Surprising powered speakers

[Br1ck]

I'm involved in a weekly open mic. The host is interested in improving our sound and to that effect we pitched in and bought a small Yamaha powered mixer. The restaurant owner where we play has supported this open mic for over ten years and there is a back room with a small stage that is used for parties and karaoke nights and such.

We have been using the house mains, a pair of Peavey two way horns that look like they came out of the eighties. Big 15 inch speakers. We all think they suck, but we proved this big time last night. It was a slow night both for us and the restaurant.

One of the guys from a new company, Sunnaudio, came by because I had them build me a DI box he wanted to hear in the real world, and he immediately thought something was horribly wrong, and it was. The mains speakers are just shot.

So along with the Yamaha mixer, the host replaced the monitors with some very small Behringer powered speakers. I think these are 8"inch speakers. Marc from Sunnaudio suggested we turn the mains off and turn the Behringer speakers out toward the room. The improvement was stunning.

Now I have a very bad feeling toward the company, having bought a cheapo Mackie rip off mixer a decade ago, but these little $175 speakers filled this fairly large room, maybe 75 capacity, with smooth clear sound. Plenty for the acoustic solo and duo performers. I've got to reevaluate my thinking toward Behringer products. We will certainly never use the house mains again.

And you guys using piezo transducers should check out Sunnaudio. Their DI blows away my Redeye, and my friend's Fishman Matrix. I donated mine to the open mic and ordered another. They are just now getting their boxes for outboard units. I had them build me a custom box from a Hammond housing. They are smooth with a very broad frequency range and insane headroom, and will make a piezo sing.

[Jon Hall]

I have a Behringer A112D powered speaker. It sounds great and has plenty of power. It is advertised as producing 1000 watts but it's probably an actual 600 - 700 watts.

[pops1]

I have a Behringer A112D powered speaker. It sounds great and has plenty of power. It is advertised as producing 1000 watts but it's probably an actual 600 - 700 watts.

1000 watts PTP or 1000 watts RMS? There is a huge difference and both can be advertised. RMS is the power rating you want to go by. PTP is not quite double, but nowhere near true power.

Nothing better for acoustic music than 8" speakers.

[allenhopkins]

I'm a bit of a Behringer heretic, in that most posters here seem to "dis" the brand, while I've had a cheap little EuroRack five-channel mixer that's performed flawlessly for well over a decade. It's ideal for adding multi-channel capacity to limited-input amps like my Fishman SA-220 SoloAmp; I used it last night to run two hammered dulcimers, and myself as back-up, into the Fishman for a gig at an antique show.

So, not to hijack -- and I know there are probably more expensive, similar mixers that are superior in features and projected durability -- but I wouldn't dismiss all Behringer gear, without at least a modicum of consideration, based on a single bad experience. I bought a couple of condenser mics that also work well, and I love my little mixer. Did I mention you can run it on two 9v batteries, three if you need phantom power?

[Nevin]

Continuing the hijack, I have heard that Behringer is has upped there game in quality control and design and is well worth looking at now.

Back on topic, 15" speakers are not very good for producing most sounds except bass. Do they have an integrated horn? If so the horn may be blown or otherwise disabled. Glad you found a better sound so inexpensively.

[Br1ck]

I think everything about those house mains is bad, design, age, maybe even wiring. Every band that plays there brings their own PA. Horns can sound good, just not these.

But back to topic, if you can't spend a lot for speakers try these. I never thought I'd be singing the praises of any Behringer product, but there you go.....

[mandroid]

Y'Ha Stage pass offer a powered speaker with the power and mixer removable , to sit it next to you,
and if you get the 2nd one that space in the back of it, is storage for your cables & such..

sound good easy to haul in and out of the gig.

[Br1ck]

Yamaha makes good gear. The mixer we use is powered, so we're looking at Yami passive speakers. Perhaps we'll add a sub in the future.

[Strad]

Behringer has come along way in the past 5 years, I wouldn't be afraid to buy their equipment now. They have a 3 year warranty now.

[Jeff Mando]

I bought some of the Behringer guitar effects pedals when they first came out, mostly wanted to try them because they were so inexpensive. Soundwise, they were very good, way better than I expected for the price. The housing of the pedals is made of plastic, so that didn't impress me, but I have been careful with them and none have failed, so far. More than gotten my "money's worth!"

[kwd]

We have used 3 of the Behringer 8” for monitors at church for worship teams. They have performed well, being one of the more predictable elements in the chain. One Sunday the mains didn’t work. The sound crew put two of the Behringers on the pole mounts as mains, keeping one as a monitor. The sound was surprisingly good. I play primarily double bass at church. The sound of the bass on stage through these monitors is always good. I think they have a built in HPF which minimizes feedback on the upright.