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Author Topic: cinema speaker brands George Murray Film Handler Posts: 23 From: grand forks ND, Registered: Jun 2012 posted 10-29-2012 10:46 PM                     Out of the 5 major cinema speaker manufacturers being jbl qsc klipsch sls and electrovoice which one would everyone say is the top of the line and does anyone have any experience with the SLS brand they appear to be higher end products that use a proprietary ribbon driver.  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 10-29-2012 10:55 PM                     Current top of the line will be QSC, hands down. They really sound great, are durable and have a great price point. JBL is a close second. Klipsch? Overrated garbage, totally suck for cinema and as Joe Redifer would say, sound like ass. EV? At one point, not a bad speaker (I used them at a location in the mid 1990's, they didn't sound bad but the subs kept blowing out and were replaced with JBLs) but I cannot vouch for the current product line. Since QSC's are so good and JBL's are proven, I'd avoid current EVs. SLS? Never heard of them but ribbon drivers aren't a good idea for the high SPL's they would encounter in cinemas. And what are you gonna do when the company goes tits up or discontinues their "proprietary" ribbon driver? Why trust what is essentially a "no-name" brand when your livelihood is at stake? Bottom line, stick to QSC or JBL, EV as a last resort. Buying the wrong speakers is gonna be very costly...remember you'll need to drop the screen to change them out, plus the tech time to redo them.  |  IP: Logged Jake Spell Master Film Handler Posts: 294 From: Johns Island SC Registered: May 2009 posted 10-30-2012 09:50 PM                     Having E\V speakers installed about 3 years ago they are not bad but certainly not the best. As Tony said their subs really are the weak link. There's not nearly enough bracing and they do sound decent there are defiantly better ones out there. Having used QSC amps and herd their new powered speakers I can vouch that if it says QSC its going to sound good.  |  IP: Logged Cameron Glendinning Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 845 From: West Ryde, Sydney, NSW Australia Registered: Dec 2005 posted 11-06-2012 02:40 PM                     Well I have never had an issue with EV subs nor the late Neville Thiele bass refex box designs (this guy invented the maths that made the ported box work). Yes EV had a smaller voice coil but they did go much deeper than the JBL designs in the early 90's. A quality over quantity thing. I remember getting -3db at 25hz with only one DL18w woofer! Plenty of JBL subs were blown up when digital audio was new too! If you don't have great quality audio with an EV cinema speaker or any of the other cinema brands then its been installed and eqed badly. The difference between brands is pretty subtle, noticeable in a side by side demo but dialogue and music should be crystal clear no matter what brand.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 11-06-2012 04:37 PM                        I'm totally with Tony when it comes to speakers with one exception: QSC's I have no experienc with. Should be good, though, you guys like them and people I trust work there: Barry Ferrell. EV's seem to "blow up" with little or no provication; 97% of my customers had JBLs, but I sold 50 EV voice coils for each JBL coil. louis  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 11-06-2012 08:04 PM                     quote: Cameron Glendinning If you don't have great quality audio with an EV cinema speaker or any of the other cinema brands then its been installed and eqed badly. Cameron, a certain very experienced Dolby technician would find that statement highly offensive. He was favorably impressed with the sound quality (as I was) and the system required surprisingly little EQ. (At the time of that install, my RTA was out for calibration so I called in Dolby to do the B Chain.) As Louis' experiences pointed out, (and I am sure he know how to properly EQ a system) EV's suffer in the durability department. Bottom line is EV's aren't necessarily bad, but based on Louis' and my own experiences I would only use them as a last resort.  |  IP: Logged Cameron Glendinning Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 845 From: West Ryde, Sydney, NSW Australia Registered: Dec 2005 posted 11-06-2012 08:05 PM                     Ev chose to use 3 inch voice coil technology and JBL used 4 inch. JBL therefore could take 25% more power/ watts. Tony I don't disagree with your findings, I am trying to stress that these differences in speakers technology sound is pretty subtle to the layman. I too have preferences to speakers that sound more realistic, but its not like dialogue intelligibility should not be perfect with any of the name brands. BTW I know Louis would do a first class job  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 11-06-2012 08:12 PM                     And with the demands of today's digital soundtracks, that 25% is critical.