Audio-Technica ATH-PRO700 SV Headphones
By Rob Orlinick
Last week, I was given the task of dubbing some appropriate walk-in music for some upcoming shows (don't ask!). After setting up a dubbing station, I grabbed a set of headphones that were sitting out in the office.
On the first disc was some old Motown stuff. When I slipped on the cans, there were parts in the arrangement I had never noticed before in the thousand or so times I heard the number–a secondary rhythm guitar part, percussion fills–that caused me to stop and listen to the entire track! The next disc was a 1970s R&B compilation. The same thing happened–details in the music came out. Reverb tails on the vocals, harmonics on the strings and more. I asked the company owner what the deal was with these headphones. When he told me they were here for evaluation, I immediately volunteered. Audio-Technica has always been a "we try harder" company. Their products have always held their own in side-by-side comparisons. For some strange reason, they never seem to get their fair share of the market.
The Gear
The PRO700 SVs are solidly built, with a single side exit coiled cable and ear cups that swivel for single ear use. Audio-Technica calls these "DJ" headphones on the box–a fact that might well make engineers and audiophiles steer clear of this product if buying blind (without the aid of an audition or listening station). These are no "boom/sizzlers"! While the PRO700 SVs are not the most comfortable set of phones I have used, they are certainly not uncomfortable, and proved unobtrusive over a couple of hours of listening. Aesthetically, they bear an uncanny resemblance to the much acclaimed Ultrasones. This similarity is likely not accidental.
I took the PRO700 SVs home and went through several genres of music–from acoustic jazz to metal and back. The PRO700 SVs have a stated frequency response of 5 to 33,000Hz. They exhibited excellent tonality–reaching the bottom octaves well, with no mud or woofiness. The mids were detailed and not boxy. The highs were clear, and not excessively crisp or metallic (which is my complaint with one of the more popular reference headphones often found traveling with engineers).
To determine their road-worthiness, the mandatory gravity check was performed. The PRO700 SVs were dropped on to a tile floor from around 6 feet with no apparent damage. As a further test, I gave them to my 18-month-old son, Jake. With a 6-foot-3-inch father, and a 5-foot-10-inch mother, Jake has been described as a cross between the Tasmanian Devil and Bam Bam Rubble. Jake listened for 30 seconds or so, and then he decided to take the phones to another room. After losing a nice tug-of-war with the cable, and a few attempts to smash the headphones in frustration, Jake decided to focus his path of destruction elsewhere. These headphones passed the abuse test.
The Gig
I took the PRO700 SVs out to a particularly hostile environment–a temporary venue called the Pavilion. The Pavilion is a tent with noisy air handlers, the constant chatter of intelligent lights and the sounds of the elements working on the tent itself. As an added bonus, two bartenders were setting up camp within easy earshot of Front of House.
On top of this (here comes a pet peeve), precious few console companies provide a way to time-align the monitors or headphones to the mains, creating a time smear when soloing.
With their 53 mm drivers featuring efficient neodymium magnets (105dB/mw sensitivity) and low impedance (36 Ohms), it didn't take much giddy-up from the console's headphone out to bring the PRO700 SVs to a comfortable level. Again, the detail was impressive. You could hear a slight squeak from the kick drum's beater pedal. The inevitable noise and slight hum from a tube guitar amp was easily audible. When the whole band was cooking, the closed back design of the PRO700 SVs provided more than adequate isolation of the channel that was soloed. If the PRO700 SVs behaved well in the Pavilion, I can confidentially conclude that they would shine in the cozy, comfortable controlled situation of the studio.
Over the years, I have amassed quite a collection of 'phones–electrostats from my college "hi-fi tweak" days; some wellworn industry standards used to archive classical performances direct to two-track; a wireless set to listen to music while doing mundane household chores; a set of "Walkman"portable headphones with decent bass response (hard to find, but they exist) and a pair of ear buds for monitor gigs and maximum portability. My old pair of reference cans disappeared from the FOH console at a festival gig a couple years ago. With a reasonable list price of $279, I may just have found their replacements!
