Need a louder dj monitor

R

Richard Stringer

Sophomore
Jan 13, 2011
124
0
16
Boston, Lincolnshire, UK
Hey ya guys, currently i've got a pair of JBL MRX515 cabs which I use for dj monitors powered by a bridged QSC RMX1450 but they're not loud enough so I really need one dj monitor that's louder, I don't really need two anymore. Which would you say are the loudest out of these cabs and how much louder than one MRX515 would they be, roughly I mean :

1 xPeavey SP2 (powered by the bridged RMX1450)
1 x Turbosound Milan M15
1 x EV ZX5 (powered by the bridged RMX1450)

It's impossible where I am to demo anything but JBL's JRX series, that's all any shops within 150 miles have in stock so I can't demo the above cabs, so I thought i'd ask you guys. My budget is for one cab, and the most I can possibly afford would be the price of the EV ZX5. I know all three cabs are pretty good sound so it's just spl output i'm enquiring about, thanks.
 
Re: Need a louder dj monitor

Is the monitor pointed at the DJ's head?
What exactly needs to be louder?
Is your DJ just asking for more low-end rumble?
What are you running as FOH/Audience?

ZX5a are going to be loudest... but if your DJ is asking for more out louder speaker, he's got to be insane.
 
Re: Need a louder dj monitor

Matt Vivlamore said:
Is the monitor pointed at the DJ's head?
What exactly needs to be louder?
Is your DJ just asking for more low-end rumble?
What are you running as FOH/Audience?

ZX5a are going to be loudest... but if your DJ is asking for more out louder speaker, he's got to be insane.
Click to expand...

Matt, the DJ is definitely not insane.

I have provided a pair of Community TFR64S plus a pair of double 15 subs, all on Itech power, for a DJ before. He was happy.

For a standalone DJ fill, I'd want something with dual woofers. Without looking up your list, Richard, I don't think any of the speakers you list have dual woofers.
 
Re: Need a louder dj monitor

The dj monitors are within 1 metre of the dj's head, head height, one each side, the RMX1450 amp is bridged and set up properly, nah the dj is me and i'm not insane, but the MRX515 cabs really aren't that loud, I mean i've got both on the RMX1450 amp, so the pair are getting a combined power of 1,450 watts average power. I don't need more punch to the sound from the dj monitors, just more spl really. My FOH sound system is two Peavey SP4 cabs and two JBL SRX728 subs. The Peavey mid/highs are powered by a QSC RMX4050HD one per channel and the SRX728 subs are powered each by a bridged RMX2450.

I've really not got that much money really so anything more expensive than a single ZX5 would be really pushing it.
 
Re: Need a louder dj monitor

Matt,

Today's high end DJs demand Texas Headphones to rattle your eyeballs and reorient your brain.

And you should give it to them. It makes them happy, and when it's so crazy loud on stage you don't have to make it so loud in the audience.
 
Re: Need a louder dj monitor

Bennett, I agree, give em what they ask for if you can but...

Have you tried just one instead of the pair? If they have the same signal (which you imply if the amp is bridged) you may be canceling? Put em both on the same side?

I mean, 124dB is pretty loud. At that level you won't be able to hear much in a few years :)
 
Re: Need a louder dj monitor

many djs need the monitors to be louder than the foh backwash in order to hear the minute tempo differences between songs while snying the beats via pitch faders. sooner or later, more will go in ears for the same reasons as musicians.
 
Re: Need a louder dj monitor

I had best luck with the DJ's at my club when I just set up a pair of JBL SRX725 on either side of them aimed at their heads. Other than that 4 dV's a side on a dVsub works well too :)
They need it so loud because they have blown out their hearing from having progressively louder monitors over their careers (chicken & egg situation?)
 
Re: Need a louder dj monitor

Rob,
Yeah i've tried just one cab before, that was how it was at first because I bought one MRX515 at a time, and it just wasn't loud enough. I also measured the spl with a class 2 meter, fast response (125ms) and C weighting with pink noise and also tried with a few types of music to give me a more real world reading at 1 metre from the grille and saw 119db, so I knew the 124db continuous spec from JBL's data sheet was fictional, plus it was calculated anyway so what do you expect, lol. I really can't afford any cab more expensive than the ZX5, if I could i'd buy myself an EAW KF650, I remember years back I played at a club which had a KF650 and the dj's were all saying it was insanely loud and they didn't want to run levels any higher so it kept levels out of the red all night.

It's not more bass or more punch I need, it's just more overall spl, it needs to be louder so the dj has plenty of power to play with so they never say it's not loud enough and run levels into the red.
 
Re: Need a louder dj monitor

Does the DJ wear earplugs? Music at these levels will quickly cause fatigue, wearing quality straight response earplugs will help to keep levels from escalating as the hearing disappears.
 
