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Best P.A. Speaker diameter 4 Vocals only?


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Have been using 15's as mains for years in a band context (pushing extraneous mix from mic'ed instruments as well as vocals ),but have some work coming up with a duo where guitar will come only from a dedicated guitar rig/amps , and vocals will be from a "vocals only" P.A. (that I'm in process of putting together now).

So really my question is - all things being equal (I'm aware a high end 10" cab will smoke a "budget" 12" and vice versa ,ect.)- what would be the prefered speaker diameter for this application? For maximum vocal fidelity ?

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Originally posted by Craigv

Because all things are never equal, there's really no way to answer this question with any accuracy. The diameter of the cone is perhaps arguably the least important factor in speaker design.

 

 

 

 

OK , Point taken ...Am I at least correct in assuming that 15's would NOT be optimal ?

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Originally posted by SAMMY





OK , Point taken ...Am I at least correct in assuming that 15's would NOT be optimal ?

 

 

Not really. I've got JBL SR4735X. They have a 15", an 8" and a 1" horn. The 15 handles everything below 340Hz, and vocals are there. The 2x15+horn version is the 4733, which lets the 15" handle everything up to 1.2kHz, and it does vocals well too, despite the apparent handicap of the 2x15 format.

 

Granted, these are rather expensive speakers, but the point remains that you absolutely must judge speakers individually for performance. In the lower price category, the Peavey SP2 does a great job with vocals....15" black Widow in there.

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I find that a smaller diameter cone generally does a smoother job with vocals. Also notice that vocals are generally in the range where the drivers are crossed over. Many times what sounds like a smoother job because of smaller drivers is really due to the fact that a 10" driver is crossed over higher than a 15" driver.

 

For an application like this for bars/clubs if the money is there, I would try to find a 10-12" quality cab that is actively crossed over.

 

For coffee houses, I would go with EAW JF80. http://eaw.com/products/JF80.html . These things sound great but not at super high volumes.

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I'm guessing the best isn't gonna be a cone speaker anyways. Probably gonna be a ribbon or planer speaker:thu:

 

You can't answer what's the best vocal speaker based only on size. The size alone isn't particularly relevant.

 

The best how loud? how far? how expensive? the how long lasting?

 

Is the question really how small a speaker can I use and have enough low end and a reasonable output sensitivity? You'd be safe with a 12"

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