Members Al Poulin Posted September 11, 2014 Members Share Posted September 11, 2014 Hey guys, New Yamaha line just released! Looks like a small step below the DXR - less applied power, not quite as beefy tranducers, 2 channel mixer BUT lower price. Looks like it was designed to compete with EV's ZLX line. Available in 10, 12 and 15. Lightwer weight than DSR and DXR with the 10" coming in at 23 lbs and the 15" at 42. Price US is 399$ for DBR10, 499$ for DBR12 and 599$ for DBR15. http://usa.yamaha.com/products/live_sound/speakers/active_speakers/dbr/#tab=feature Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted September 11, 2014 Members Share Posted September 11, 2014 Nice looking cosmetics IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Al Poulin Posted September 11, 2014 Author Members Share Posted September 11, 2014 The plastic looks alot like what EV uses in the ZLX IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nchangin Posted September 11, 2014 Members Share Posted September 11, 2014 I have the ZLX's kinda wished there were a bit smaller and lighter, sounds like Yamaha did the right thing in releasing the 10" at the same price as the ZLX's as well. Very cool. Al I expect a review shortly maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Al Poulin Posted September 11, 2014 Author Members Share Posted September 11, 2014 I have the ZLX's kinda wished there were a bit smaller and lighter' date=' sounds like Yamaha did the right thing in releasing the 10" at the same price as the ZLX's as well. Very cool. Al I expect a review shortly maybe?[/quote'] Working on obtaining some review boxes at the moment. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OneEng Posted September 12, 2014 Members Share Posted September 12, 2014 Al's the man It seems like more and more companies are creating powered speakers that sound good, but just don't get quite as loud as their "big brother" speakers. In this case, Yamaha has also made a good move in making the speaker lighter as well. After all, if you aren't planning on putting out as much SPL, you likely don't need such a big magnet and voice coil (at least that is my thinking). Interesting set of features and price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted September 12, 2014 Members Share Posted September 12, 2014 Correct, the market for a lower output high quality speaker is definitely there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abzurd Posted September 12, 2014 Members Share Posted September 12, 2014 Al's the man It seems like more and more companies are creating powered speakers that sound good, but just don't get quite as loud as their "big brother" speakers. In this case, Yamaha has also made a good move in making the speaker lighter as well. After all, if you aren't planning on putting out as much SPL, you likely don't need such a big magnet and voice coil (at least that is my thinking). Interesting set of features and price. Unfortunately there's always been a market for the "hey, this speaker looks a lot like that speaker and is 1/2 the price, why would I buy the pricier one"? Then they expect it to perform like the more expensive speaker and either A) blame the speaker for not being "loud enough" or 2) Turn it to 11 and let it rip until it blows up or all the people leave all the while not noticing and or not caring that the sound is awful. Probably because it's marginally louder and clearer than the last speaker they beat the crap out of so it sounds great to them. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dookietwo Posted September 12, 2014 Members Share Posted September 12, 2014 Regardless of the speaker brand I hate the "dynamic" power rating. My EV SXA250's are rated like that. Yes they get loud enough to do the job of monitors but saying 350 watts to the woofer and 80 watts to the tweeter is one thing. But in small print say 150 rms to the woofer, 50 to the horn driver is another. Of course buyer beware. Again I'm happy with them and the drivers inside are very robust for the rms values of the amp sections.The DBR15 is rated at 800 dynamic to the woofer and 200 to the horn driver. But it is rated at 400 watts to the woofer , and 65 to the horn driver rms. So you know that the 132 db peak output is more like 129 or less rms. http://usa.yamaha.com/products/live_sound/speakers/active_speakers/dbr/dbr15/?mode=model#tab=product_lineup Still they do look like at nice speaker coming in at a good price point and at 42lbs :-) Dookietwo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pro Sound Guy Posted September 13, 2014 Members Share Posted September 13, 2014 Watts Watts...what does that mean? Isnt this about decibal output and quality sound? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Al Poulin Posted September 13, 2014 Author Members Share Posted September 13, 2014 The SPL numbers are a joke of course... Look at the passive version of the DBR10, with its listed sensitivity of 94DB - this means you would need to apply close to 4000 watts to this speaker to actually reach the published 129DB max SPL spec, and that's without even considering power compression etc. I give up with specs these days. I can't wait to test drive a pair and see how they sound and compare to the others on the market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OneEng Posted September 13, 2014 Members Share Posted September 13, 2014 Yep, right there with you Al. First the wattage war raged and watts became useless as a measure of the output of a speaker. Then SPL ratings got useless (seriously using the A weight readings for a PA speaker is just ridiculous IMO). The entire time, none of these numbers tell you if the speaker sounds decent at all. Watts - tell