Al's Yorkville PS10P active speaker review/comparison

[Al Poulin]

Hey guys, a review/comparison of Yorkville's PS10P compared to some of my other tops, used full range. The PS10P is a solid cabinet that produces outstanding low frequencies AT LOW VOLUMES, but the processing is a little too much IMO and the overall sound/balance suffers once you pass a certain point in full range use. Club mode is worse than live, but still too much of a boost in the live mode IMO. Also, I would have liked to see neo transducers and a beefier compression driver considering the price of this speaker and truly feel the PS12P is a much better value. In comparison, the DBR12 comes out as a much better full range solution at half the price. Here you go :

 

 

 

The overall sound of the PS10P at low levels is really sweet with great mids that actually come through better than on my Yamahas and RCFs. It's unfortunate the processing isn't user selectable for the LF boost... It makes the cabinet sound worse and worse as the volume goes up - when used full range. I figure they would do much better high passed, but I wanted to do a full range comparison. As always, not a professional review, just some general observations and comparisons to other actives I own.

 

Al

[nchangin]

Any your thoughts against the Yamaha DSR series?

[Al Poulin]

Any your thoughts against the Yamaha DSR series?

 

Yamaha's DSR112 and Yorkville's PS12P are 2 totally different sounding boxes - in full range mode anyway. High passed, they would be more comparable. Out of the box, the most noticeable difference is low frequency response. The PS12P simply produces ridiculous amounts of low end, especially in Club mode, but there is still a very noticeable boost in Live mode, just like I noticed in the PS10P - although it sounds much better in the PS12P, making it sound like subs are in use (in small places). The DSR112 produces very little DEEP bass in comparison. It's more of a thump in the 70hz-80hz range while the PS12P extends way down to 45hz - at low to medium levels anyway. The DSR112's box is also more compact, contributing to its limited deeper low frequency response. That said, the compression driver o nthe DSR is beefier and crisp as hell, almost painfully so. The Yorkville's horn is a little more tame in the top end, but has more pronounced mids. I've always found the Yamaha DSRs and DXRs a little "smiley face" EQd, which is OK for pre-recorded music, but may not cut through as well for live music. Both cabinets are good quality and durable. The Yorkville Parasource has a better mixer section. Power Wise, both cabs have very healthy amounts of available power, but the Yorkville's "marketing" watts, 4000 of them is laughable, considering the 30 or 40 watt RMS compression driver found inside. With subs handling the low end, I think both of these boxes would offer excellent performance. For someone looking for single box full range application, the PS12P would be a no brainer OR the bigger DSR115. It's full range sound is much fuller than the little DSR112. Relaly dépends on the application I guess. Full range, the Yamaha boxes sound more consistent at all levels, while the Yorkvilles' sound changes dramatically depending on level - because of the processed deep bass boost. At high levels, the Parasource cabs - especially PS10P sound shrill as only the mids and highs get louder. The deep lows noticeably disappear once you pass a certain level. The problem is that when it happens it is WAY TOO AUDIBLE. Lack of transparency compared to the processing found in the Yamaha boxes anyway...

 

Al

[Shaster]

Thanks for the review Al. I was just thinking the other day you hadn't reviewed anything in a while.

 

I've used the PS10P on a couple of occasions in a single act, with tracks. I was quite surprised at how articulate yet smooth the mids were. The low end blew me away as well, but I can see that at higher volumes, the box wouldn't be able to sustain the low end without limiting hard, or falling apart. Frankly that doesn't bother me, as I would rarely use a ten inch at higher volumes without a sub. I'm also wondering, if one dumped some of the very low frequencies on a GEQ.... whether that would allow the box to maintain the low to high balance.

 

IMHO the PS12P naturally does a better job of holding together at higher SPL, and I've used them a couple of times full range, with kick, bass, keys and so on. No problem.

 

Anyway, I quite agree with your assessment of the PS10P, but with a little GEQ help, I reckon the PS10P might be more usable or musical at louder volumes.

 

BTW, if you're looking for another speaker to review, might I suggest the PK Klarity 12. I just used two of them, albeit in a very quiet gig, and was quite impressed. Powercon connectors, solid build, and really nice sounding - at low volume anyway. Maybe you've heard of them maybe not, but here's the link http://www.pksound.ca/products/klarity-12/

[Al Poulin]

Hi Shaster. It does help to reduce the low frequencies on your mixer, kind of countering the bass boost added by Yorkville, but I would have liked to see a FLAT or bypass setting of some sort. The boost worked well - up to very useable levels with the PS12P, even in club mode, but simply doesn't work on the smaller PS10P - unless playing certain (less bass heavy) types of music. Not even sure WHY the club mode exists on a 10" speaker, considering the Live mode already has AMPLE low frequency response. I say ample, because even in Live mode, the little PS10P rivaled if not bested my DXR15s in terms of LF extension!!! Of course, this only worked at low volume, which is kind of my point. WHY make such an unsustainable bass boost non defeatable? For a one man band in a small room, I can see it working some of the time, but I clearly heard the deep bass disappear at what I would consider low level output. It was clearly noticeable as soon as the filter(s) engaged and instantly made the speaker sound very different. It shouldn't be that obvious. As mentionned, the PS12P was much better in this regard and maintained a very full sound up to much higher levels. Anyway, for 1075$ per speaker, I expected more. I would gladly pay the extra 125$ for the PS12P... or a pair of DBR12s.

 

Al

[Shaster]

You know I kind of wish that even the PS12P had a "flat" button. Unless you engage the sub mode there's a whole ton of bass. But as we have both mentioned, the PS12P doesn't have a problem in that regard. I actually briefly owned a pair of PS12P's. I wanted the option of going subless, but looking out into the future I realized my band and sound gigs were mainly using house PA's. In fact I've got my U15's parked at a twice a month house gig.

 

I still suspect that if you grabbed a GEQ and dumped somewhere around 40hz down, the PS10P might fair much better, but of course, the end user of that box isn't going to be carting around racks of EQ's - so that's pretty much a non starter.

 

I suspect there are two reasons that the PS10P is set up exactly like the 12's and 15's. One reason is that it's probably much cheaper to keep the modules the same. The other reason might be the "crazy guitar sounds" syndrome of guitar FX pedals. There are a ton of unusable guitar sounds in the various FX pedals on the market, but those crazy patches probably sell a lot of pedals. For the PS10P, if you walk into a store and hear the bass response coming out of those boxes, you would be quite impressed. Once you're on the gig, all heck is breaking out anyway (conga lines, drunks, crazy brides), and a little or a lot of limiting might go unnoticed - especially with the rental crowd, which is a big part of L&M's, and hence Yorkville's business.

 

Still, for the price, and in the Yorkville range, I would rather have the PS10P than an E10P.

 

 

[Al Poulin]

Still, for the price, and in the Yorkville range, I would rather have the PS10P than an E10P.

 

 

Here we have two very different sounding active 10s, indeed. The PS10P is the crisp, smooth and fat bottom speaker that shines at more conservative levels, while the E10P is the rip your face off rock 'n' roll speaker that wants to play loud. The E10P does maintain its sound at all levels, though. Unfortunately, the sound it consistently maintains is not all that enjoyable. :-) Especially in smaller places. High passed and used with subs, both E10P and PS10P should do really well. The PS10P will sound significantly better in most applications IMO.The compression driver is just so much sweeter and ear friendly.

 

Also agreed that all speakers that offer a strong bass boosts in the processing SHOULD have a way to bypass it as well.

 

Al