I know nothing about the subject, but in hunting around I've stumbled across some sales for "pro audio" loudspeakers. They look like they are intended for use by DJs or bands. Lots of JBL, a company called Mackie that I had not heard of until tonight, lots of other names.... And lots of it is available used, and at good prices.

Anyway, in looking through the (extremely helpful) threads in this forum, not many theater builders seem to be using this kind of gear. Everyone seems to be using regular consumer gear.

Is there a painfully obvious reason for this that I don't know of? And if there is, could someone kindly clue me in? Thanks

F&K

Well...usually that stuff is HUGE. On top of that, think about the space it is used for and the task. It is used to fill massive spaces with lots of sound....think quantity not quality. Have you ever been to a nightclub and thought...."wow, the quality of this recording is phenomenal" or been to see a band in a local bar and thought "these guys sound great I can hear every note"? We aren't talking about the stuff sound engineers are using in mixing booths, we are talking about big black boxes hanging from ceilings of bars and clubs that are designed to play loud and take lots of abuse either getting tossed into the back of a van or left to soak up old beer and smoke for years on end.

This is just my totally unprofessional guess-o-pinion.

I have pro-amps in my rack. The knock against them is they are noisy. And they are. But my rack is not in my room, so they became a cheap(er) way to amplify, although the speakers they currently run don't actually need that power. But capacity is there when the upgrades come. I nabbed a great deal.

Kroooog's theory on the speakers seems plausible to me.

As it turns out, some people DO use pro gear in their setups. The drawbacks are what Kroooog was refering to.

The huge "pro" speakers made to fill large rooms need a decent amount of space to perform properly.

The mixing speakers, like the mackies you mentioned, are nearfield monitors and aren't designed for the positioning an HT normally needs.

Having said that, there is some pro gear that totally fits the bill. I know one of our users "The Bland" uses PA speakers (Runts) in his HT with great success.

Twenty years ago, I used big PA speakers with my stereo. Thirty feet away, they sounded great. At ten feet they sounded terrible.

I plan to use pro amps. See DC_Pilgrim above.

I use a Crown K2 stereo amp to drive my pair of JBL SUB1500, @ 800wpc. Crown is pro gear and I know of people who use Crown amps to power their entire system.
Getting the right studio monitors for a HT can provide a very good system.
JBL has made many monitors, of various sizes, from small to large that can and do work very well for a HT.

I and many others use pro projectors.

I was just reading up about these, and as a former recording engineer, i may have to test some out. Check out this stellar review of the Alesis Prolinear 820 Active monitor:

--damn, i can't post links yet, but go to STEREOMOJO dawt com and search for the Alesis review.

Behringer looks like they did their usual trick of reverse engineering these to make their "B2031A Truth" monitors:

check zzsounds dot com

Search all of the price checker websites and google, cuz the retail prices of these seem to vary wildly (i.e. from $199-500 each for the Alesis).

There's also other monitors from both Alesis and Behringer plus several other companies to check out including KRK, Mackie, M-Audio, etc. If you're looking for clinical accuracy and/or volume, these might be up your alley. Plus most of these are actively powered with clean amps, so you would end up saving a good bit of dough.

I have 3 QSC 2450 Amps, 2 QSC 1450 amps, 1 QSC 5050 Amp, and a QSC DSP-30 in my theater. The pro amps are amazing and hard to beat dollar for dollar. I also like the DSP-30 for PEQ has a clean design, but it costs more than most units. Yes the pro amps have fan noise, my equipment room is out of the main theater so no worries there. As for the Pro Speakers some of them work very well. Have a look at this site

http://www.myhometheater.homestead.com/

Chris Collins goes into the ins and outs of pro speakers.

The runts that "The Bland" has are some amazing speakers they really put out :)

Ah, but few other PEQ have RS232 ports to connect a PC and play with the Q until your head spins... (I use a couple of them as well).

The mixing speakers, like the mackies you mentioned, are nearfield monitors and aren't designed for the positioning an HT normally needs.

That has already been debunked. There is nothing actually different about "near-field" monitors.

I know nothing about the subject, but in hunting around I've stumbled across some sales for "pro audio" loudspeakers. They look like they are intended for use by DJs or bands. Lots of JBL, a company called Mackie that I had not heard of until tonight, lots of other names.... And lots of it is available used, and at good prices.

Anyway, in looking through the (extremely helpful) threads in this forum, not many theater builders seem to be using this kind of gear. Everyone seems to be using regular consumer gear.

Is there a painfully obvious reason for this that I don't know of? And if there is, could someone kindly clue me in? Thanks

F&K

check out genelec, a pro studio monitor maker from denmark with an excellent reputation.they usually have amps built in to spkr cabinets. i've read of several people using them in their hts.:cool:

The Mackies make for a terrific home theater speaker system. Add in a IB sub and you have an incredible sound system at a very attractive price point.

One of Widescreen Review's own reference systems uses Mackies. They also did a large review on them about a year ago.

Pro gear has really infiltrated my system. QSC DSP-3, Servodrive Contrass subs, Crown amps, and Bryston PP120/PMC TB2s (commonly used in mixing and recording studios). Onkyo aimed it's new PRSC885P prepro at the commercial side of the market and many are finding their way into home theaters (It's just an Integra DTC 9.8 clone in a black rack case).

check out genelec, a pro studio monitor maker from denmark with an excellent reputation.they usually have amps built in to spkr cabinets. i've read of several people using them in their hts.:cool:
Finland actually :rolleyes:.

