Members sillyspider Posted April 16, 2014 Members Share Posted April 16, 2014 I don't know if any of you remember me, I used to go by the moniker "silleespyder" back in the days of agedhorse, tlbonehead and abzurd... who appears to still post on here! He has to have a billion posts by now. I got a lot of crap when I first came on this forum because I was one of those guys trying to buy a PA for $400 and just wasn't listening to anybody. About $10,000 of PA money later and about 5 years out of the PA sales gig I am back and how things have changed. Last time I went back to Arizona (I live in Washington now), I decided to stop by the 'ol Sam Ash I used to work at and say hi to the old friends I spent 4 years of my life there with. One thing I noticed immediately was how different the speaker section of the pro-audio department looked! The speaker wall had shrunk considerably and had been replaced by clusters of powered speakers! I guess this really took off. They were decent when I worked there 5 years ago, but most people still bought passive because they were mostly cheaper and more flexible... what happened? Do people not get passive setups anymore? By the way... I haven't used my PA in 3 years and used it twice in 2 years before that. I am now selling it to buy a jeep... makes me kind of sad, but I wouldn't do it unless I was getting something else fun... to me. Either way, I still like to talk speakers -so whats it like these days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 6Imzadi Posted April 16, 2014 Members Share Posted April 16, 2014 Sorry to hear that you have to get rid of your speakers. I'm sure, however, I will have to do the same at some point. Just not now. Welcome back, but I'm in no position to be official about it. I guess we all move up or lateral in life. No telling what may come next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted April 16, 2014 Members Share Posted April 16, 2014 Welcome back man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author Craig Vecchione Posted April 16, 2014 CMS Author Share Posted April 16, 2014 Welcome back, I remember you! Active speakers have indeed grabbed a good foothold...now it's all about digital mixers, which have a ways to go regarding the interface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sillyspider Posted April 16, 2014 Author Members Share Posted April 16, 2014 Has the technology gotten that much better? Perhaps the amps don't take as much space in the cabinet anymore and are lighter. Seems like that and them becoming cheaper would have done the trick. I always did like how they were biamped straight out of the box. Yeah, I had dreams with my PA too as far as speakers were concerned. I have all the amps I'd need to upgrade already, I'd just have to move things around... sigh. I spent the entire afternoon cleaning up my rig -which included using hair clippers to straighten up the parts that got all "hairy". Works wonders by the way... but it also appears there aren't really any boxes left with carpeting anymore, which doesn't seem like a bad thing. So do powered mixers still sell? Anyway, after I cleaned it up it got me feeling all sick about getting rid of it. It looked super sharp and I wanted to go use it but didn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sillyspider Posted April 16, 2014 Author Members Share Posted April 16, 2014 Welcome back man! Oh my God! If Abzurd has a billion posts by now, you must have 100 trillion! I never knew how old you were, but I always imagined you were like 70 because of your name, that puts you at about 80 now! You guys still running the same stuff? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted April 16, 2014 Members Share Posted April 16, 2014 Technology has gooten better, but expecially the implimentation of processing in additioon to active crossover and biamping. Adaptive limiting, adaptive high pass filters, etc. have improved the reliability greatly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted April 16, 2014 Members Share Posted April 16, 2014 Technology has gooten better, but expecially the implimentation of processing in additioon to active crossover and biamping. Adaptive limiting, adaptive high pass filters, etc. have improved the reliability greatly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sillyspider Posted April 16, 2014 Author Members Share Posted April 16, 2014 That's cool, though I better get rid of my equipment before it becomes too obsolete! So what are the hot powered boxes these days? Was there one design in particular that started the turnaround? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OneEng Posted April 17, 2014 Members Share Posted April 17, 2014 It was a rush over about 1 year. JBL, QSC, Peavey, Yamaha, all jumped in. Before that I think that Yorkville really broke the ground with their NX55p (12" 2 way) which really was a nice speaker, but limited early due to the LF extension they achieved. The new crop that eclipsed the NX55p were all first caliber using Neo drivers. They were light, tough, and well processed. Nearly any idiot could simply plug them into a mixer and they would just sound good. All the new tops also came with accompanying subwoofers ..... complete with built in cross-overs. All you needed was a L and R out of your mixer .... into your subs, and up to your tops and suddenly you had a perfectly processed, phase and time aligned speaker setup. The built in limiting kept you from damaging these so they were an easy pick for less experienced people than Agedhorse (ie everyone). The price of Neo jumped through the roof, and also all the companies started feeling the price pressure. A new wave of powered speakers came out that were of lesser quality, but in some instances, had even better processing that the more expensive line of speakers. The first wave were selling for $800-$1100 for a single top, the next wave was more cost consensus. They are running $400-$700. They backed off of the max output, cheeped out on the finish and materials, but kept the sound quality very good. As Craig pointed out, the new craze is digital mixers. The powered speaker revolution is old news now. Most people already have them. In the last 3 years, digital mixers have been finding their way into tons of rigs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sillyspider Posted April 17, 2014 Author Members Share Posted April 17, 2014 I have a Mix Wizard, do you think I'll have a hard time selling that these days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OneEng Posted April 17, 2014 Members Share Posted April 17, 2014 I have a Mix Wizard, do you think I'll have a hard time selling that these days? Naw. Still a fine analog mixer. I sold mine a or of months ago for $450. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abzurd Posted April 17, 2014 Members Share Posted April 17, 2014 Thanks for the shout out. I remember you! You should be able to sell the Mixwiz. Maybe not as much as a few years ago, but the good stuff holds it's value better. And yes, everyone is "all in" on the powered speaker thing. Oddly, Yamaha, after entering rather early on intially with some anemic offerings, was the last MI company to get to the party in a substantial way. There's a lot to choose from out there, although I still think there's room for some "higher end" speakers from the better known brands in the USA. For instance, I'd like to see JBL have an SR / SRX type powered box. Something with a 1.4" or 2" exit compression driver similar to some of the FBT and RCF offerings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tomm Williams Posted April 18, 2014 Members Share Posted April 18, 2014 Not quite everyone is all-in with powered, there are still a number of us who run passive gear quite effectively. If you are considering reinvesting in SR, I would first evaluate what you have as it relates to what corner of this market you're after. Could be that your current rig might still make money ..............or not. The Mixwiz is a good board for small events, I suggest you hang onto it. (or send it to me) Yes digital boards brings a lot to the table but it comes with a steeper learning curve and they are not always an advantage. It is nice to have all the processing built in but analog processing units have become stupid cheap as well as very, very good consoles. Now this only matters IF you have the room, strength and desire to pack a lot of gear. At this point I have no problem with all my racks, I can see a day when that may not be the case. However overall for most anyone getting started (or re-started) in this, it's hard to argue with the many advantages of a digital/powered system. Seems that this is just the evolution of the industry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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