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Test Drive
McCauley M421 Quad 21" Subwoofer
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<blockquote data-quote="Bennett Prescott" data-source="post: 32819" data-attributes="member: 4"><p>Show Time</p><p></p><p>There is one place where I have no reservations about the M421's stated performance: This box is loud as all get out. We had none of our former power woes over the weekend, and definitely gave the M421s a bit of a workout. I wouldn't say they got ridden hard, but I was definitely seeing the amps built in peak voltage limiter get tapped on kick hits. Unfortunately my clamp meter appears to have given up the ghost, so I had no way to measure current draw. That said, I stand by my statement that two of these things are probably enough for most genres for maybe 4,000 people indoors and 2-3,000 out. They get up and go and take a beating like a man, no complaints with behavior at high excursion.</p><p></p><p>Saturday's outdoor show was easy, I did the line check on the PM5D and had plenty of time to play around with both subwoofer arrays. It is very difficult to do a comparative listening test when one product has peaky response. I will say that I found the M421s gave an easy and powerful kick drum sound, but I didn't try putting kick in our other subs and boosting 65Hz to see if I could get them to match. I definitely preferred the sound of our other subs for bass guitar, I still think the McCauley is a little smeared in time. The rest of that show was mixed by the band's BE who normally, let's say... doesn't use a lot of subwoofer. He was definitely using more than usual this time, though, and had different sources going to different subs... except for kick which was in both.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]149812[/ATTACH]Sunday's show was supposed to be outdoors, but got called at 7:30 a.m. for rain and moved down the street to the Giant Concrete Box™, so we got to take down, set up, and take down again that evening. Space is at a little more of a premium there, and the room has nearly an 8 second reverb at 160Hz, so less than ideal but I've been in there a lot so I can manage it all right. I used essentially the same setup as Saturday except the artist wanted a thrust, with the results you see here. Less issues than you might think, probably thanks to generous bracing in the M421s. Monitor world, directly behind one of the end fire arrays, definitely appreciated having some directionality in the subs.</p><p></p><p>I didn't mix at all this show, but had some good fun playing tracks before check. Running both sets of subs, once you build in room gain as well... I might finally have gotten enough subwoofer. At least until I get used to it.</p><p></p><p>Band Engineer's only comment was "cut out all that fucking sub harmonic shit". I gave him a -6dB shelf at 45Hz and he was happy. Oh well, it's not like there wasn't plenty going on down there anyway, saying this was a low end heavy act was an understatement. Most things went in both sub sends for this guy, but as a result all the subs were just loafing along while meanwhile, at FOH 80' away, my nose hairs were vibrating so badly I had to sneeze regularly. With the PA running about 105A-Slow I popped in some foam plugs and watched meters for a few hours. BE was having a great time, dancing along to the music, so I figured it was a job well done. The 4,000 screaming teenagers there plainly had a good time, and reminded me why I am glad to not be that age any more.</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]149811[/ATTACH]</p><p>A few other forum members have gotten their ears on these boxes by now, and will hopefully post their impressions. I have some more shows coming up and then Evan Kirkendall has asked to take them out on tour with All Time Low towards the end of the month. That should be interesting...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bennett Prescott, post: 32819, member: 4"] Show Time There is one place where I have no reservations about the M421's stated performance: This box is loud as all get out. We had none of our former power woes over the weekend, and definitely gave the M421s a bit of a workout. I wouldn't say they got ridden hard, but I was definitely seeing the amps built in peak voltage limiter get tapped on kick hits. Unfortunately my clamp meter appears to have given up the ghost, so I had no way to measure current draw. That said, I stand by my statement that two of these things are probably enough for most genres for maybe 4,000 people indoors and 2-3,000 out. They get up and go and take a beating like a man, no complaints with behavior at high excursion. Saturday's outdoor show was easy, I did the line check on the PM5D and had plenty of time to play around with both subwoofer arrays. It is very difficult to do a comparative listening test when one product has peaky response. I will say that I found the M421s gave an easy and powerful kick drum sound, but I didn't try putting kick in our other subs and boosting 65Hz to see if I could get them to match. I definitely preferred the sound of our other subs for bass guitar, I still think the McCauley is a little smeared in time. The rest of that show was mixed by the band's BE who normally, let's say... doesn't use a lot of subwoofer. He was definitely using more than usual this time, though, and had different sources going to different subs... except for kick which was in both. [ATTACH=CONFIG]149812.vB5-legacyid=1729[/ATTACH]Sunday's show was supposed to be outdoors, but got called at 7:30 a.m. for rain and moved down the street to the Giant Concrete Box™, so we got to take down, set up, and take down again that evening. Space is at a little more of a premium there, and the room has nearly an 8 second reverb at 160Hz, so less than ideal but I've been in there a lot so I can manage it all right. I used essentially the same setup as Saturday except the artist wanted a thrust, with the results you see here. Less issues than you might think, probably thanks to generous bracing in the M421s. Monitor world, directly behind one of the end fire arrays, definitely appreciated having some directionality in the subs. I didn't mix at all this show, but had some good fun playing tracks before check. Running both sets of subs, once you build in room gain as well... I might finally have gotten enough subwoofer. At least until I get used to it. Band Engineer's only comment was "cut out all that fucking sub harmonic shit". I gave him a -6dB shelf at 45Hz and he was happy. Oh well, it's not like there wasn't plenty going on down there anyway, saying this was a low end heavy act was an understatement. Most things went in both sub sends for this guy, but as a result all the subs were just loafing along while meanwhile, at FOH 80' away, my nose hairs were vibrating so badly I had to sneeze regularly. With the PA running about 105A-Slow I popped in some foam plugs and watched meters for a few hours. BE was having a great time, dancing along to the music, so I figured it was a job well done. The 4,000 screaming teenagers there plainly had a good time, and reminded me why I am glad to not be that age any more. [ATTACH=CONFIG]149811.vB5-legacyid=1728[/ATTACH] A few other forum members have gotten their ears on these boxes by now, and will hopefully post their impressions. I have some more shows coming up and then Evan Kirkendall has asked to take them out on tour with All Time Low towards the end of the month. That should be interesting... [/QUOTE]
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