Mike Crofts does it again... unpacks some speakers, loads them into his car, and transports them into the world of PA. This month, Electrovoice stars at the country dance night.

These days the powered speaker market is pretty well endowed, with a good number of manufacturers in the field and a range of products to consider. ElectroVoice have always been known for their up-market and classy speakers, and the Sx200a and Sb120a are two complementary models from their own range of powered cabinets.

The decision to use powered speakers or not will depend upon several things, including the need for portability and/or flexibility, acceptable weight per unit, and, of course, personal preference. I have, in the past, tended to favour passive cabinets with a powered mixer as a universally practical setup; powered speakers have frequently been quite big and bulky, often because they use 15-inch bass speakers to achieve a reasonable low end response, and I don't always need to mic up anything much beyond vocals and acoustic instruments. These EV speakers were therefore of immediate interest as they are even smaller than my usual passive 12-plus-horn cabinets.

The models under review are the EV Sx200a, which is a 12-inch bass driver plus HF horn, powered by an integral 350 Watt full-range amplifier, and the Sb120a, which incorporates a dedicated 400 Watt bass amp driving a single 12-inch woofer. Both speakers are the same size and shape externally, and can be easily stacked or pole mounted. Fixing points are installed for suspending the speakers if desired; the data sheet provides detailed information on this and many other aspects.

Although visually similar, the two units are very different when it comes to the bits inside. Each fulfils a distinct and entirely separate function within the sound reinforcement system.

TECHNICAL BITS

In more detail, the Sx200a incorporates a 350 Watt full-range amplifier, built into the back of the cabinet. The amp has a -3dB power bandwidth of 10Hz to 40kHz, and a frequency response from 65Hz to 18kHz at ±0.5dB. Total Harmonic Distortion is acceptably low at less than 0.5% measured at 100Hz, and the dynamic range is in excess of 100dB. The bass driver is a 12-inch unit, which has a massive 7.25kg magnet assembly, and features an edge-wound voice coil. The HF horn is a one-inch titanium diaphragm unit capable of producing output signals up to 25kHz.

The cabinet is made from (and I quote) "high impact polypropylene structural foam". A carrying handle is moulded into one side, and a metal pole mount recess with clamping screw is set into the bottom of the unit. The enclosure is trapezoidal in shape, and has very strong rubber feet on the bottom with matching recesses on top for stacking purposes. The trapezoidal shape means that the cabinet is immediately usable as a floor monitor, and additional feet (normally supplied with the speaker) can be fixed, temporarily or permanently, for this purpose.

FULL FRONTAL

About one-third of the cabinet front is taken up by the HF horn mouth, which is moulded into and forms part of the case itself; below this is a strong, slightly curved metal grille, which covers and protects the bass driver cone. Because these cabinets are so compact, the area of this grille is relatively small, and so even if you push it in, it doesn't move very much, certainly nowhere near the cone surface. From the front, these cabinets look very black and very businesslike. I liked them as soon as I saw them, particularly their manageable size and understated design — this is typical of EV products which really do not need to proclaim their pedigree with fancy badging or by having the word 'professional' stuck all over them.

At the back, the first thing you notice is the large finned heatsink, which sticks out beyond the cabinet by half an inch or so. This is no problem when the speakers are in use, but you have to be careful when carrying them or packing them into a vehicle, in order to avoid either damaging the fins or removing bits of your car seats or someone's leg. The review models were not brand new, and one of them had already suffered a bent outer fin, although this didn't affect its performance at all.

