Which speaker is loudest... a test.

[BillESC]

In a side by side test ( non-scientific ) which of these four speakers produced the most SPL without distorting?

The line up is from left to right-
KV2 EX12 - Yorkville NX750 - Mackie SA1521 - Mackie SRM 450

[AVGuyAndy]

My guess is the yorkville, without looking up efficency specs and all that. But there's more to good sound than just which is louder.

[soundman1024]

Based on a quick check it looks like 500 watts for the KV2 and the sa1521, 400 watts for the SRM450 and 750 for the T2MP. I have only heard the SRM450 before and it does a pretty good job I say. That was just about two minutes at most of research. You should look into peak and program levels for these.

[mbandgeek]

Originally Posted by AVGuyAndy

My guess is the yorkville, without looking up efficency specs and all that. But there's more to good sound than just which is louder.

my guess is the Makie on the far right.

It is true that being loud isn't the only benchmark in a good speaker. it all depends on what you are looking for. Whether you want nice crisp sound, or distorted sound. Also if you want a speaker that has great bass or great treble.

Really you can judge based on whatever.

[MHSTech]

My guess is the SRM450

[AVGuyAndy]

Sure, those are the wattages, but what are the efficency figures?

[BillESC]

Hands down the KV2 EX 12 provided more SPL with extreme clarity and even better bass response.

We've had a dozen or more Mackie cabinets in our rental stock over the last ten years and they are wonderful speakers, however they simply don't even come close to the KV2's on any level. It's not surprising though, the two founders of KV2 Audio were the engineers that created the Fussion series for Mackie.

All four of these speakers list their max SPL within 2 dB of each other and yet the EX 12 sounds sweeter with a crispness the others don't attain.

Sound is certainly subjective and this is solely my observation.

[RelativeMischief]

Bet you anything if you put an A weight filter on your instrument the measurements would start to get closer to one another. I realize this doesn't have much to do with a straight comparison, but it's important when measuring which one is louder to human ears.

[Mayhem]

Interesting in that the 12" driver outdid the 15" ones. Wonder what efficiency of cabinet design has to do with it? Any reason for comparing the 12” against the 15”s and not against other 12”s?

[BillESC]

Originally Posted by Mayhem

Interesting in that the 12" driver outdid the 15" ones. Wonder what efficiency of cabinet design has to do with it? Any reason for comparing the 12” against the 15”s and not against other 12”s?

The SRM 450 is a 12". The client had brought his Yorkville NX 750 to compare it to the EX 12 and we also had the SA 1521 available so we ran a bunch of comparisons.

IMHO, the EX 12 took each one walking away.