What it is: Closed-back headphones for DJs or PFL monitoring.
Who it's for: Anyone who needs to hear what's coming through the console before it hits the speakers.
Pros: Lightweight, built to take abuse, good sound, reasonably priced.
Cons: Could be more comfortable.
How much: $279 list price.
Mackie TT24 Digital Live Console
By Steve La Cerra
When I heard that Mackie would be sending me a TT24 to review, I got excited. Not just because I'm a recovering gearaholic, but because I.d be able to put it through the paces while mixing shows for Blue Öyster Cult. As fate would have it, the desk showed up the night before the first show, giving me a half-hour to learn the nuts and bolts before I.d go live with it. Trés Bleeding Edge.
The Gear
Mackie's TT24 is a medium-format digital mixing console intended for live production. A compact footprint (42 by 25 inches) means it will be at home in concert venues, houses of worship, clubs and theatres. Although all routing and processing occurs in the digital domain, the TT24 includes comprehensive analog I/O. A look at the rear panel reveals 24 balanced analog XLR mic/TRS line inputs, TRS insert (tip=send, ring=return), eight balanced TRS line in/effects returns, and two pairs of two-track returns (TRS balanced and RCA unbalanced). Twelve aux sends appear on balanced TRS outs, while XLRs are provided for three main outs (left, right and center) as well as eight group/matrix outs. TRS monitor out jacks (L/C/R) facilitate connection of local monitors or cue wedges.
The TT24 also features 24 channels of Lightpipe I/O plus stereo SPDIF and AES digital I/O. Sample rates of 44.1, 48, 88.2 and 96KHz are supported via internal or external (word) clock; when running high-res rates, the digital I/O is halved, but the analog I/O is retained. An assortment of expansion cards provide full DSP on the digital channels (UFXII), add loudspeaker DSP developed by Lake Technology (LP48) and provides 32×32 channels of balanced XLR I/O (DS3232 Digital Snake) with U100 Networking Card via Cat5 cable.
Each of 24 channel "strips" has a motorized 100mm fader, assignable V-Pot encoder, mute, solo and select switches (one of our "select" switches was actually labeled "mute"). These 24 strips control 96 channels arranged in four banks. The mic/line channels (bank 1) are the "money channels" with mic/line and 48-volt phantom power switches, input trim control, LED metering, onboard DSP (dynamics, four-band parametric EQ, HPF, polarity reverse, digital trim) and access to 12 aux sends and 11 audio outs (eight groups plus L/C/R). The digital inputs (bank 2) and effect returns (bank 3) are stripped of dynamics, EQ and filters unless you add the UFXII card, while the line inputs (also bank 3) provide EQ only–sufficient for effect returns or stereo sources. When using the TT24 without the UFXII, you have the choice of putting the full-blown DSP on the analog or digital input bank.
The Gigs
The TT24 adheres to the concept of "select a channel and use one set of controls to adjust." The QuickMix section dedicates buttons to various functions such as Fat Channel, EQ, Group/Aux and Dynamics. Pressing Fat Channel displays an overview of the selected channel on the touch screen. What's really cool is that to access a channel function, you tap it onscreen, which opens another window dedicated to that function. For example, tap the EQ curve and the EQ controls open with the rotary controls underneath the touchscreen set up for EQ parameters. Mackie did their homework on the EQ, which is smooth and can yield either surgical or broad, gentle changes. Carving the midrange out of a kick mic (Sennheiser 421) was easy and effective, while adding low shelf and high shelf boosts to a pair of drum overhead mics turned them from OK into excellent (sparkly without being harsh).
Pressing Dyn in the QuickMix section calls up basic controls for the expander/ gate and compressor/limiter. Touching the gate or comp graph takes you deeper into the respective processor. The gate and comp are very effective, though the comp dulls the high end a hair (more apparent in headphones than through the P.A. system). If you crank the ratio on the comp, you can get that dbx 160 "POP." The gates sound good (or more accurately they don't sound like anything), and they don't click at borderline settings like gates sometimes do. I didn't like the fact that the gain reduction meters show gain reduction even when a gate or comp is bypassed.
