Dynacord Xa System
When I first reviewed the Dynacord Cobra Speaker System, the product literally fit the definition of the European over-designed "Uber-system" with a price tag to match. While many Cobra systems were sold, a number of potential customers could not make the investment, even with its plug and play abilities. So the Dynacord Xa Speaker now comes along to address the market's desire for a cost-sensitive, plug and play speaker system at home with corporate gigs, DJ-work, and live music performances. I received the basic Xa system with two FX12 top box speaker cabinets, four FX20 horn-loaded subwoofer speaker cabinets, two Xa4000 intelligent power amplifiers, and six 4-conductor Speakon patch cables. All that is left to the user is racking up the amplifiers and stowing the cables until the next gig. Each speaker cabinet is about 105 pounds (48 kilograms) and has permanently attached blue 4-inch castors on the cabinet rear side for roll-and-go loading. Each amplifier is 18.2 pounds (8.25 kilograms) of two rackspace power to drive all six cabinets to continuous power ratings. The speaker cabinets can be ground-stacked or flown with a minimum of external rigging.
The Gear
The Dynacord FX12 top box speakers are a lesson in lightweight but durable construction– 15 mm Poplar plywood covered in black carpeting the cube-like cabinet measures 23.6 x 24 x 32 inches. The rear corners of the FX12 are notched to permit proper splay angles when used in clusters. Behind the foam and steel grill is a 12-inch mid-frequency driver in a conical horn loaded configuration. For high frequencies, a 1.4-inch throat high-frequency driver feeds 80 by 40 degree constant-Q horn and is centered in front of the mid conical horn. Both drivers are Electro-Voice's latest and greatest neo-dymium models with the N12 handling 100Hz to 1kHz duty, and the ND6 on the other end of the passive crossover handling everything above 1kHz. Extensive voice-coil tracking and protection circuits make driver destruction unlikely.
Specification-wise, each FX12 has a nominal impedance of 8-ohms and a 700- watt program power handling capability. Because of the horn loading, both drivers are matched up for an impressive 106dB SPL sensitivity at one-watt and can max-out at 134dB SPL. And that is why you only need one box per coverage zone. The back of the cabinet has two paralleled NL4 Speakon jacks that switch +/-1 and +/-2 pairs to the FX12 drivers. In the Xa "system" the +/-2 pair is used for the FX12 tops and +/-1 for the FX20 subs. The "normal" position of the switch places the +/-1 wire pair to the FX12 drivers for individual cabling to any amplifier.
The FX20 subwoofer cabinets have all the standard build quality of the FX12 tops, but with a touch more height at 24 x 35.6 x 32 inches each. Within the FX20 subs are a single Electro-Voice EVX-180B low-frequency driver in a folded horn (planar waveguide) configuration. Part of keeping up with 106dB SPL sensitivity of the FX12 requires the efficient horn loading for 101dB per FX20 cabinet from 40Hz to 150Hz, and doubling cabinets for 104dB coupling and hoping for a little half-space floor reflection help.
Also at 8-ohms per cabinet impedance, the other FX20 specifications have -10dB frequency response at 30Hz to 150Hz. Each EVX-180B driver in cabinet handles 1200 watts program power for up to 132dB peak SPL capability. The rear of the FX20 cabinet is just two NL4 Speakons wired through, with the +/-1 pair connected to the Voice Coil Tracking protection circuits and on to the driver.
The Xa4000 is a specialized version of a lot of newly designed Dynacord amplifiers featuring small and lightweight cosmetics and Class H amplifiers for high efficiency. Each Xa4000 amplifier has one XLR input and three NL4 jacks for either separate channel drives, or one system drive jack. The amplifiers have a 140Hz 18dB/octave crossover up front for 1100 watts at 4-ohms subwoofer power, and 900 watts at 4-ohms top box drive. Although set up for full-on usage, the Xa4000 amplifier has separate level controls for each channel. At full-up, a 0dBu signal will drive the amplifiers to full output.
The Xa4000 amplifier sections have greater than 300 damping factor at the outputs, and less than 0.05% THD at rated output power from 10Hz to 50kHz. At 1/8 power continuous and 4-ohm loads, the Xa4000 consumes a modest 850 watts, making a pair of Xa4000 play together nicely on one 120VAC, 20 Ampere circuit with lots of headroom. For me the two rackspace design with black cosmetics, plus emphasis on light weight and efficiency, makes the Xa4000 a near perfect amplifier.
