HK Audio Elements?

[AJBaker]

Anybody tried these? This looks like HK's answer to Bose. I need a new PA for medium sized solo gigs, and this looks like fun. I might get something like:

HK AUDIO ELEMENTS ACOUSTICS ONE

or

HK AUDIO ELEMENTS DJ ONE

or even

HK AUDIO ELEMENTS BAND ONE

What do you all think? Worthwhile?

Thx for any input!

[AJBaker]

bump

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Take a road-trip to Thomann's PA "warehouse", IIRC they claim that there one can test almost every PA system they sell.

I personally wouldn't dump that much money on a HK.

Regards
Sam

[AJBaker]

Thanks for the reply!
Thomann is a bit far, but there's a place in France where I might be able to try them out. Have you used stuff from HK before? Not so good, or how was it?

I like the idea of the Elements, because I get to most of my gigs by train and foot. (Plus, the main town where I gig, Zermatt, doesn't allow cars)

[T-Bird]

Hi.

The only piece of HK gear I own is a traditional 115 passive sub and while the speaker is adequate (Eminence), the box is made out of MDF, something I really hate.

The box (mine does anyway) will need ocasionally "tightening up" with glue and screws because the workmanship is a bit shoddy.

Not a bad cab by itself, but pretty heavy for what it is (obviously, being made out of MDF).

IIRC, I once used their medium size PA and the sound was all right, didn't have to move the rig though .

The idea and the footprint of these "stick on a box" type speker systems is nice, but I'd choose more traditional line array modules if I had to renew my smaller PA rig. Don't have the necessary dough to do that though .

Regards
Sam

[AJBaker]

Well, I'm going to the shop tomorrow to try them out, and I think I'm going to spring for them. Going over reviews, it seems they're louder than the bose sticks, but with a proper sized woofer (10" instead of 5.25"), and they don't claim to be miracle speakers either. I'll report back in a few days hopefully!

[AJBaker]

Well, I popped over to France to a shop that had the HK elements and the Bose L1s. I was planing on getting the HK with two subs and four tops (HK AUDIO ELEMENTS BAND ONE), in the end I only got one sub and two heads (600w total). These things are LOUD, and I was especially impressed by how well it handled bass guitar. I have two gigs this weekend, and we'll see how it performs.

According to their site, this set up should do for 100 people, which is what Bose claims their L1 compact can do. I tried it out in the shop, and I was quite surprised at how awful it sounded in comparison. The bass was boomy and undefined, the highs were quite harsh, and there seemed to be no body to the sound. Looking at it, it has six drivers at the top that look like they're between 1.5" to 2", and I don't know what it has as a sub. Someone on one of the forums said it only gives out 70w, but I don't know (and Bose doesn't seem to say on their site).

[DonovanBankhead]

Any updates after using this gear in the real world?

[AJBaker]

So far so good! I've been using it For vocals and electric guitar (solo act) mostly, but I jammed along with another bassist and the miniature sub handled it well. The sound is very clear and loud, though it doesn't have quite the same punch that bigger speakers give. Probably a bit overpriced, but the sound really is good. The transportability is also one of their selling points. I think this will be even more noticeable once I start adding more tops and subs.
I'll be writing a longer review at some point that I'll also post here.