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-06-2012 08:22 PM                        We have EV surrounds. Out of 10 of them, I've only ever had to replace one tweeter. On two other ones, the tweeter quit working but I found that the wires had apparently vibrated off the drivers and they've worked fine ever since I fixed them. But I'm sure they don't have the full range awesomeness that the newer surround speakers have.  |  IP: Logged Cameron Glendinning Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 845 From: West Ryde, Sydney, NSW Australia Registered: Dec 2005 posted 11-06-2012 08:26 PM                     Yes Tony but they were cheaper and more subs are always better  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 11-06-2012 09:19 PM                     More subs, yes always better. But, cheaper is NOT always better. Which would you rather do: Save a bit of money at initial purchase, then be caught up with replacing blown drivers and speakers, (along with the possible loss of attendance due to crappy sound), which represents additional costs (parts and labor); OR spend a bit more for equipment that won't fail unless some really odd catastrophic event happens (massive power surge or amp blowup.) I would much rather spend even a few grand extra up front and not have to worry if my speakers can handle the normal wear and tear of the daily shows. Too many cinema folks (sadly, even on the projection side of the fence) try to cheap out on the most critical aspects of WHY you even open a cinema: TO SHOW MOVIES. The equipment to do that presentation should ALWAYS be the best one can afford. If you really need to save money, look to other, less critical areas: like lobby decor. Remember this: without a quality presentation hitting the screens, all you will have is a very overpriced candy store.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-06-2012 11:56 PM                     EV uses smaller VCs as compared to JBL on both woofers and tweeters and as a certified EV, JBL (and others) reconer...the number of EV repairs to JBL is a landslide. EVs are almost always not up to the task. Their build quality is WAY below that of JBL (and others) EV's best woofer design was their EVX line and they even had to constantly play with that to get them to not self-destruct. But their final versions don't sound as good. As to the DL-15W...yeah...it does go down because of its foam compliance...big deal...compare it to the JBL 2235 and the JBL wins a gain (also foam compliance). Both companies should be shot for sticking with foam when various rubbers would allow the lower f3 but without the deterioration of foam. JBL went away from offering the foam compliance drivers (2245 was superseded by the 2242 in the subwoofer department). But more to the point, the DL15W is just a BAD sounding driver...I swear drums played on it sounds Tupperware. The DH1/DH1A was a NASTY sounding piece of crap...I know there are some that think it is the bees knees but I am flabbergasted as to how that can be. It does not sound natural to anything...it is a screechy sound piece of crap. Anyone that likes it has to have had some HF hearing loss because it is NASTY up in the higher frequencies. Some of the EV stuff sounds better than others and JBL certainly has their clunkers out there too but I have never found that EV ever made an equivalent driver to a JBL where the EV wasn't a really poor comparison. The JBL 2206, 2226, 2242, 2446/2450 are just awesome drivers for what they do and EV has nothing in their league. I normally don't post negative viewpoints but EV is one where I've had to leave a theatre because they just sound that bad...I can tell the make of the speaker just by listening to the movie...often right down to the drivers being used. A good speaker should not be so characteristically bad but EVs sound like EVs...not like what was recorded.  |  IP: Logged Jarod Reddig Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 513 From: Hays, Ks Registered: Jun 2011 posted 11-07-2012 11:36 AM                     Steve I would find it hard to believe that anyone could tell the make of a speaker if it's a bad sounding room along with a bad EQ. Everything sounds shitty then.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 11-07-2012 04:09 PM                     Believe it...because I've done it (with witnesses) in a theatre I had never been in. The previews weren't on for a minute before I noted the brand of the speaker and the model! It was the EV TS940. It had the Tupperware DL15W bass with the painful DH1A driver...I wonder how anyone could NOT tell them...they don't sound natural.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 11-07-2012 06:46 PM                        Get a good look at the DH1A on an RTA fairly close.. Looks like the down escalator. Bumpy. Not a bad speaker for what it was. . . . the first exponential for cinema if it were 1970.  |  IP: Logged

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