The Gigs
Taking the Dynacord Xa Speaker System to the bars, the speaker stacks are visually impressive, but require a second person to heft the top box above the sub cabinets. While I am not a fan of wide throw (80 degree) top speakers, careful rotation of the stacks a little inward kept the sound from bouncing off wooden walls of some of the narrower venues. The basic Xa system had enough snort for medium clubs at loud sound pressure levels, but I would have to add more cabinets and amplifiers for outdoor gigs. A reminder that top box focusing software with EASE data is also available, for permanent installs and clustered coverage events.
Ever looking for niggles, the minor ones were the front to rear airflow of the amplifiers (I prefer rear to front), and the cabinets were cubic enough that one-man stacking and lifting 105-pounds could ruin your spine unless you are a perfect roadie (6'-4", 250 lbs.) with very good back muscles. If I were to improve something on the XA system, I would look to beef up the amplifier power outputs by double on the subs, and a touch more on the tops. But overall the Dynacord Xa Speaker System is pretty enough to do corporate work, and has enough snort for rock n' roll jams.
Mackie SA1532z-Active Loudspeaker System
For a few years now, Mackie has been building some very good powered speaker systems, and other great gear for that matter. But most of us working in the pro sound environment know that Mackie does not show up on many riders. Most of us know that Mackie owns EAW (if you didn't know, now you do). Actually, in corporatespeak, both companies are divisions of Loud Technologies but anyone who has been paying attention remembers that Mackie bought EAW long before Loud existed. Regardless, I think we can all agree is that EAW is rider-friendly at most gig levels. Also, Mackie has their entire SA speaker system line tuned by the EAW loudspeaker team. So what am I leading to, you may be asking yourself?
Here it is. Mackie and EAW have created a very good speaker product, so why not call it Mackie/EAW or paste the EAW logo on the Mackie enclosure somewhere? Look, I'm not a marketing guy and I may be looking at this in a very simplistic manner, but I know that the EAW logo would help get Mackie speakers on more gigs. Anyway, I had to get this off my chest before I could get on with writing this gear review.
The Gear
The SA1532z is a 3-way powered speaker system. It features two 15-inch woofers, one 6-inch neodymium mid-range horn loaded transducer and a 1.75-inch neodymium compression driver. A 1300-watt power module made up of three separate power amplifiers drives the components. 100 watts for high frequencies, 100 watts for mid-frequencies and 1100 watts for the lows. Electronic crossovers, limiting and time alignment are on board. The box is a trapezoidal design built out of 13-ply Baltic birch, wrapped in a PVC vinyl. There are super-duty resin end caps top and bottom with built-in handles. Of course there are regular handles, one on each side and a metal grill cover.
The box is 50-inches high, 18.1-inches deep, 19.1-inches front width and 13.9- inches rear width. The whole package weighs in at 132 pounds and is designed for floor mount only. That means it's not suitable for flying. The interesting thing here is this box is the same size and uses the same 1300- watt power module as the SA1232z box. This Mackie system utilizes two 12-inch woofers rather than two 15-inch and is also tuned by the EAW acoustic loudspeaker team. I have owned a pair of the 1232's for the last two or three years and they have served me well and they are a good reference for my live review. Speaking of reviews, let's go to the shows
The Gigs
I had two successful outings with the SA1532z speakers. The first was supplying sound for the Dave Waklin Band (Dave is the voice of the English Beat). The band was playing a party for about 150 people, so I opted not to use subs. However, I have a pair of Mackie SWA-1801 subs and I recommend using these subs with the 1532s if you plan on serving 200 to 500 bodies or more. Back to the show: I really didn't expect to be sending so many inputs through the Mackies. I started with a drummer that insisted on miking every piece of his drum set. I had mics on the kick, two snares, hat, overheads, two rack toms and two floor toms. The guy was a heavy hitter and his drums sounded like old trashcans. That was my first challenge.
Second, Dave sent me eight channels of ADAT, which he used to provide a bass track and fill in the band. Dave plays guitar, has a second guitar, a sax and a keyboard player–plus four back-up vocals and Dave's voice on top. Do the math and you get 25 inputs into two Mackie speakers. I was very happy and relieved that the boxes handled the entire barrage of frequencies with clarity and power. Granted, I was mixing through a great board with great outboard gear, but everything ended up exiting the Mackies and entering the partiers' ears. The 1532s did their job and the evening was a grand success.
Next up was a two-day street event for the city of Monterey Park, CA. This time out I took the subs and set up for an audience of 100 to 500 roughly. I had everything on my stage from government speakers to rock bands to karaoke to magicians. On-axis sound was very good but off-axis was also surprisingly clear and traveled well.
