Al's Yamaha DBR12 active speaker review

[Al Poulin]

Hey guys, had a fun weekend of listening to/testing/comparing my new DBR12. Here is, as promised, the video review :

 

 

Al

[hammondman]

Hi Al. Thanks for your review of the DBR12's. It is particularly helpful that you are able to compare them to the Yamaha DXR15's which I own and the KV2 KX12's that I use weekly at a venue I run sound at.

I am tempted to upgrade my Alto TS112a's and TS110a's for the DBR equivalent's as I have been extremely impressed with the DXR15's. Saying that, the Alto TS112a's and TS110a's have also been excellent and I much preferred them to the EV ZLX12p's when I a/b'd them! The DBR range appear to be a fraction lighter and smaller and have higher output. Price wise the Alto TS110a's cost £179 vs the DBR10's £310 and the TS112a's cost £199 vs £380 for the DBR10's. Unfortunately I'm not able to a/b both of these so I'm wondering if anyone knows how these compare to the Alto Truesonic range?

 

[Al Poulin]

I would opt for the DBR12 or DBR15 simply because of their more powerful amplifiers and bigger compression driver. As to how they compare to the Alto TS, well I figure in 10 years the Yamahas will still be rocking a party somewhere while the Altos have a better chance of being in a landfill somewhere. From all I've read, the TS line sounds good, but is not built to last and doesn't stand up to abuse well at all. The 7 year warranty on the Yamaha cabs would also be an indication that they are confident in the quality of their product.

 

Al

[hammondman]

That's a good point. However, my Alto's have taking a fair amount of abuse and are holding up well so far. Yamaha's 7 year warranty says a lot though! My DXR15's haven't missed a beat over the past few years and have taken a LOT more abuse than the Alto's! The Alto's do sound very good for the money though. Guess I'll stick with the Alto's till I have any problems. Saying that, I know a few Alto dealers personally and they have found them to be extremely reliable and have had less problems than most of the more expensive brands.

[witesol]

As an update to this thread, I bought a pair of DBR12s to try out. I wanted something small, light and of course decent sounding. I used them on a job Friday. A two hour concert, mostly kids singing to tracks, a few piano/vocal and guitar vocal pieces. Real good group of performers, many of which were/are on famous TV shows. I brought one QSC hpr181 sub. Big room and a couple hundred people milling about looking at Christmas trees. So, these were not pushed or taxed. Line6 WL mics into my Presonus 1602.

 

I like them. They are not as bright as I thought they'd be, even with the switch set to "FOH" mode, which has boosted highs and lows. Pretty smooth. plenty of headroom but I noticed on line input I had the input gains at around 2:00, higher than I thought. I love the dual handles, weight. They look like they will not scratch. No fan...

 

They sounded good on my TV , which I used to initially test and burn them in on..

 

I bought these because I had 3 gigs where I could use something small and light. Also my wife can take one and plug a mic right into it. So, two more gigs coming that are live bands, more taxing material.

[Al Poulin]

The FOH switch mostly boosts the lower/deeper frequencies (and quite noticeably), but does not noticeably affect the top end. The DBRs/DXRs and DSRs are brighter out of the box than many speakers though IMO. I personally love a sweet and detailed top end, but felt it might be worth mentionning in my review for those who might not. At low volumes such as home listening for example, the FOH setting is very nice, while the Off (or normal) response of the speaker is certainly more neutral. I haven't purchased a second DBR12 yet, but will eventually. I really like the DBR12 and find it offers superb performance and sound considering its price and low weight. It's hard to find fault in it really. It could use more upper mid clarity I guess, but then it would't sound as hi fi, and really - you can EQ it easily to taste or per application..

 

Al

[witesol]

yea, the FOH position shows a boost on the highs and lows but it seems to boost the low end more. I did find the DBR to have more top end clarity than the EV Elx12p.

[Al Poulin]

Here is a video where Yamaha shows us exactly what's Inside the DBR cabs. It's interesting, because long ago when I was comparing my NX55Ps to the DXR15s, I thought they sounded very similar in the top end... well it seems the same Celestion compression driver is used in the NX55P (version 2 as well) and DXRs and DBRs (except possibly the DBR10). Anyway, interesting video :

 

 

 

Al

[wesg]

..."and this is a compression driver, meaning that it actually compresses the sound as it goes through here, and then it comes through that horn to give you that even coverage you're looking for"

 

Say What??

 

Looks like a nice cab, though. If that really is the same compression driver as in the NX55P, then they've picked a winner. I really like the sound of mine.

