Odd case of a piece of gear exceeding my expectations...

[dedmeet]

Have you ever had the odd case where a piece of audio gear acquired on the cheap surprises you by going past your expectations? I experienced that tonight.

 

I am just finishing the transition to powered cabs and passive board. Managed to score some HPR122i cabs for a good price. Not too long later, the local music store made me a killer deal on two Peavey PR12Ds. Well, I tested them in the store and they sounded pretty good in the noisy store. They made me a heck of a deal, so I grabbed them figuring I can task them as powered wedges, coffee shop cabs, or small mains for outdoor gigs or smallish rooms.

 

Tonight, I was headed out to a local college swing dance gathering and volunteered to do sound using the PR12Ds and my teeny Peavey RQ-200 mixer figuring it would be a good opportunity to test the cabs. Basically, I tossed the mixer and cables in a plastic bin, set the PR12Ds on top, and carted the thing in to the room on a little folding hand cart. Five minutes later, I had it all hooked up and music playing. Before everyone showed up, I opened the system up quite a bit to see how loud the PR12Ds can go and how they sound when pushed.

 

I was pleasantly surprised. No, they will not hang with the HPR122i or a PRX512m, but they can get rather loud and do not sound bad doing it! Damn things are light, too. One of the gals was asking about the cabs and complimenting the sound and I suggested she pick up a cab. She grabbed it one handed and lifted it off the floor rather surprised.

 

All in all, a pleasant surprise and I suspect these little cabs will get hauled around quite a bit for small stuff (tonight's gathering was about a 1200sqft meeting room). The club I did sound for tonight is already interested in renting the mini-system I put together today for some future events!

 

Ok, what is your tale of a piece of gear that surprised you by exceeding your expectations?

[RoadRanger]

Yah, picked up a pair of them PR12D's myself for cheap - they really do sound great! They'll keep up with a couple 500w subs no prob. It's rare that I need any more than that.

 

I did pick up a pair of 'ringer B412DSP's last year and those definitely are a whole lot better than I was expecting. They have great low end at moderate volumes and can get stoopid loud over subs - outdoors they can easily keep up with a pair of 2x18's. Stoopid heavy though .

 

I've also been wanting to try out a pair of Peavey PRSubs to see if they are as pathetic as folks report and got a pair used - they actually do a great job keeping up with one PR12D. The specs don't say but they actually do use neo drivers and you can easily carry a pair by yourself. I felt like superman walking into a biker friendly bar the other day with 'em . They aren't all that small though - I have a pair of 500wrms 15's in plywood boxes about the same size that I normally would use bridged off an RMX1450 clone under the PR12D's to keep up with them.