Another 3 Soundbridge Xyon rigs, another 3 unbelievably inconsistent, poor sounding experiences.
Sound Bridge
Sound Bridge
First, some background. I've mixed on these rigs a number of times. I've given them a huge stink a number of times, but this past week has taken it to a new level. The clubs that have these rigs installed have brainwashed their sound guys in to believing these boxes are some kind of god given creation. I ask every house guy about the boxes, and they spew the same garbage back to me every time. The "technology" in these boxes isn't groundbreaking, it's stupid. It's a pair of 8's, and the biggest 2" driver they could fit in the box. The 8's are loaded so that you have to run the boxes in pairs- it some how "horn loads" the boxes and gives the LF more efficiency. Too bad theres no real seal between the 8's, so the only coupling you get in around 300-500hz, which you end up cutting out anyway. They run the 2" down to about 500hz, which would normally be ok, but the horn is so tiny that it gives no real loading down low.
The subs are a similar deal. They have holes in the tops of the cabs to allow them to "couple" in pairs, which again, makes no sense. And again, theres no good seal between boxes- you can feel the air spewing out between the cabs. Whoever claims a single box will do 144dB is on a different planet... They're clearly SB1000 wannabe's, and honestly, I'd rather have an SB1000!
But anyway, how's it all sound?
Well, if you like an AM radio, or an icepick to the head, then you'd like these boxes. But for us normal people, they're just painful to listen to out of the box. It hurts. It honestly hurts. I could not mix a show on those boxes at any reasonable level with no EQ. There's an excessive amount of 300-500hz, and waaayyy too much 1.5-3k. But what gets me most, is how inconsistent the same boxes sounded between venues. Same number of boxes, similar rooms, and totally different experiences.
First, here's my lake curve from a venue that let me look through all of their processing. The boxes were running the factory presets with absolutely NO added EQ.
It's not pretty, but it's not terrible. This was the "better" sounding of the bunch. Still waayy too much of the shit you don't want in a box.
Second, a venue that had done some tweaks, but would not tell me what:
It sounded good to someone, but not me. Without that eq, it was uncontrolled midbass mixed with a paging horn.
Finally, a venue that said Soundbridge had RECENTLY come in and tuned the rig- they had made no changes in the processing since.
This was by far the WORST sounding of the bunch. I was blown away at how bad it sounded. Without EQ, it sounded like the lows weren't even on. Hell, it sounded like I was listening to a Community M4!
After all of that EQ, I was able to get a USABLE sound out of the boxes. Not great, but usable. It smoothed out for the most part, but still had quirks. Things would still pop out here and there, but it was the best I could do. I will say, the boxes did get quite loud, but the 8's ran out of gas first(which I did expect). Also, I am a firm believer in blackbox presets, and this is just another reminder that people can fuck things up so bad that they really shouldn't be allowed to tweak anything other than levels(+/-3dB).
Oh, but what about the subs? They're usable. They have a good amount of thump, but fart out pretty bad when you start to push them. They also lose control below 40hz and just get flabby as hell. A highpass at 40hz, and some EQ up top and they're not bad within their usable output range. They've got enough power behind them to get the job done, you just need a good amount to keep them(and me) happy.
But overall, Soundbridge needs to get their act together. They're using Lab Gruppen PLM / Powersoft amps with these rigs. They have the processing available- they just need to lock people out of it, oh, and create a good sounding product... But enough ranting, I'm out of here....
Evan
Sound Bridge
Sound Bridge
First, some background. I've mixed on these rigs a number of times. I've given them a huge stink a number of times, but this past week has taken it to a new level. The clubs that have these rigs installed have brainwashed their sound guys in to believing these boxes are some kind of god given creation. I ask every house guy about the boxes, and they spew the same garbage back to me every time. The "technology" in these boxes isn't groundbreaking, it's stupid. It's a pair of 8's, and the biggest 2" driver they could fit in the box. The 8's are loaded so that you have to run the boxes in pairs- it some how "horn loads" the boxes and gives the LF more efficiency. Too bad theres no real seal between the 8's, so the only coupling you get in around 300-500hz, which you end up cutting out anyway. They run the 2" down to about 500hz, which would normally be ok, but the horn is so tiny that it gives no real loading down low.
The subs are a similar deal. They have holes in the tops of the cabs to allow them to "couple" in pairs, which again, makes no sense. And again, theres no good seal between boxes- you can feel the air spewing out between the cabs. Whoever claims a single box will do 144dB is on a different planet... They're clearly SB1000 wannabe's, and honestly, I'd rather have an SB1000!
But anyway, how's it all sound?
Well, if you like an AM radio, or an icepick to the head, then you'd like these boxes. But for us normal people, they're just painful to listen to out of the box. It hurts. It honestly hurts. I could not mix a show on those boxes at any reasonable level with no EQ. There's an excessive amount of 300-500hz, and waaayyy too much 1.5-3k. But what gets me most, is how inconsistent the same boxes sounded between venues. Same number of boxes, similar rooms, and totally different experiences.
First, here's my lake curve from a venue that let me look through all of their processing. The boxes were running the factory presets with absolutely NO added EQ.
It's not pretty, but it's not terrible. This was the "better" sounding of the bunch. Still waayy too much of the shit you don't want in a box.
Second, a venue that had done some tweaks, but would not tell me what:
It sounded good to someone, but not me. Without that eq, it was uncontrolled midbass mixed with a paging horn.
Finally, a venue that said Soundbridge had RECENTLY come in and tuned the rig- they had made no changes in the processing since.
This was by far the WORST sounding of the bunch. I was blown away at how bad it sounded. Without EQ, it sounded like the lows weren't even on. Hell, it sounded like I was listening to a Community M4!
After all of that EQ, I was able to get a USABLE sound out of the boxes. Not great, but usable. It smoothed out for the most part, but still had quirks. Things would still pop out here and there, but it was the best I could do. I will say, the boxes did get quite loud, but the 8's ran out of gas first(which I did expect). Also, I am a firm believer in blackbox presets, and this is just another reminder that people can fuck things up so bad that they really shouldn't be allowed to tweak anything other than levels(+/-3dB).
Oh, but what about the subs? They're usable. They have a good amount of thump, but fart out pretty bad when you start to push them. They also lose control below 40hz and just get flabby as hell. A highpass at 40hz, and some EQ up top and they're not bad within their usable output range. They've got enough power behind them to get the job done, you just need a good amount to keep them(and me) happy.
But overall, Soundbridge needs to get their act together. They're using Lab Gruppen PLM / Powersoft amps with these rigs. They have the processing available- they just need to lock people out of it, oh, and create a good sounding product... But enough ranting, I'm out of here....
Evan