THE INS AND OUTS

As for connections and controls, everything is very much as you would expect. At the top of the panel, above the heatsink, is an XLR line input socket, which has a useful pin wiring diagram printed next to it. The input level control is rotary and marked with a negative dB scale of attenuation, ie. '0' represents full level (clockwise) and 'infinity' means it is turned all the way down. Also provided in this region are an earth ground/lift toggle switch, and a 125Hz roll-off switch. Below the heatsink is an IEC mains connector, with an illuminated power switch and fuse carrier alongside. In the bottom right-hand corner is an XLR (male) line out connector for daisy-chaining to another unit. There are various warning and compliance labels, which are fairly standard these days, but of special note is the presence of sealing labels fixed across the edges of the panel. These carry a message informing you that the warranty will be void if these are broken. Such labels can be a bit worrying in case they break accidentally, but these are very well protected and would be hard to damage other than deliberately — perhaps they would be a good thing to check if you ever come across some of these speakers for sale second-hand.

A LONG EXCURSION

Now on to the sister unit, the Sb120a, which is a powered bass enclosure designed to work in conjunction with the full-range Sx200a cabinets. The Sb120a has a single 12-inch bass driver with an extra long-throw cone design (it can travel nearly an inch and is quite frightening to watch in action!). The special speaker design makes it impossible for the voice coil to come in contact with the magnet assembly and therefore cannot 'bottom' when coping with very heavy transients. The driver is powered by a 400 Watt class D digital switching amplifier, which at only 1.2kg is much lighter than its counterpart in the full-range cabinet. A 12dB/octave filter operates below 25Hz to protect the driver unit, together with a 125Hz low-pass filter to keep the enclosure dealing efficiently with only the lowest frequencies.

The cabinet design is very similar to the full-range version, the only noticeable difference being the large port above the bass driver in place of the horn moulding. The rear panel is quite different, however. Whilst it still has line input and (full-range) output XLRs, the attenuation control is replaced by a small (almost preset-size) control which gives 6dB of gain adjustment, more for trimming the overall system balance than anything else. A single LED indicates, by glowing green, that the unit is switched on; it also serves as a clip indicator by turning red on peak input signals.

Normally, only one of these bass speakers would be used in conjunction with a pair of the full-range cabinets, as the bass end is largely non-directional anyway — unconventional in PA terms perhaps, but you just have to remember not to panic after the gig when you only have three speakers left! An optional electronic system controller, the XP200A, is available and provides a greater degree of control over the operation of the Sb120a.

UNWRAPPED

On first unpacking these cabinets, I was very taken with their compact dimensions and neat appearance. The side handles are strong and fairly comfortable, but the Sx200a cabs are quite heavy and are not that easy to pick up and carry in an upright position as there is only a handle on one side (I tended to grab them in a kind of bear hug, which worked quite well). The bass version is noticeably lighter due to its amplifier design and can be lifted quite easily by its sides. The black polypropylene material appears to be very tough and hard-wearing. There is something about the design and character of these solid little speakers, which makes me think that they would still look very much the business even in a much 'less than showroom' state after a few years of road use, in the same way that a well-used but much-loved Precision bass has a certain lived-in appeal. After all, there's no cloth covering to tear off, and the metal grille should be strong enough to withstand most conventional forms of vandalism.

"In sheer practical terms, these EV speakers have got to score top marks for their power-to-size ratio and sheer versatility, never mind the excellent sound quality."

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

All three speakers fitted comfortably into the back luggage space of our Rover 216 hatchback and sat securely on their sides — a property not to be taken for granted in these days of weird and wonderful cabinet designs! Their first test was to be a country dance night in a medium-sized hall, with a caller trying to make himself heard over a five-piece electric dance band of fairly enthusiastic persuasion.

I have written before about the horrors of trying to amplify things like concertinas and mandolins (the types which don't have a proper pick-up fitted, of course), and I was putting a lot of faith in these EV speakers as I had not had time to test them before arriving at the hall. The rig consisted of a Spirit PowerStation, used as a desk only, feeding the two full-range Sx200a cabinets, without the bass speaker in this instance. I mounted the speakers on my usual PowerDrive stands, which was much easier than I had expected due to their very manageable dimensions and the visibility of the pole mount during the actual docking manoeuvre.

