Anyone know if there's a way to disable the power saving function on the JBL PRX series powered speakers?
From a little quick research looks like no. I did find that it was supposed to be fixed in the 700 series. I have a bunch of these and am yet to notice the issue. I think I am usually running decent level into them. Do you have the 600 series or 700? Is it causing issues in acoustic / spoken word stuff. I am going to have to do some research in my own speakers to see if this is an issue. Is it a pretty obvious on/off gate pumping?
PRX712 specifically.
JBL says it's not defeatable, they don't have a service manual or schematic and never will. The product is designed and made in China.
Not the JBL I grew up with, clearly.
Same boxes I use for monitors. I've not experienced this. They don't toggle on and off quickly. Once they sense signal they stay on for a minute or two before going to standby.
If you use them in a quiet setting, they turn off and require a certain amount of level before they turn back on. Sure, 90% of people use them in loud situations where they'll never run into this problem. But for us 10% it's a deal breaker. ESPECIALLY since they're solving a problem that was never a problem to begin with. I've never heard anyone say "gee, I wish my speakers would go into power-save when they don't have signal". Ridiculous.
You aren't, by chance, running the speakers at full volume and barely putting signal through them are you? That would be a situation that would cause this. You should be able to put a nice healthy signal into the box and use the volume on the box to regulate the volume. I have to think the cutoff on signal is on the "input" side and not the output.
What's the dynamic range of the gate? I can think of a few scenarios where you'd want both very low levels and full output from the same setup.
The 700 series isn't really a gate that goes on and off. Think of it more like a motion sensor light that stays on for 5 minutes once it detects motion. I'm proposing that maybe the gain staging isn't ideal for low volumes. The powered speaker has an attenuation control. If it's all the way up and the desire is for low volume then you have to control it from the incoming signal, which would be very low.
JBL has had a few head scratchers. I agree on the gate, which BTW has been around since at least the PRX 500 series - I was shopping 7 years ago or so, and hated the "feature" then. I ended up buying QSC HPR instead.Like I say, it's a completely unnecessary, unneeded "feature" that nobody asked for, ever.
And it's a problem. Especially now that I know that JBL just rebrands Chinese crap without any design, involvement or thought it seems.
Like I say, it's a completely unnecessary, unneeded "feature" that nobody asked for, ever.
And it's a problem. Especially now that I know that JBL just rebrands Chinese crap without any design, involvement or thought it seems.
JBL has had a few head scratchers.
That makes no sense at all.For speakers installed permanently, the auto off allows the speakers to remain plugged in and powered 24X7. Eg, if they are installed in a club, you wire them up, and leave them on. When music starts flowing, they turn on. Perfect scenario for that.
That makes no sense at all.
First, who would install small MI-grade powered speakers permanently? Much more effective from a control and maintenance standpoint to use unpowered speakers and put the amps in an amp room where you can easily control the speakers.
Second, the switching power supplies in modern amplifiers would draw almost nothing when the speakers aren't producing sound. If they are using some sort of inefficient power supply that draws significant power even when the speaker isn't being used, then that's just poor design.
Third, in a permanent install, if you're going to all the trouble of running signal and power to each speaker, it's nothing to wire the AC to be sourced from a breaker or switch that can kill the power to the speakers if for some reason that's important to you.
Fourth, why would you want power to your speakers all the time? What if someone unplugs something at the source end? What if there's a problem with the wiring and a nice 60 cycle hum starts blasting through the speakers? What if one of the speakers' amps fail and it starts putting out noise or a buzz, or amp starts smoking?
None of what you suggest is a really a good reason for this terrible "feature", ESPECIALLY since it's not defeatable.
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That makes no sense at all.
First, who would install small MI-grade powered speakers permanently? Much more effective from a control and maintenance standpoint to use unpowered speakers and put the amps in an amp room where you can easily control the speakers.
Second, the switching power supplies in modern amplifiers would draw almost nothing when the speakers aren't producing sound. If they are using some sort of inefficient power supply that draws significant power even when the speaker isn't being used, then that's just poor design.
Third, in a permanent install, if you're going to all the trouble of running signal and power to each speaker, it's nothing to wire the AC to be sourced from a breaker or switch that can kill the power to the speakers if for some reason that's important to you.
Fourth, why would you want power to your speakers all the time? What if someone unplugs something at the source end? What if there's a problem with the wiring and a nice 60 cycle hum starts blasting through the speakers? What if one of the speakers' amps fail and it starts putting out noise or a buzz, or amp starts smoking?
None of what you suggest is a really a good reason for this terrible "feature", ESPECIALLY since it's not defeatable.
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1. There are many of these speakers installed permanently. They are one of many choices to install. It's quite common to install powered speakers versus having a separate amp location, especially if there is no convenient space for an amp. Your argument that you have better control of the speakers by having separate amps together could be used as an argument for your portable situation as well. If so, then why are YOU using powered speakers? Running a separate audio cord and power cord for a portable situation is more of a pain than running signal and power once for a permanent install.
2. At idle, a powered speaker probably draws 25-30 watts. While not much, that works out to about $30 in electrical consumption per year if the speaker sits idle 24X7. It adds up if you have multiple speakers in a room.
3. Yes, in an ideal world, you could put all of the speakers on a switch or a breaker. However, now you need to teach people how to find that breaker and turn on the speakers when they are needed. Believe it or not, in many situations, that's more difficult than it seems. If you can just pick up the mic and talk, that is much easier for many to understand. It's quite common in the install world to leave stuff powered on 24X7 because of this.
4.The reason to keep things on 24X7 is answered in question 3. The same problems you describe, of people plugging things in, or amp failures, etc. could happen if you have an amp in a rack.
The final reason that the auto power off is a good thing is that it makes the speakers completely quiet when there is no signal. So, if you set up the speakers in a quiet situation, you won't have any speaker hiss at all until there is signal and they power up. Yes, it would be nice if you could defeat the option, but that extra option would increase the cost of the speaker.