Outdoor Powered Speaker?

It's pool party and block party time again!!

I am looking to purchase new speakers for this season.

Here are my priorities in order:

Powered speakers
Able to play for 5-6 hrs outside
Weight 35 pounds or less
Under $500 each
Loud
Sound quality average or above. (I'm a human jukebox or radio)

Any suggestions??

kz

XZA1 by EV.

BillESC said:

XZA1 by EV.

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(in the tone of Bill Lumbergh) See now Bill, I'm going to have to go ahead and disagree with you here and...
recommend the EV ZXA1...And if they're for the outdoors, the white.

Yes - ZXA1 will NOT work. I have them and they will over heat in 60-90 minutes. They have no way to dispurse the heat.

Make sure its not over 90 outside or keep the speakers out of the sun. They have no fan to cool themselfs off. On the other hand nice sound and you can hear them for blocks away from you.

The QSC K12 is an excellent fan driven choice. I've used them myself outside, no issues. I do not know what the MAp is. They weigh 37 lbs.

RCF ART 312as

Powered speakers - Checked
Able to play for 5-6 hrs outside - Checked
Weight 35 pounds or less - Didn't pass - 41 Pounds
Under $500 each - Checked (as low as $399....once priced in the $800s)
Loud - Checked
Sound quality average or above. (I'm a human jukebox or radio) - Checked

Even if they're ZXA5's, without subs, you're not going to get much coverage outside. If you're really concerned about overheating, use passives. I prefer passive for outside anyway since they're less likely to be affected by rain.

Qsc has speaker covers for light rain instances.

Glad makes covers for any speaker for inclement weather!



Just sayin'...

American Audio makes some very nice plastic cabs, I've got the original APX PowerPro's and have run them in direct sunlight in up to 120+ degree heat for nine hours without incident!

I have the QSC's both the 10 & 12's, however it's your budget that won't work

What about the Mackie Thump? TH-15A.

KennyZail said:

What about the Mackie Thump? TH-15A.

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Mackie deservedly has their critics...but I've heard them and for the price point I think they're hard to beat. As far as how they do outside and tolerate heat...not sure.

Although 5 pounds heavier than the Mackies, the RCF Art 312As will give you 150 more watts. If the 5Lb may not be a big deal for you...I will tell you that those RCF are the best value for the money $399 (Made in Italy)

Behringers. I use the B212A and B212D models for outdoor monitors so they're sometimes shaded but always laying down on the stage. To push further, I'd suggest going with 15" because it'll be in a deeper cabinet.

For better quality, I'd say the EV SxA250. A little heavier and more $ than what is wanted to spend but I've played 20 continuous hours on them for Relay For Life. In the sun, drizzle, dew and they've been on telelocks, flown from truss and perched above everyone with Applied L-16s and their speaker adapters.

I'll look into the Behringer & RCF - thx!

KennyZail said:

I'll look into the Behringer & RCF - thx!

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Good Lord!

That statement alone is tantamount to saying "I'm trying to decide between an aged, medium-rare Rib-Eye (RCF) or a Slim-Jim (behringer)"!!!


Just sayin'...

RCF ART310A meets all your specs. Add a sub for the bigger gigs and you might even retire whatever else you are using.

audiopyle said:

RCF ART310A meets all your specs. Add a sub for the bigger gigs and you might even retire whatever else you are using.

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What's the dispersion angle on the RCF? Maybe I am missing something, (I checked their site and didn't seem to find it)... Dispersion angles for outdoors events are important for me... I don't want to hijack this thread, but moreover offer some advice... Anyways, my 2 cents: Have you ever noticed that the most common outdoor speaker used for large outdoor venues is the Electro-voice SX300PI and the SX300PIX? You will find these all over the world installed in venue's outdoors. They are used in almost EVERY application where outdoor sound is needed.

These cabinets are all weatherproof and work extremely well outdoors due to the constant 65X65 degree dispersion angle... you can even array them easily with little to no understanding of array technology or how it works for larger events.

I had 8 of these when I did outdoor events often. They were fabulous. They would sit out on tripods day/night through storms for 24 hour Relay for Life events... I never took them down even when it rained.

Kenny, I know they are out of your price range, but you can find them used sometimes and you could buy a nice quality used amplifier too... You could put the amp in a lightweight rolling type case and have the best of both worlds... I am trying to talk you out of thinking active for outdoor events. Yes active works and I use my SXA360's at outdoor events all year long and they work fabulous, but I miss my SX300PI's a ton for outdoor events. If you are planning to use these a lot for outdoors you will happy if you went the passive route for sure, especially all weather speakers.

I know it sounds like you have already made up your mind, and that is ok, but I wish someone would have intervened back about 15 years ago when I started those outdoor events and offer the same advice.. I had to find out the hard way what really worked well.