The rotary encoders in the QuickMix section have touchy ballistics. You'll either be stepping slowly all day or–if you turn the encoder quickly–overshoot the target value by a mile. Trying to pan a sound to dead center via V-Pot was similarly frustrating, but the V-Pot ballistics are adjustable. A better way to return a sound to center is pressing the Ctrl button and touching the V-Pot–which instantly returns the pan to dead center. In fact, holding Ctrl and turning any encoder resets that parameter to default value.
The L/R Fat Channel provides access to settings for the L/R and Center masters, which may be linked (we'd like the ability to offset the center fader from the L/R masters). In addition to four-band parametric with two kill filters (6, 12 or 18dB/ octave slope), a 31-band graphic EQ and a compressor may be inserted to the masters. This comp can be pre- or post-master fader, enabling it to be used for system protection, but it is always post-EQ, which is probably a good idea.
The TT24 allows individual pre/post fader configuration of every aux on every channel, but I'd prefer a way to globally set a send pre or post. The Fat Channel screen displays the word "pre" for a prefader aux, but displays a blank box for a post-fader aux. This is contradicted by the Aux/Grp page where the indicator spells out "pre" or "post," and the TTControl Software screen, which lights up "pre" or darkens the button for post. Consistency would be appreciated.
"Aux Mode" readies the TT24 for monitor duty, configuring the channel faders for aux send level, and group faders as aux masters. In addition to four-band parametric EQ, each aux master has two kill filters and a compressor, so there's really no need for outboard processing. Adjacent sends may be linked for stereo and talkback may be routed to any of the aux or matrix outs. Auxes 9 through 12 are "normalled" to four onboard stereo effect processors with room, hall, gated and ambient reverbs, mono and stereo delays, flange and chorus algorithms. These effects are not just an afterthought: They sound great, with realistic room simulations and smooth reverb tails.
One of the amazing strengths of the TT24 is the ability to individually configure the eight groups into any one of three types: mono audio, stereo audio or VCA. Although the group faders are organized in two banks of four (1-4, 5-8), access requires simply pushing the group select button. DSP to the groups (four-band parametric and comp limiter) is user-assigned and limited to eight "blocks" (one block per mono audio path). An 8×8 matrix assigns any group to any matrix with control over level and signal delay (up to 600 mS) for easy time-alignment of remote speakers. Delay time may be entered as feet, and Mackie even provides temperature compensation (!).
The TT24 connects to a PC via USB to work in conjunction with TTControl software. "PC Auto Follow" enables the desk to reflect changes made in the software and vice-versa. Snapshot automation allows you to build, name, store and recall 99 scenes with a variety of filtering options. Recall takes about a second, so if you plan to recall scenes for different sections of a song, you'll have to anticipate the timing. Channel, EQ and dynamics settings may be stored or recalled via library. Unfortunately, Mackie does not supply any factory presets so you'll have to build your own–including a "zero'd" channel for reset. If you want to name a preset, you'll need to do so on the PC, because storing in the TT24 precludes naming presets of any type. Copy/paste may be applied to the entire channel, or just EQ, dynamics or aux settings (though you'll get no confirmation that the paste was executed).
A Venue preset stores all of the utility and matrix settings such as group delays, talkback assignment and onboard oscillator settings, a feature which will be invaluable for regional sound companies that service multiple venues on recurring basis.
My minor gripes against the TT24 are in regards to the TTControl software. TTControl runs only under Windows 2000 or XP, so Mac users are out in the cold. When you "clear" a snapshot, you are clearing only the name and register, not the channel settings –so there's no way to reset the desk until you create your own reset channel or scene. A software CD shipped with my TT24 included the wrong version of TTControl for the firmware in the desk, and it did not include any full-length owner's manual. There's a hard copy quick start guide and a PDF quick start guide on the CD, but I had to download the full-length manual.