The speakers were angled in slightly, and the microphones (Shure SM57s and 58s) placed in line about six inches behind. The wiring up was very straightforward, although I did experience a brief moment of panic when I remembered that each 'loudspeaker' would on this occasion require a mains lead. No problem though — I was thankful that only the previous day I had implemented my new logistics management policy of putting everything into a big box and bringing it with me.

Powered speakers are a breeze to connect up, and in about five minutes, I was checking out the first mic. Everything came on stream and worked like a dream, and straightaway I was surprised by the amount of bass these full-range speakers produced. The hall acoustic was fairly lively (surprise, surprise), but the vocal sound was very clear and even, with excellent intelligibility, especially before the caller had seen off his seventh pint of Old Git, or whatever they were serving in the bar.

The time-honoured method of amplifying an un-bugged concertina is to point two microphones at it (the sound comes out of both ends, probably as a result of some mediaeval misunderstanding by the design team or something), using heavy top cut on the left hand and heavy bass cut to the right, and then — most important of all — ensuring that the faders are left fully in the 'down' position on the desk. This will generally produce by far the best results, but if (as on this occasion) it really must be a bit louder, then the sound system, particularly the speakers, will need to be capable of a smooth response especially at the upper end. The EVs coped admirably with this stiffest of real-world tests, and also demonstrated excellent projection, which to me means providing very good coverage in the hall without the need for excessive or uncomfortable levels. Everything remained clear, clean, and impeccably behaved all evening (the heatsinks were hardly warm by the end of the gig), and it was nice to know that there was a considerable reserve of available power should it be needed at any time.

Five hours, some yee-hah-ing, and a dubious cheese ploughman's later, packing away was just as easy and quick as setting up, and it was most agreeable not to go through the usual chore of untangling/retangling long and inflexible speaker leads. Everyone in the band agreed that the system had performed very well, although as there didn't appear to be much of it, they somehow forgot to help with packing it away — which with this system didn't really matter.

SECOND TEST

For a second test application, I rigged up the Sx200a speakers in an empty but well-furnished conference room, but this time, I added the Sb120a bass unit into the equation. I fed a CD source via the desk to the speakers, wired in stereo, with the mono desk output driving the bass speaker, which was placed centrally. Having used the full-range cabinets on their own the night before, I really wouldn't have said that any more bass was necessary, but that extra cab adds enormous depth to the bottom end! The low end instantly assumed a new dimension, with a depth and power which you would hardly believe possible from such a small enclosure. Close up (ten feet or so), it was really too much without resorting to serious LF desk surgery (the level control on the Sb120a only provides 6dB of attenuation which wasn't enough to achieve the system balance I wanted at the time), and so I moved the whole system outdoors to hear the balance better from a sensible distance. The bass projection of the Sb120a easily matches the HF projection of the full-range cabinets, and the whole system sounded very powerful and tight. The speakers look very good stacked as a pair (they are very well balanced and have to be tipped at quite an angle in any direction before they will topple over). Although you only need a single bass unit, I would love to try out one each side at an outdoor gig at high volume, just to see how much the bass would be felt as well as heard.

"The EVs coped admirably with this stiffest of real-world tests..."

LIVE AND KICKING

Finally, I tried the cabinets out with various single instrument mics on kit and brass. By this time, I was used to the outstanding bass response, so it wasn't much of a surprise to find it easy to achieve really deep kick and floor tom sounds. The bass speaker is worth another special mention here, as the extra-long throw driver is not only adept at reproducing sepulchral depth of tone, but also delivers a knockout punch on transients. Brass gave excellent results too, especially trombone and tenor sax, as the extra depth added lots of warmth and solidity to the sound.

HAPPINESS IS TRAPEZOID-SHAPED

In sheer practical terms, these EV speakers have got to score top marks for their power-to-size ratio and sheer versatility, never mind the excellent sound quality. I liked them very much indeed, and I have started to develop a distinct yearning for four of the Sx200a full-range speakers, with another four of the Sb120a bass units — in other words, a 3kW PA which fits into your average estate car.

Sx200a each £1169 int VAT.
Sb120a each £1052 inc VAT.

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