A couple of days in, and some different things tried, and I really am rather pleased with these. Actually, my technique for research is quite flawed - I didn't notice something in the spec. I saw 15"/1" and missed the 'coax', so it was a surprise to find a 15" dual concentric - didn't make the link (or just missed) coaxial - perhaps because it just didn't click.
So first impressions good.Skimmed through the 26 page manual. As expected nothing useful in there at all. No real specs that mean much.
Sticking some music through it doesn't sound like Tannoy 15" dual-concentrics - to be honest it sounds like typical separate low/hi style boxes with 15" drivers - there's a trough in the frequency response around 250Hz - but it's not deep. There's also a small peak at around 6K.
Most cheaper active boxes tend to have some basic tone controls and mc and line level ability - which was actually in my first need list for this project. The specs don't mention levels at all, so it's line level only. There's enough volume for me to use it for my bass at home - but volume is low. Oddly, the design seems quite good. With the small preset style level control on zero, the unit has a slight hiss - which in a quiet room you can hear standing in front of it - but it's low enough not to annoy. Turning the gain up to full hardly impacts on the hiss at all - which is unusual. With the bass plugged in, it's loud enough for practice, but this is at full gain, and disconnecting the jack from the combo socket was loud! Input and control wise, the combo socket and the gain control is about it. You do have a small switch labelled FOH/MON which seems to just put a small boost in the response at about 2.5K. I prefer the sound with the switch set to monitor - the presence peak sounds less natural to me. There's a stand mounting socket hidden in the recess at the end opposite the input panel, which means if you do use them as main speakers the inputs would be on top?
There's an earth lift switch, and a voltage selector. If you try to overdrive them, there's clearly a limiter which kicks in when the green signal light goes red. When this comes on, it's loud - actually too loud for me to stand in front of, so volume seems sufficient. The low curved shape also means that despite the spec sheet weight of 19.5Kg it feels lighter, and carrying with the fingers in the socket panel recess doesn't cause problems - it feels lighter.
Construction is from MDF, covered with decent black textured paint. Internally there is the main amp circuit board and then another smaller board on the rear of the connector panel. Wiring is neat and tidy, and nothing inside that looks likely to cause problems. It's a Class D amplifier, so there's no mega heavy transformer inside ready to break loose.
I've been using Turbosound 2 X 12" wedges for years, but they are crazily heavy for a smallish box. They also sound rather weedy if I try to play my bass through them, but with these 15" monitors I'm thinking I might just DI the bass and use these on non-IEM gigs. I use IEMs whenever we play on smaller stages because the guitars and keys can't play quietly, but on the festival/arena size stages, they're usually far enough away that their volume isn't a problem. With big stages, my amp and cab also end up far enough away that I need more bass in the mons, so much so that there didn't seem much point even using the amp at the last one, and the rathe nice supplied PA had good 15" monitors - they worked for me, so at the end of the summer, I'll probably replace at least my turbo sound with this, and forget the amp and cabinet.
I didn't expect these to be as nice as this. I guess the downside is damage to the MDF from damage in the van - a case sounds good but frankly a square box will be impossible, while wedge shaped speakers can fit little gaps. I'm glad I spent the few extra quid for these. Perhaps a bit over the top for immediate use, but more useful to me personally afterwards.