I have supplied sound for this type of event many times using my Mackie SA1232z speakers and the SA1532s outperformed them hands down. The 1532s cost about $100 more per box than the 1232s and considering the performance jump, I don't see why you would buy anything but the 1532s. I realize that this is not a Mackie shoot-out but since I have had the opportunity to use both models, I'm compelled to make the comparison. At any rate, the SA1532z speakers sound great; they're versatile and very easy to setup. They are ideally suited for a small sound company or band and possibly an install situation where flying is not desired. Which of course begs the question: When will Mackie come out with a powered line array?
Sabine Navigator
Remember back when you had audio gear and each box did one thing? It was an EQ or a crossover or a compressor or whatever, but it was one box that did one thing. As we went digital, functions started to combine, and maybe you would get an EQ and crossover in the same box. As DSP has gotten cheaper and more powerful, more functions have been crowded into each box, and we now have a whole generation of boxes that are called "system management" or "speaker controllers" that do what used to take a whole rack to accomplish. The Navigator is Sabine's entry in to this fray.
The Gear
The Sabine Navigator is a loudspeaker controller but it ups the "how many functions can one box perform" ante by including a matrix mixer in a small but powerful package. The single rack space unit comes in 3 x 6, 4 x 8 and 8 x 8 configurations with a number of control options. You can control it via the front panel, use the included control software and hook it up to a laptop via an RS-323 port, or, for an extra two bills, an Ethernet connection is available, meaning you can control it from anywhere in the world. (That last one leaves us with the vision of a sound guy with a TV remote in one hand and a mouse in the other tuning a system from his living room while watching reruns of X-Files. Not a pretty picture, but the idea of off-site control is pretty cool.)
Before we get into the Navigator, an admission is due: In the past year or so I have been working with a company that has given me the chance to work with just about every system controller out there, ranging from units that run for about a grand, all the way up to the biggest, baddest, most expensive stuff out there. So I have become something of a system controller snob. The Navigator was going to have to work hard to impress me.
On the front of the unit is a good-sized LCD screen, navigation buttons with a scroll wheel and input/output meters. Below every input and output there is a mute and menu button. I usually use XTA controllers and found both the layout and operation to be very similar to the box I usually use. The back panel is pretty straight forward. XLR ins and XLR outs, an RS-232 port and an optional Ethernet port. There's also a fused power switch with a voltage selector.
I'm not one to dig through manuals and I didn't have to very much with the Navigator. It was very straight forward and user friendly. To get started there is a system configuration menu. You select where you want the inputs and outputs to go. Since it is a matrix mixer, you can go into each output and select which and how much of each input goes to that output. Sweet.
Every input and output has 6 bands of EQ. It shows octave band Q bandwidths, and is selectable between fully parametric, hi-shelf and lo-shelf. Each output has a crossover page too. It does Bessel, Butterworth, and Linkwitz-Riley types at a -6db to -48db per octave slopes. Lots and lots of choices here. It also has a compressor/limiter on every output. It also has the classic Sabine feedback suppression built in on every input.
One problem, though, is that there is no threshold light or gain reduction indicator on the front panel. I would have liked to have seen a brickwall limiter too.
The Gig
When I try new gear out I like to see how big of a pop it will make if you turn it off while the amps are still on. So I turned my amps down to save the drivers from what I was sure would be a good-sized thump, closed my eyes, and flicked the switch. NOTHING! I turned my amps up all the way and tried again. Same thing! I couldn't get it to pop at all when I shut it off. Those who do club work with crappy power will love this unit just for that I loved the software too. Very straightforward, and once again, no manual needed. I love it! For those of us who hate sitting in the hot shop with broken air conditioning, writing programs can be done at home. Just connect, upload, and you're done!
I used this unit in a 4 mix monitor amp rack at a local club. I swapped it with the old fashioned TDM crossover I had in the rack. It looked good, sounded good, and had a good amount of headroom. At the show I wanted to make a couple of changes internally. It was fast and easy to access everything I needed.
Sabine may not be the first name on the rider, but system control is an area where the sound company still has some wiggle room, and the Navigator can definitely play with the big boys. If you are looking for system control and like the idea of throwing matrix mixing and feedback suppression into the mix, the Navigator is worth checking out.
Avlex Pink Stick
Sometimes the gear is so simple that it's hard to write about.
What is it? At first glance it could be an XLR/TRS adapter–a four and a half inch long tube with a male XLR on one end. But instead of a female TRS on the other end there is a dial labeled "Pink Noise," "1 Khz" and "Pulse," with a setting marked "Mute" between each of those. Plug it into a console channel and fire up the phantom power and–voila–instant test-tone generator. Output is all balanced mic level (pink noise @ -14dBu, 1 kHz @ -4.5dBu and pulse @ -29dBu). No level control or anything else to muck it up.
So what do you say about it? It fits in your briefcase. It's cheap ($49 street) and it works. Go buy one.
