J10 Review and a Observation/Question

[psjon]

So yesterday I did sound for an outdoor wedding ceremony for 250 or so. It was mic'ing the pastor, one soloist, and playing recorded tracks. Before I did the gig I did a quickie side by side comparison of my J10s with some new EV ZX1s that I have for monitors down in my basement. Both are small full range cabinets. In the basement test, I really preferred the ZX1s. They just sounded smoother especially in the midrange and highs. Suddenly I wasn't feeling so hot about my J10s.

So I did the gig with the J10s on sticks as the mains and one EV ZX1 as a monitor for the soloist. The J10s just sounded fabulous. When the pastor arrived for the quick rehearsal I had music playing and he commented that it sounded awesome and that he didn't know a sound system could sound that good. After the ceremony he repeated it again. My observation was that the dispersion was outstanding. I crossfired them a bit to be sure the front rows were well in the firing range and it really bathed the entire seating area in sound. Just a pair of J10s and it was plenty of loud enough with lots of clarity through the EQ range.

So, I guess the basement hearing doesn't really tell the whole story. What was the difference in hearing them closeup in the basement and far away in the outdoors? (FWIW I am more musician than sound guy, so I'm still a piker at this engineering game).

[Gregory East]

My guess is the basement has resonance in the jack low end, making it boomy.

[kekani]

I don't know how to describe this, but with Jacks (12L's) in my living room, they sound, well, clean. . . and way better than the JBL 15's.

However, on a gig, seems they're allowed to 'breath' a bit more, sort of like when I swapped my intake and exhaust on my truck and opened it up.

Not sure if that made any sense whatsoever, but that's what I got.

My suggestion (not that you asked): if you have a melded array, don't worry about cross firing. Have faith in the horizontal dispersion.

Oh, and wait until you replace the EV's with Wedgehorns.