passive vs. active floor monitors?

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Mbira

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 4, 2004
Messages
2,422
Location
Austin, TX
We have been renting these Yorkville powered mains for a year now and I'm ready to buy...After experiencing the convenience of powered mains, I am not willing to go back to passives.  I'm looking at getting two 15" and a 12" floor monitor as well, but I'm seeing that there seems to be very little in the way of active floor monitors.  Any of you guys know the reason why?
 
"proprietary digital processing"
When dealing with wedges ideal set ups would be bi-amped passives with a nice processing unit and proper wattage.

Powered setups leave you with the default crossover points and boosts/cuts they felt necessary to appeal to a greater market.  Not always suitable in every venue.

if I were going to purchase wedges I'd probably go with 2 of the 12" JBL  SRX712M and a Crown I-tech HD for Processing and power.

But you want powered, so if your pleased enough with the Yorkville's then go for it.  It's all relative to the environment your using them in.

-Casey
 
I haven't seen any Yorkville powered monitors worth using-we are using the mains...

I'm leaning towards two Yamaha SM15Vs and an SM12V (all passive) because the only actives I see are super cheap (Nady, etc) or ridiculously expensive...these WILL be road dogs, and it seems like that Yamahas are suited for that.
 
It simply is as it is: every speakersystem is different. If it´s good then it´s good, no matter if passive, active, biamped, processorcontrolled or whatever. Generalizations don´t work here. I know shitty active systems, stunning active systems, biamped shit and great biamped systems as well as lousy passives and amazing passives.
If one system does it for you get it, no matter what´s the technolog behind.
 
I figure it is because of the simplicity and flexibility required in a live situation.  No stage is the same for a band, and no band is the same for one stage.  They are heavier-you need more power on a stage so they weigh a ton, they need a second set of cabling-more AC all over the place, it is more expensive to keep spares, and the live sound research $$$ is going into in-ear systems, FOH, and wireless.  The wedge is low on the list.
A self-powered monitor is more suited to a fixed, smaller environment.
Mike
 
There's a few with a suitable shape to be used as floor monitor or mains
[ angled sides ]

Some companies expect you to use the same product for both applications

FBT seems in the middle quality wise although not the cheapest thing
 
Yamaha make some really good wedges.  The Club series wedge was always good to me when I could'nt have a bi-amped system.
If one system does it for you get it, no matter what´s the technolog behind.

Again, its all relative to the environment it's used in.

Why not look at ears?  In most cases your looking at the same price range once you start to add everything up for the wedges.

-Casey
 
I love the ears, except at the end of the show, we jump out into the audience and are interactive with call and response stuff.  In-ears would come across as a bit 'fake' in that context...

I understand that needs are all different, etc...I guess the point of this thread is that there is an abundance of mains options at all pricepoints, I am surprised to see now that there are less options for monitors...
 
My biggest question with powered wedges is if I have to move them a lot. Does resetting the stage need an extra body? The Meyer MJF suck for that reason only.

 
>...these WILL be road dogs...

I'm confused.  Are you planning on taking your own monitors on the road?  Back in the early days of Crust, we took our own monitors, mics, mixer, effects, power amps..... basically everything except for mains.  Yeah it was nice to ALWAYS be able to hear yourself and have the right effects at the right times and our 57's were a little less beaten than the typical club.  It kinda got old, especially when you gotta haul up stairs.  I almost died on the stairs at Dreamers in Chicago.  The rate of acceleration of a rack containing 2 CS800's is nothing short of frightening when you're at the bottom.  In retrospect, a good soundman woulda been better.
 
Yeah-it's what we're doing these days.  Most of the venues we are playing, we are providing sound and we're not quite at the point where it makes $ sense to bring in a separate sound man.  As it is, I build the instruments, write the songs, book and promote the shows, and take most the money...I'm not quite ready (I should say my family's not ready) to take a smaller cut...

Also, I'm starting to integrate all these MIDI triggers and midi->DMX lighting effects that are triggered right off the stage computer so we are going more and more to a fully contained unit (at least for our crowds of 100-150).  As we get larger crowds, the next step will be to bring along our own engineer, but even then probably using most of our own gear until we get to a point where we can hire out the production...(and franchise!...wait did I say that out loud?!?)

Up till now, we have gotten by with no monitors which is just fine, but now with these electronic elements, we are using some cues from the comp for changes so at minimum I and the drummer need to know what's coming next.
 
Hi Mbira,

I've been testing a lot of monitors lately and have some great finds.  I'm not sure what kind of output you are looking for, your choice will depend a lot on that.
The Microwedge has been used for a loooong time and it is trully a great sounding box.  I'd consider going with the Apex from Radian.  Which is basically their version of the Microwedge.  Also know that Radian was the original manufacturer of the microwedge.  That is if you considering an non-powered box.
Other option for passive would be turbosound TQ310.  I have four of those.  They are small, very powerful and great sounding.

For powered:  I just did a test drive on the new QSC K series.  I tested all models from the 8" to the 12".  The 12" is a fantastic sounding box for the price range.
I believe they will sell for around $850 or so.  The 10" is great sounding, but not as full.  These boxes are come with a 1000W amp module.  Very high output, but they sound very good at lower volumes as well.

I've tested a bunch other monitors but not worth mentioning.  The few choices I mentioned above are on the top of the list.

If you have any more questions, give me a call or an email.

take care
Gil
 
I haven't found many people that agree with me, but I really like the
JBL powered Eon as a stage monitor.

The main reason I would pick those is that the angle of the "kickback" is such that it is actually
pointing at your head, and not your knees.  You hear what you want more directly and
it keeps the stage volume lower.

My ears are much happier after a night with eons than any other monitor.
 
Yeah, I really don't like those Eons myself...especially after having to repair a fried one a year ago. 

I'm most likely lookin gat those Yamahas as I need to get three of them and I don't have the $ to get high end stuff right now.  THose seem like the best bang for buck and pretty durable for the road.
 
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