you nothing at all useful.SPL - tells you that some part of the speaker is capable of making loud noise under some condition. Since SPL is a weighted average, you could be getting most of your output at dog hearing range only. As it turns out, making very loud noise with a tweeter isn't really that hard to do. Making good sounding noise loudly ..... not as good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dboomer Posted September 14, 2014 Members Share Posted September 14, 2014 Actually only about 2000w if you consider a couple of dB loss through the passive crossover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author Craig Vecchione Posted September 14, 2014 CMS Author Share Posted September 14, 2014 The SPL numbers are a joke of course... Look at the passive version of the DBR10' date=' with its listed sensitivity of 94DB - this means you would need to apply close to 4000 watts to this speaker to actually reach the published 129DB max SPL spec, and that's without even considering power compression etc. I give up with specs these days. I can't wait to test drive a pair and see how they sound and compare to the others on the market.[/quote'] It's much more satisfying to listen to a speaker than try to make spec comparisons somehow mesh among brands and sometimes even among models of like branding. It's annoying and just as intentional as my local grocery store unit-pricing one brand of food per ounce, and another per-pound. Anything to make comparison frustrating or impossible. They like us dumb and docile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cappttenron Posted September 16, 2014 Members Share Posted September 16, 2014 Hmmm makes me wonder how a compact composite 10 inch powered speaker can lose 10 pounds? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted September 16, 2014 Members Share Posted September 16, 2014 Hmmm makes me wonder how a compact composite 10 inch powered speaker can lose 10 pounds? The same way other designs save weight. Lighter components, lighter encliosure, lighter amplifier, switching to aluminum from steel, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cappttenron Posted September 17, 2014 Members Share Posted September 17, 2014 Well I'm guessing the normal driver weighs around 7 or 8 pounds and they can use some lighter components but that cabinet was already pretty light. No doubt they did this but the magnet must be much smaller and class D amps don't weight that much to start with. They claim they use the same processing. I would love to see and hear the difference in the two speakers with one shedding a third of its weight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted September 17, 2014 Members Share Posted September 17, 2014 Just the shift from ceramic to neo magnetics can drop the driver weight to between 3 and 4 lbs. That's just one component. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bufalo Posted October 23, 2014 Members Share Posted October 23, 2014 I'm seeing these have started to show up as in stock at all the various ecom's. Has anyone here managed to give a set a run-through? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Al Poulin Posted October 23, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 23, 2014 I have a DBR12 on order that I'm hoping to receive tommorow so as to be able to test/compare and review it this weekend. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author Craig Vecchione Posted October 23, 2014 CMS Author Share Posted October 23, 2014 I've got one each DBR10, 12, and 15, slated for a Hand's-on Review to be placed in the February MF catalog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Louis Schwartz Posted October 24, 2014 Members Share Posted October 24, 2014 Count me very curious about these and about the new Yorkville NX10c. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Al Poulin Posted October 24, 2014 Author Members Share Posted October 24, 2014 This first review makes the series look pretty promising : http://mixdownmag.com.au/2014/10/08/yamaha-dbr-powered-speaker-range/ Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OneEng Posted November 1, 2014 Members Share Posted November 1, 2014 I am not quite sure where these speakers land in the Yamaha lineup. DSR - Serious gigging box. A bit on the heavy side. Very durable surface, silly loud output. A tad on the expensive side. DXR - Moderate gigging box. Lighter than the DSR's, Ok surface, decent output. Mainstream pricing for the bar gig speaker round up. DBR ..... seems like an exact match up with the DXR lineup. .... OK, never mind. I just looked up the DBR12 on sweetwater. MAP is only $499.00. This lines up nicely with the lower end of the spectrum of decent gigging speakers. Still $100.00 more than the Alto TS112a, but I have a feeling it is a better sounding box too. Looking forward to your review Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Al Poulin Posted November 1, 2014 Author Members Share Posted November 1, 2014 So far, I'm already liking the size, look, weight and cabinet (plastic) that seems less susceptible to damage than the DXR finish. The DBR12 weights only 4lbs more than my DXR8s! Tommorow, I plan on having a very long listening session while comparing with my other cabinets. Should be fun. I only purchased one cabinet for now, since I'm kind of running out of room in my "studio", but I was curious about is, especially as the lowest priced Yamaha line (replacing the older MSR cabs). Will post the video review sometime tommorow! BTW, I checked with Yamaha, and the warranty on the DBR is 7 years, just like DXR, DSR and DXS. Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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