[loco_p_man]

Interesting review Al, as usual. I had the chance to A/B a DBR12 yesterday with an RCF ART312a at a local retailer. Our drummer was looking for a monitor, and the 2 were close to each other in price. What was fascinating was the difference in sound. The retailer had a pretty good way to A/B the speakers, using some rock music close to the genre we would play, and there was a very marked difference between the two. The drummer remarked that it sounded like someone had put a curtain in front of the speaker when the RCF was switched over to the DBR.... and our conclusion was that the RCF was way better.

 

We were listening at moderate volumes (enough that there was no point in trying to talk till the sound went down). I've heard such good things about the RCF, it was encouraging to try it out and find out how good it is. Despite being out-spec'd by the DBR12, it was the clear choice on the day.

 

As a very inexperienced sound person, it just goes to show that the advice on this forum is absolutely right.... ignore the paper specs, listen to the speakers and decide on what you prefer. I'm glad it was so clear-cut.

[RoadRanger]

My RCF 310A's still make me smile every time I hear them .

[Al Poulin]

Listening to a speaker (at home or at a familiar venue if possible) is always the best way to really find out which one better suits your needs. In a showroom setting however, you need to be careful AND you always need to remember that if the speakers aren't matched level wise (and I don't mean setting both speaker gains to unity or O setting and feeding all speakers the same signal), if one is slightly louder than the other, it will sound better to most people. My RCFs have significantly more output vs my Yamahas if I set all of them at the 0 point gain wise and apply a given signal - why such an A/B test with a speaker selector/switcher may yield inacurrate results. While I haven't compared DBR12 to ART 312A, my dealer and I had compared DXR12 to 312A at lower levels and up to limit and both sounded nearly identical in terms of voicing / overall sound to both of us. So close in fact that we could not pick out the better one strictly based on sound quality. One thing I have noticed about the DBR12, especially when in FOH mode, is that they can come off as a little dark, mostly because of the strong low end. A little boost in the upper mids would certainly help them in a live sound setting as they do have a "DJ sound" out of the box. The RCFs however do have a similar smiley face EQ response curve BUT their low frequency response is weak below 70hz, which can make them sound more clear and less muddy perhaps that DBR12. I own some RCF310As which are fantastic and I did compare them to DXR10s when I reviewed them and again, while there were some differences, neither box sounded worse than the other, simply different. Both were easy to EQ to get the desired sound you were looking for. What I would like to see from RCF boxes is a flexible mixer section - including a hi pass filter - and perhaps more dealers and a quality distributor here in Canada as parts and service are not easy to obtain according to my local dealer who no longer sells RCF.

[loco_p_man]

Thank you Al - as ever, your in-depth comments are very insightful. I am sure that if we had had more time (and expertise) we would have reached the same conclusions as you. Coming down to a short list of the DBR12 and the ART312a, we were not going to end up with a bad speaker. The psychology of having done even a limited test is that the drummer will be very happy with his purchase, and we have got a quality monitor for him. We did discuss fairly extensively whether he needed a mixer capability, but he was adamant that he would not need that, so the function of the RCF was fine (hi-pass filter excepted). Hopefully spares etc will be fine here in the UK.

[modulusman]

Thank you Al - as ever' date=' your in-depth comments are very insightful. I am sure that if we had had more time (and expertise) we would have reached the same conclusions as you. Coming down to a short list of the DBR12 and the ART312a, we were not going to end up with a bad speaker. The psychology of having done even a limited test is that the drummer will be very happy with his purchase, and we have got a quality monitor for him. We did discuss fairly extensively whether he needed a mixer capability, but he was adamant that he would not need that, so the function of the RCF was fine (hi-pass filter excepted). Hopefully spares etc will be fine here in the UK.[/quote']

 

Did you try the DBR12 with the monitor switch engaged. This brightens up the speaker considerably. That should have been the setting being used since that was the intended purpose.

[Al Poulin]

Agreed that this likely would have helped, especially since they were looking for a monitor. In the end, both are very good speakers and while the transducers in the RCF are lilkley better quality units than those found in the Yamaha, the features and processing/sound settings/hp filters in the Yamaha are hard to ignore. Out of the box, a DJ would almost certainly prefer the Yamaha's fatter bottom in FOH mode, while a musician would perhaps give the nod to the clearer sound of the RCF. I would have no hesitation using the 312As personally, as long as the full face grill option was available... My little 310As are still going strong and I am still surprised by their capabilities for such small boxes.