Plastic Vs Wood P.A. speakers

[fokof]

Of all things, I liked the original Mackie SRM450s. Solid workhorse speakers that were a great bang for the buck.

Except for the thermal shutdown problem of their original Made in USA models.
That problem got solved when they were later made by RCF

 

[JangoMike]

What are K10’s made out of? That.

A man of fine taste! I love my K10s

 

[BucketOfFish]

What are K10’s made out of? That.

K10's series are ABS plastic...CP 12's series are polypropylene

 

[fokof]

At work , we have L'Acoustic Kiva kit as a PA
It's thermoplastics

It sounds VERY good

 

[ezstep]

I had an early pair of EON's and one of their powered subs. I NEVER found a sound that I liked at moderate volume. I haven't listened to the newer EON's so I cannot comment.

I voted no difference.

 

[Marko 1]

In the plastic speaker world the RCF 700 and 900 series with the large
format high frequency drivers are at the top of the list.

My RCFs (ART312As) aren't the higher-end ones, but they sound great (for a weekend-warrior band),

and I got them at a pretty-good price years ago when they were being replaced with the newer series.

like under $450 each.

In any case, I voted "I don't hear the difference"

 

[Marko 1]

I have a couple of Alto speakers that work well for me, plenty of power, volume and clarity. I don't run a boosted low frequency sound through them, if I needed more volume or lows I would add a sub.

Our PA tonight (not mine) was "Alto Professional", 18" subs and 15" tops.

To my ear they sounded a bit harsher than my 12" RCFs, (I just heard music playback before the gig)

but the word was that it sounded good out there.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

I am looking to trade in my old heavy wood ones...So what are the good plastic ones. Our guitarist has the latest top shelf 112 EV's but I don't like the "plastic sound".

My guitarist has the top tier wood EV 15s. They're alright. They do sound better than my thump 15s. But, not compared to the price point. And they're heavey as heck.

 

[rodl2005]

Don't matter. Depending on how they're designed.
I remember when plastic PA speakers 1st came out. Most were awful, tinny and boxy sounding.

But a few weren't.

Now I think most well made ones sound great, and most I see are plastic

We use wooden ones tho. JBL

 

[Philonius]

I had to check to make sure this wasn't an April Fools thread.

 

[FoghornLeghorn]

The QSC "K" speakers (ABS plastic) sound great. They're not so light, though.

I had one as a personal monitor and it sounded excellent.

 

[4Mal]

my K (and KW) series stuff worked well for me for years. Still have 4 KW-181's... IMo, they spunded good out f the box. Required very little EQ in most places. As they were getting old I sold them all off and replced with Yamaha DR-112 and DHR-112M. Wood boxes. IMO the Yammies are more transparent. I never thoight of the QSC's as colored but... side by side, they are. Now... is it a good color or a bad color ? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that.

I upgraded my KW-153 (wood) mains to db technologies IG3T. The db tech boxes are plastic. They simply walk away from the 153's in every respect except... the 153's go a solid 10hz deeper. Given the db tech boxes are solid to 70... not a real world thing as I cross between 80 and 100...

The db tech boxes are so much more advanced in their tuning and filtering, wood v plastic simply doesn't matter.

What does matter... KW-153 were 75 to 90 lb boxes. Definately a 2 guy move to a pole on a sub... The IG3T's are 45 lb boxes. I can get one onto a tall pole easily. For me the other thing... I bought 4 IG3T... they vertically array. 2 of them per side are equivalent to a 4 box hang of the db tech line array boxes. Still 1 guy deployable. For a small sound co... that is a very large deal.

.. and the sound quality is exceptional.

 

[cnltb]

I've never seen wooden speakers...

 

[FunkMeister57]

The size of the compression driver is critical if it is used with a 15" woofer. Only a 2″ driver with a 3″ voice coil and a low crossover point can adequately handle this configuration without messing up the vocal range. 1" drivers only work well with 10" or 8" speakers, as they can only handle high crossover frequencies.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Aren’t we really hearing the sound of paper / Kevlar / etc?

 

[brianrost]

The plastic PA system that started it all, from 1981, the EV Entertainer. This was a godsend for people who had been lugging Shure Vocal Masters and the like around. Ads showed the whole thing fitting into the trunk of car. The powered mixer was designed by Greg Mackie and cobranded with the Tapco name. The cabs could be pole mounted and included a metal leg that would tilt the cab when on the floor. I used mine for both mains and monitors, depending on the gig. Serious drivers...cast metal frame 12" woofer and a compression driver tweeter (no piezos here). These were super popular as rental units well into the 1990s. Note the price, I recall paying about $600 each for my 100S cabs in the 1980s, serious money for the time.

 

[AlexanderB]

Many polymers used in this context will change material properties quite a bit, both across different temperarures, as well as over time. Not something that affect plywood enclosures to any larger degree.
Other than that, there are advantages to both types, depending on what you focus on. That said, I do not remember ever seeing any larger, high performance subwoofers not made from wood.

 

[Windreaper]

The plastic PA system that started it all, from 1981, the EV Entertainer.

Remember using those well into the 2000s, we used to call them soapbox speakers in my country. Quite lightweight - only 28lbs according to the spec sheet.

 

[Zooberwerx]

I've never seen wooden speakers...

...apparently you've never been in an Amish mosh pit.

Riis

 

[Marko 1]

I'm guessing all the cab has to do is be rigid.

The larger subwoofer boxes might have needed more to be made from wood in order to be rigid.