Re: Need a louder dj monitor

Craig Hauber said:
I had best luck with the DJ's at my club when I just set up a pair of JBL SRX725 on either side of them aimed at their heads.
Click to expand...

Add a 728 and DJs will smile all night. IME giving the DJs a huge monitor setup keeps the levels down in the mains. Just make sure your limiters are set properly if you feed their monitor from the monitor out on their mixer, it will go all the way to 11 ;)
 
Re: Need a louder dj monitor

I don't need an SRX728, lol, all I want is a one box dj monitor that's loud and punchy. What about a used JBL PRX515? According to JBL's specs of them they have a measured peak spl of 133db, and at least it's meausred and not calculated.
 
Re: Need a louder dj monitor

Is it volume or tone that they are seeking? I have a regular client that wanted more volume with the 12AM. I ended up switching to a monitor with a 15" driver and the volume went down significantly. It was completely tonal... and it took way too long to find out this solution. During check one day he told that "it sounds like the big speaker is bottoming out"- which it was from over exertion.
 
Re: Need a louder dj monitor

What I find if I get too much monitor it actually increases the measured SPL in the club -and hence also to the neighbor who wants to sue us out of existence!
And yes, always run the booth monitor off of the DJ mixer's booth output (or they will drive you crazy all night long bitching about the monitor.) -definitely dedicated limiter and EQ too!
 
Re: Need a louder dj monitor

The MRX515 cabs i've got don't bottom out at all, well I mean i've not had them doing that anyway. It's the overall spl that I want higher, not more bass or more high frequency on it's own. Do you think i'd get a touch more spl out the MRX515 cabs if I put a Dbx 223XL before it? Oh and it's already on the 'Booth' output of my mixer. If I put a 223XL in the signal path of the mixer and the bridged RMX1450 that's powering my MRX515 cabs, and then just hooked the RMX1450 to the high frequency output of the Dbx 223XL and set the crossover point at about 60-70hz roughly. I could adjust the crossover point so you still get a nice 75-80hz punch from the kick drum but the low bass is gone, surely that'd free up some headroom wouldn't it, meaning i'd get more spl out the dj monitors. I don't ever like loads of bass from the dj monitors because I find bass CAN mask the hit of the kick drum making it hard to properly beat match using the kick drums. I could also hook up a graphic eq too just in case there's any boomy bass around 200hz, although the MRX515 cabs are pretty damn nice sounding for their price so i've not heard any boom from them ever.

Limiter wise, I use the built in clip limiters on the RMX1450 amplifier and they seem pretty good for what they are.
 
Last edited:
Re: Need a louder dj monitor

Richard Stringer said:
I also measured the spl with a class 2 meter, fast response (125ms) and C weighting with pink noise and also tried with a few types of music to give me a more real world reading at 1 metre from the grille and saw 119db, so I knew the 124db continuous spec from JBL's data sheet was fictional, plus it was calculated anyway so what do you expect, lol.
Click to expand...
I don't doubt that the manufacturer's numbers may be optimistic, but your getting different results by measuring using a different signal, setup, etc. than that used by the manufacturer does not make them wrong or you right.

For example, you may have used a Class 2 meter but did you calibrate the meter before the measurements and verify it was the same afterwards? Should you have made the measurements out of the near field and then compensated for the distance? Was the pink noise clipped and shaped as defined for many of the standard testing procedures? Why C-weighting? And very importantly, how did you know you were at the speaker's limits?
 
Re: Need a louder dj monitor

Pair of SRX 725's or the equivalent.

Or buy something similar to your 515's and then have to buy again
 
Re: Need a louder dj monitor

Brad Weber said:
I don't doubt that the manufacturer's numbers may be optimistic, but your getting different results by measuring using a different signal, setup, etc. than that used by the manufacturer does not make them wrong or you right.

For example, you may have used a Class 2 meter but did you calibrate the meter before the measurements and verify it was the same afterwards? Should you have made the measurements out of the near field and then compensated for the distance? Was the pink noise clipped and shaped as defined for many of the standard testing procedures? Why C-weighting? And very importantly, how did you know you were at the speaker's limits?
Click to expand...

Yeah I did calibrate the meter before Brad, I always calibrate the meter before making any spl measurements. The pink noise wasn't shaped but I ran the pink noise through the system and measured the spl at the point of system clipping. I chose 'C' weighting because it's frequency curve enables me to measure more low frequency spl, wheras the 'A' weighting rolls off higher up. I didn't know I was at the speaker's limits, I just used an amplifier (in this case a bridged QSC RMX1450) that could give more power output than the speaker's continuous average power rating and then used the extra power as headroom.


Steve,
I've decided to use my MRX515 cabs for now because at the end of this year i'll have enough saved up for a pair of Turbosound TQ445 cabs to replace my current Peavey UL215H mid/highs, and then I can use my UL215H cabs as dj monitors, and I definately know they're loud enough, they're damn loud.
 
Top Bottom