I had my listening time on Friday, this time comparing the SRX815P to the EV ETX series. I brought a wireless router along and played with both the SRX Connect app as well as Audio Architect.
SRX Connect is an interesting app. The intent is to present a simplified setup for an all SRX800 series system, so some things are left out. The setup screen has a number of boxes that indicate speaker function - L&R mains, subs, L&R fills, rear fills, and monitors. Dragging the discovered speakers in one of these boxes affects the options you get. For example, putting a speaker in the L&R main box sets the box preset to "Main", and your only other choice is the "Speech" preset. Putting the box into the monitor section automatically recalls the "Monitor" preset. All locations have lots of EQ bands available, only some have delay and compression.
If you do have an all-SRX system, this app will help you get started faster, as the crossover settings are automatically set depending on which mains and subs you choose and because of the preset selection I mentioned earlier. There are a couple oddities, though. I was not able to discover the speaker until I turned cellular data off on my IPad. The other confusing thing is that where you tap affects what options you get, and it's not always intuitive how that works. You can tap a single speaker and you will get the input mixer. If you tap the Left Mains box, you will get some EQ bands and I think the oscillator. If you tap between the left and right mains boxes, you will get a different set of EQ bands, and if you tap farther out on the whole mains system box (which includes the subs), you get yet a different set of EQ bands. I get the idea - you would potentially want box tunings in one place then overall room EQ at a higher level, but this takes some getting used to.
I didn't have a chance to play with saving or loading setups, so I don't know if they're stored only on the IPad, if they get pushed to the boxes as a recallable preset, etc.
Audio Architect works as expected. You get a zillion EQ bands, the compression, delay, and preset management just like any other device managed by Audio Architect. You need AA 1.6 for SRX800 support, and AA 1.61 includes a firmware update for the SRX800 series. I'm glad for this, as perhaps they have addressed the limiter issues that Dan noticed on the SRX sub in the other thread.
Comparing the SRX series and the ETX series was interesting. There seems to be a philosophy difference between the boxes that was apparent in a few places. Both sounded good.
The SRX series seems to be more rugged, especially the paint. The SRX series has the same finish that Vertec uses and is pretty tough. The EV finish was spongier, and the demo boxes already had some wear on them. The SRX boxes have a third handle on top - the EV boxes don't. The ETX subwoofer socket is really robust - you drop the pole down 4" or so, and then it screws in, rather than only using the threads as the attachment point.
The ETX box has no networking features, so everything the box can do is accessible from the rear panel. For a quick show where you don't want to break out a computer, the ETX may have an advantage, as you can access the 3-band EQ right on the back of the box (1 band EQ on the sub). The downside is that you have to adjust this blind - you're behind the speakers while you're making the adjustments. The ETX series also has analog pots for the two inputs, which seems a bit incongruous - the rest of the system is DSP-driven, but they've broken out the initial gain stage in the analog domain. Contrasting that, the SRX box has no on-box adjustments other than level and preset recall, however the networking gives you a lot more control if you bother to get it out. As the input mixing is digital, you could potentially mix a simple event - one mic and a music source, via the IPad app and not need to bring a mixer.
Both boxes sounded good. The EV sounds more scooped - less mids and more HF sparkle. The JBL has more upper-midrange left in the default sound. My dealer called the ETX box a "safer" sound, while the JBL box left more of the mids there. I suspect that the ETX box would sound better for playback with its default tuning, but the JBL may have the edge for live work. Obviously both of these can be tuned to taste, and both boxes sound much better than the favorite boxes of a few years ago.
The ETX series makes a big deal of their very large horn. The SRX horn is much smaller. We were unable to really tell any advantage of the ETX horn in our listening environment.
It was clear that both boxes are good, and different folks will be attracted to the boxes for different reasons. My choice is the SRX series, largely because I'm already a JBL house, and because I liked the SRX form factor and construction slightly better.