Minor software gripes aside, Mackie has created another excellent tool. The TT24 sounds great–clean and clear but not harsh, and the mic pre's kick-butt. I'm not a huge fan of the "select a channel and adjust its parameters," but the TT24 makes this pretty painless, and by the end of the first show, I was flying between layers, tweaking EQ and dynamics parameters as if I'd been using it for years. If you're looking for a live desk, you need to test-drive the TT24.
What it is: 60-input automated digital mixing console with analog and digital audio I/O.
Who it's for: Clubs, theatres, houses of worship, touring sound companies.
Pros: Excellent audio quality, flexible routing, USB port.
Cons: TTControl software available for PC only, some annoying software quirks.
How much: TT24: $7,199; UFXII card: $899; U100 card: $899; LP48 Lake DSP card: TBD.
SLS Audio PLS8695 Powered Line Array
By Mark Amundson
From the moment I opened the packaging, I thought, "Who updated the Shure Vocalmaster?" But after listening to the SLS PLS8695 powered line source array, I knew that I had not just gone back in time.
The Gear
Measuring 55.5 by 11.5 by 12 inches and weighing 110 pounds, the PLS8695's skinny format comes from its vertical array of eight 6.5-inch low-frequency drivers and nine ribbon high-frequency drivers. Of course, the Superior Listening Systems (SLS) designers did not stop at nice drivers and line array theory; driving the PLS8695 is an internal DSP preamp driving two large amplifiers for each frequency band. Crossed over at 1.5KHz, a 1,000-watt amplifier pushes the 6.5-inch drivers, and a 500-watt amplifier for the ribbon drivers. This is not too far away from the mids and highs power I use for my conventional passive top boxes. But the calculated 130dB SPL peak (at one meter) rating does indicate that conventional loudness measuring methods are not going to be useful in a line array. With an efficiency rating in the range of 93dB, it's tempting to say that the PL8695 makes a better space heater than a loudspeaker. However, given the "line array effect" (remember SPL on a line array drops off at 3dB per doubling of distance rather than the 6dB of a more traditional cabinet), the lack of efficiency is less noticeable as you move away from the speaker.
Looking at the other important speci- fications–the 80Hz to 20KHz frequency response and 120º horizontal coverage were verified by my testing with pink noise and using Smaart for data recording. The vertical dispersion is pretty much confined to the height of the array, with frequencies above 8KHz rolling off as the RTA mic got inches above or below the array. Within the coverage of the SLS PLS8695, I got a very flat response from 90Hz to 18KHz before I had a dB of rolloff. This is a testament to good drivers, good box design and good DSP tweaking to conceal any remaining acoustic warts.
The Gigs
The back of the SLS PLS8695 has a racker power on/off switch, Neutrik Powercon in and out connectors and XLR signal in and out connectors. Besides a detented level control, four LEDs are included for power, signal, clip and protect status. Also, an 80Hz high-pass filter switch and multi-pin DSP programming jack are included for install tweaking. Using the two handles to muscle around the line-array column, one has to keep reminding yourself that the PLS8695 is 110 pounds and very tippy. So ground-stacking at gigs has to be carefully rigged for the right height, and to prevent the column from falling on out-ofcontrol dancers.
I took the PLS8695 out for some club action, and found that the extended high frequency range is well worth the two-man lift and rigging. In critical listening with CD source material that emphasizes wide frequency and dynamic range, the PLS8695 lives up to expectations of what ribbons and line-array design can do for a room. Taking a walk around the room, the coverage was excellent and the high frequencies got compliments from the patrons for the "hifi" sound.
Looking for niggles, I would say the weight tops the list with not much else to grumble about once you understand that a line array can not be shaped any other way. The black cabinetry and grille fit right in with expectations for portable sound equipment, and cranking things up did not present me with any worrisome distortion on the high frequencies. However, I do believe the PLS8695 will work best when used as an install top box for small to medium size venues instead of an in-and-out cabinet for small sound companies.
What it is: Self-powered line array cabinet.
Who it's for: Professional sound companies needing one or two top arrays per side that are plug-and-play.
Pros: Great sounding, flat frequency response, wide horizontal dispersion.
Cons: Top-heavy
How much: PLS8695 $5,775 SRP
