Recommendations for speakers?

I have a standard stereo main PA system for my flexible black box space. It covers most of my needs and sounds great.

Last year we bought wireless body mics for a musical, and I learned quickly that running them through the main PA was not ideal.

I am looking to purchase some smaller vocal support speakers to hang downstage of the playing space (and a new amp to drive them). What do people recommend? I would like the overall size of the cabinets to be no longer than 12-15" max, and will probably need 3-4 cabinets to cover my needs.

Thanks in advance

Budget and desired coverage? EAW JF60/JF80 is a solid and discrete option. Meyer UPM if more $$$ is okay and you can get AC to them. I think there's at least one thread here about vocal fills.

Edit: Here it is https://www.controlbooth.com/threads/favorite-front-fill-practical-speaker.44788/#post-390783

Darin said:

I have a standard stereo main PA system for my flexible black box space. It covers most of my needs and sounds great.

Last year we bought wireless body mics for a musical, and I learned quickly that running them through the main PA was not ideal.

I am looking to purchase some smaller vocal support speakers to hang downstage of the playing space (and a new amp to drive them). What do people recommend? I would like the overall size of the cabinets to be no longer than 12-15" max, and will probably need 3-4 cabinets to cover my needs.

Thanks in advance

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The problem is that you want a small box which is usually opposite from the goal of maintaining pattern control so your vocals aren't getting back to the stage.

What level of production are you talking about? If professional, a dipole-type speaker like the D&B Y-Series point source or the new Meyer X series would give you better vertical directivity control than a traditional box. If you don't have that kind of budget, take a look at the Martin CDD series. The differential dispersion pattern is useful in many rooms and I find them to sound very good. A very budget option would be used EAW JF100s, which sound good and can be found cheap on eBay but have very little pattern control.

It is a university setting. Small black box (60x60 foot square room, about half of which is seating in any given configuration.) Grid is only 12' off the deck.

I have a pair of Yamaha C112 speakers as my mains.

Well, I think the speakers in my back box are Community's, and they're on the grid, at 25 ft, facing down, and I rarely have much trouble avoiding feedback, with my Shure ULX/Avlex mics, at gains that are reasonable for a blackbox...

For small black boxes I have used the CDD series, and with good result.
mainly used the CDD5, partly due to the low pricetag at the time (they had an introduction price at the time)

I was recently on a cruise, and the theatre had the types (or similar types) of audio fills I'm looking for. They were roughly 12" x 8" cabinets, horizontally mounted on the underside of the balcony for vocal fill in the back rows.

When I look online for such speakers, I can't find them. Every audio website I go to keeps returning my search with large, tripod mounted PA cabinets.

What search term should I be using to get what I need?

Most speaker manufacturers have small cabinets for fill speakers. Where are you looking that you aren't finding anything?

Darin said:

I was recently on a cruise, and the theatre had the types (or similar types) of audio fills I'm looking for. They were roughly 12" x 8" cabinets, horizontally mounted on the underside of the balcony for vocal fill in the back rows.

When I look online for such speakers, I can't find them. Every audio website I go to keeps returning my search with large, tripod mounted PA cabinets.

What search term should I be using to get what I need?

Click to expand...

"Compact fill speaker" works well for me. Or just call a dealer and ask for all the options they can think of in the form factor, or whats listed above - the JF60s mentioned are pretty much exactly what you describe size-wise.

The JF60's are around $850/ea, plus another $100 for a bracket. That's out of my price range

Darin said:

The JF60's are around $850/ea, plus another $100 for a bracket. That's out of my price range

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What's your budget? JF60s should be closer to $600 from your friendly neighborhood dealer if that helps. Getting real prices from a local dealer not a web store will help you figure out what is affordable.

The brackets are convenient but some forged shoulder eyes and chain/GAC can do it cheaper.

Darin said:

The JF60's are around $850/ea, plus another $100 for a bracket. That's out of my price range

Click to expand...

Well then, what's your budget? The Community V2-26 is a compact full range 2 way box that comes in around $525, street price.

Almost any "commercial" or "contractor" line will be cheaper than a "professional" model line but it may not be enough to make your money stretch the way you'd like.

Another compact line of speakers that are commonly used but often overlooked are the JBL AC compact line. They come in single and dual cone models and vary in size as well.
New pricing is unfortunately steep, but lightly used corporate resale (eBay) are fairly cheap and plentiful.
They just installed a bunch in Disneyland and I just removed a bunch from a church.
https://www.jblpro.com/www/products/installed-sound/ae-compact-series

I've installed the Electro Voice EVU-2062/95 in a number of churches with great success. They have power for days.

DUAL 6.5" 2-WAY SPEAKER H 8.23" W 20.98" D 8.15"

Any drawbacks to using powered speakers for vocal support? I'm thinking this will be an easier/more flexible option than trying to run 3-4 speakers off of one amp

I think powered speakers are technically a better bet because you always get an amp that is matched to the speaker. The only drawbacks I know of are (a) the you have to run AC power to the speaker in addition to the XLR (but there are combo cables available now), and (b) the speakers might be a bit heavier having an integrated amp.

-- John

Powered speakers can have some advantages that are hard to duplicate with passive models. Powered speakers may be smoother because they could have more sophisticated crossovers, bi-amping, group delay compensation and EQ. They may also tend to be harder to damage because protection circuitry could be tailored for the drivers. Some powered speakers don't have these features, but ones up the price scale often do.

If you use powered speakers, and run all signal lines to a central rack, it is easy to get distribution, delays etc. setup and change if needed.
On the passive speakers you need more amps in the rack to do the same trick.

I'm looking at several models (JBL 610 Eon, Yamaha dbr10 to name two). I notice that these have 2 inputs (1/4" ?) with one XLR output/pass thru. If I have my mixer outs going to the first speaker, can I daisy chain the signal? Or are the separate connector types designed to discourage that?

My plan is to run vocals through these speakers, while music/sound effects are running through my main system. The theatre is currently set up in thrust, so I will need 3 speakers to cover my seating sections for vocal reinforcement. If I have to worry about splitting the mixer outs 3-ways, that seems messy

Thoughts?

That's the point of the daisy chaining ... however it will be mono ... and I don't know how many speakers can be chained before you start to hear the signal audibly degrade. I've only chained two speakers together, I'm guessing three will be no different.