Comparing my new DR200/T39 to my JBL EON 15P

[psjon]

A little background: I am foremost a musician who is good with a table saw and not a soundguy by any stretch. I've never done sound when I wasn't an integral part of the content. As an aside that has now become a point of frustration as I would benefit greatly from doing sound for a band so I can really focus on it and learn from doing. It's hard to learn when you're also trying to make music simultaneously.

Anyway, having just recently completed by first T39-14" I thought it would be good to do a little side by side with the JBL EON 15Ps before I sell them. I just ran my iPod through them as it was handy. I have a QSC GX3 driving the BFM gear with a crossover set to 120.

The side-by-side was just in my man cave with the 6.5' ceiling - hardly ideal I know. Anyway the short of it according to my less than perfect engineering ears is that the BFM gear has them beat for high and low end, but the EON still seem to beat on the mids. At first I had 2" bass ports in the DR200s as I was experimenting with getting a little more bass out of them. I removed them and I thought I heard a little better mid response.

Based on my trial in less than ideal circumstances in some ways neither was the standout and they were just different. My 16 yr. daughter liked the EONs a little better (she's a musician but once again not an engineer). Another thing is that bluegrass (the main thing it will be used for) is very midrange rich (guitar, dobro, banjo, and mandolin are in the same range) to the point that I have to cut the mids. The high-end Martin the guitar player plays boosts it even more (ironic that you have such a finely built instrument that's overtone-rich only to filter a lot of it out). So anyway a little midrange cut wouldn't be the end of the world.

It would be nice to hear them in a room, and the Minnesota winter is a little too cold to take them outside at the moment. I've got the EONs for sale on Craig's List and someone is coming over tomorrow for a gander, so my opportunity for further comparison is diminishing.

Is testing them with an iPod a good idea since they are probably mp3 quality? Is live music going to come out of the system a lot differently?

As another aside, I turned the T39 into the wall per advice here and there was definitely a noticeable boost in decibels. I've never had a crossover before so it was interesting to hear just the sub by itself. Alone it doesn't sound like it's doing much but without it it sounds like you know what. Kind of surprising to a newbie.