SRX835P and single (SRX818SP) and double-18 (SRX828SP) subwoofers.

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