JBL MPro415 vs. Turbosound TXD151

[OftheSeven]

I went to GC today in the afternoon and had the live PA room to myself. I compared these two speakers and this was what I found:

 

They were setup on opposite sides of the speaker "wall" sitting on top of some subs and on the "shelf". Overall rising about 7 to 8 feet above the floor.

 

Powered by a QSC PLX3402 running in parallel mode.

 

Source: Tascam CD player with several CDs (Incubus - Make Yourself, Toy Matinee, Cold Play - Rush of Blood to the Head, Everything But the Girl - not sure of album name).

 

Mixer: Allen & Heath GL2200, no EQ, through a BBE - disengaged.

 

- JBL was brighter overall and seemed more detailed. Some songs seemed a little bright standing about 10 to 20 feet away. The snare sounds on Incubus' "Clean" had a nice upper mid punch to them and the hi-hats and electric guitar were smooth. The analog recording of the CD helped too. On Toy Matinee "Last Plane Out", it was a little bright and had some noticeable siblance, but I think in a PA situation, the overal detail would come in handy. The speaker seemed to fit well with the electronic vibe of Everything But the Girl's music. Kind of gave the room a club feel. The dispersion of the JBL was wider than the TXD151 as well.

 

- The Turbosound had a lot of good mids and the high end was smooth, maybe too smooth. It seemed a bit lacking. Even on some bright Toy Matinee tracks, the speaker seemed very neutral sounding. With some Cold Play tracks "In My Place", it seemed a little nasally in the upper mids. With Incubus, it sounded warm with good mids, but the hi hats seemed lost in the mix. Once I engaged the EQ and boosted the top end +5 or so @ 12khz, it sounded much better (actually better than the JBL).

 

Price wise, they're about the same with some "negotiation". The Turbosound TXD is, I believe, their entry level while the MP Pro series if a few steps into JBL's line. Overall, I would choose the JBLs. I think it just had a nice overall sound that is more condusive to live audio than the Turbosound. If the Turbosound had a better top end, it would have been the winner (and my adjustment proved that).

As for bass, neither had very much bass. I had to boost the low end, +10 @ 80hz to get some good bass from these speakers. I added the respective subs for the speakers, and that made a huge difference in the sound. Much fuller and more enjoyable to listen to. I wasn't comparing subs, so I didn't play with them that much.

 

Oh, there were also some Mackie SR1530s in the middle of the wall. I tried them out just to compare. These are active, so they had a bit more overall punch and better low end. But their upper mids seemed to have a hole in it. Maybe it was at the crossover point.

 

Just my impressions. Anyone else have opinions?

[BoB/335]

Thanks for that evaluation. I have a Guitar Center catalog with the Turbosound in them and I was wondering how they were. I did compare the Mpro 415's with the EV Eliminator and I thought the EV's were much fuller sounding with much better low end. More of what I thought a "full range" spaeker should sound like. And I really wanted to like the Mpro's. I don't think I listened as critically as you did though. I'm consideing the Yorkville line and I'm hoping to be able to check them out somewhere. Look for my new thread question and answers.