Yamaha DXR 12, Mackie HD1221, or JBL EON 515XT

will ju

Freshman
Jun 18, 2012
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Hey,

First time poster here. I've been looking up a lot of reviews lately and a lot of them have led me here so I figured I would register.

I'm in the market for a powered speaker, just one to act as a DJ monitor. I work as a mobile DJ, but I can't afford to buy a pair, or a set of 4, so I just need one to use for practice at home, and to bring to gigs where they have an in-house system but require the DJ to bring his own monitor.

I play all kinds of venues, backyards, banquet halls, clubs, bars, restaurants, so the speaker needs to be versatile, and rugged (The wood-box of the EV ELX112p failed in that department, I know a wood box sounds better, but it looks like it would get beat up easily). I'll also be covering any and all genres at some point as well, so as ambitious as it might sound, I also need something that'll sound great with any genre or music, or at least have a somewhat flat response.

I also only use powered speakers in my mobile setup (the others are rented Yorkville NX55P's) so this "monitor" will have to be capable of being an FOH speaker in case one of them should fail.

Yamaha DXR12 ($699) - I love what I've seen and heard of the DXR line, except my local store only had the DXR8, but compared side by side to the EV ELX112P I was I was impressed. I'm a little weary about the fact that this line hasen't been around long, as reliability is of huge importance to me with mobile setups, but I'm really interested in this speaker.

JBL EON 515 XT ($699) - nobody around me stocks these, so I can't even hear them. Reviews seem hit or miss. Lot's of people report "Loud, inexpensive and so-so sound quality" which is what I remember of the G2's. Except that the previous 515 had really bad reviews so I'm weary about this too.

Mackie HD1221 ($650)- This speaker is a dealer demo, so I'm weary about the fact that it might have sat in a showroom for on for 10k hours. Sure it's tested and it works now, but there's no telling how long it'll last. I prefer to buy new. I've also never had a good experienced with "refurbs" or "floor models", so I'm operating on personal experience too.

Any opinions are helpful, although I'm somewhat stuck on these brands unless there's something of comparable (not more as it's already above what I initially intended to spend) quality/price.
 
Re: Yamaha DXR 12, Mackie HD1221, or JBL EON 515XT

I can tell you this- if you like the sound of the NX55p's you will like the DXR12 better. They are superior in every way. Louder, lighter and littler. Yamaha runs a tight ship. I wouldn't be too worried about reliablity issues. I have several pair we use for dry hire and no problems so far. Never had any major problems with Yorkville stuff either, and we've had a pile of it.
 
Re: Yamaha DXR 12, Mackie HD1221, or JBL EON 515XT

I can tell you this- if you like the sound of the NX55p's you will like the DXR12 better. They are superior in every way. Louder, lighter and littler. Yamaha runs a tight ship. I wouldn't be too worried about reliablity issues. I have several pair we use for dry hire and no problems so far. Never had any major problems with Yorkville stuff either, and we've had a pile of it.

Thanks.

I'll probably go with the DXR on account of it being, new, and having more input options than the Mackie HD.
 
Re: Yamaha DXR 12, Mackie HD1221, or JBL EON 515XT

All a powered speaker needs is line input, line through, powercon input, powercon through. NOTHING else.
I've actually found the mic i/o quite useful in few recent applications, though I do subscribe to the 'keep it simple' school of thought. I just tape off the undesired i/o when prepping for a dry hire or even when I take them out for a show.
Different strokes.....
BJ
 
Re: Yamaha DXR 12, Mackie HD1221, or JBL EON 515XT

I've actually found the mic i/o quite useful in few recent applications, though I do subscribe to the 'keep it simple' school of thought. I just tape off the undesired i/o when prepping for a dry hire or even when I take them out for a show.
Different strokes.....
BJ

I agree.

As a mobile DJ there's all kinds of situations you can encounter where multiple inputs come in handy.

"Ideally" you don't need more then in, out, and power...But mobile DJ'ing isn't about "ideal" it's about being prepared.
 
Re: Yamaha DXR 12, Mackie HD1221, or JBL EON 515XT

My big issue is every show I do, I may have about 10 wedges on stage, maybe more. I get really, really tired of walking around and checking all the switches after a while. "Flat"..."Line"..."Limit"..."Ext Sub"..."unity gain"..."power on" now check those 10 times on a K series. Big PITA. Then someone bumps the switch over to "Mic" and that 30dB of gain pretty much ruins your day.
 
Re: Yamaha DXR 12, Mackie HD1221, or JBL EON 515XT

My big issue is every show I do, I may have about 10 wedges on stage, maybe more. I get really, really tired of walking around and checking all the switches after a while. "Flat"..."Line"..."Limit"..."Ext Sub"..."unity gain"..."power on" now check those 10 times on a K series. Big PITA. Then someone bumps the switch over to "Mic" and that 30dB of gain pretty much ruins your day.


......And then after everything is running fine, the first set is done, the vocalist says " I can't hear my self"! So, recheck all the cables and settings only to find out the dope stepped on the IEC cable and popped out.......ARG!
 
Re: Yamaha DXR 12, Mackie HD1221, or JBL EON 515XT

All a powered speaker needs is line input, line through, powercon input, powercon through. NOTHING else.

I'll ammend this statment... any speaker that has a price of $800 or more should have PowerCon...

If they are under $800 then they need at last a PowerOut (edison).


IEC plugs are f'n annoying; and are much more expensive to maintain or build cables for.
 
Re: Yamaha DXR 12, Mackie HD1221, or JBL EON 515XT

Yeah, I use the K series as wedges too, and I agree all the settings are a PITA, but I find it worth it for the versatility. When I'm using them as wedges, I just use input 2 which is line only, then put a piece of gaff over the other controls. The IECs are actually a locking version, which I haven't found to be a problem.
 
Re: Yamaha DXR 12, Mackie HD1221, or JBL EON 515XT

Yeah, it's a pain, but the I find the other input options to be very useful.

I check the settings while I'm patching, so time and effort are minimized.

My units have separate mic inputs so I haven't had the 30 dB jump, but that WOULD ruin my day.