I have 3 Genelec 8040A speakers in front in my theater and couldn´t be happier. These speakers have 90 W of output power for bass and treble both. With these near field monitors you can have a very accurate and neutral sounding system. Accuracy is in my opinion one of the main things to aim for in a movie oriented system. I love my set with music also but some people are put off by the neutral or "boring" sound with music. Here in Finland a set of Genelec speakers is thought to be very good with home theaters and many people with dedicated rooms prefer them. If Pro audio is said to be noisy than Genelec 8000 series is an exception. I can´t hear their low humming to more than 5 feet no matter how hard I try.

Ah, but few other PEQ have RS232 ports to connect a PC and play with the Q until your head spins... (I use a couple of them as well).

I'm working with the dev of Room EQ to add the QSC DSP-30. I'm hoping to limit my Q play.

Finland actually :rolleyes:.

I have 3 Genelec 8040A speakers in front in my theater and couldn´t be happier. These speakers have 90 W of output power for bass and treble both. With these near field monitors you can have a very accurate and neutral sounding system. Accuracy is in my opinion one of the main things to aim for in a movie oriented system. I love my set with music also but some people are put off by the neutral or "boring" sound with music. Here in Finland a set of Genelec speakers is thought to be very good with home theaters and many people with dedicated rooms prefer them. If Pro audio is said to be noisy than Genelec 8000 series is an exception. I can´t hear their low humming to more than 5 feet no matter how hard I try.

my bad:o, i must have denmark on the brain!:eek: thanks for correcting me.

my bad:o, i must have denmark on the brain!:eek: thanks for correcting me.
:D Hah. Finland doesn´t come up too often so we (me and 5 million other people) try to keep ourselves on the map at every given opportunity.

I used my Mackie 624s from the studio until I got my new speakers (Totem Model 1 sigs) in my listening/HT room. Generally speaking, my experience across the board is that studio monitors sound very clinical (as they should) and lean compared to what you're likely used to hearing in a stereo or HT rig. For HT it may be less of a concern, but for dedicated listening sessions I find studio monitors to sound cold and unforgiving. just my 2 cents....

Now amps...that is a different ballgame. Major bang for the buck.

Is there a painfully obvious reason for this that I don't know of?

Not at all. Pro audio gear is mostly very high quality, and is usually (but not always) much more fairly priced than audiophile stuff. I have Mackie 624s (with a killer SVS subwoofer) in my HT and they're fabulous. I also have only pro gear in my home recording studio, including a pair of huge JBL speakers bi-amp powered by Crown amps with more than 1 KW. This system plays very loud yet is incredibly clean.

--Ethan

Not at all. Pro audio gear is mostly very high quality, and is usually (but not always) much more fairly priced than audiophile stuff. I have Mackie 624s (with a killer SVS subwoofer) in my HT and they're fabulous. I also have only pro gear in my home recording studio, including a pair of huge JBL speakers bi-amp powered by Crown amps with more than 1 KW. This system plays very loud yet is incredibly clean.

--Ethan

Okay, Ethan, it is full disclosure time here at AVS. I got the idea watching your Youtube video about sound treating your living room. I had never heard of Mackies until I sawm them on your video.

I know nothing about the subject, but in hunting around I've stumbled across some sales for "pro audio" loudspeakers. They look like they are intended for use by DJs or bands. Lots of JBL, a company called Mackie that I had not heard of until tonight, lots of other names.... And lots of it is available used, and at good prices.

Anyway, in looking through the (extremely helpful) threads in this forum, not many theater builders seem to be using this kind of gear. Everyone seems to be using regular consumer gear.

Is there a painfully obvious reason for this that I don't know of? And if there is, could someone kindly clue me in? Thanks

F&K
OK Biggest reason FOR pro amps? For me, its a no brainer-FOR MY BUTTKICKERS!!

I do NOT use pro gear for speakers, for reasons already mentioned, but primarily because the output line levels of home audio gear
are usually nominally -10dBv, or ~.32VRMS versus signal line levels for pro sound gear
+4dBv or ~1.23VRMS. Makes for weird "ju-ju"....the two just aren't really friendly.

Best,

Tom
Chinaclipper

Mackie is well known for their mixing boards.

You aren't likely to find Mackie in a recording studio (although they do have products in that market), but they're very popular with schools, churches, DJs, etc.

There are many companies that play in both markets (Bose and Klipsch are the first two that come to mind).

Mackie is well known for their mixing boards.

You aren't likely to find Mackie in a recording studio (although they do have products in that market), but they're very popular with schools, churches, DJs, etc.

There are many companies that play in both markets (Bose and Klipsch are the first two that come to mind).
JBLs are used in any type of venue you can think of. I can't remember the last time I was in a movie theatre that didn't have JBLs, for instants.
The old Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts, in LV, had 125 JBLs built in, and when the sound engineers didn't screw things up, it was a great place to hear a concert.

I had never heard of Mackies until I saw them on your video.

Mackies are very popular speakers, especially in home studios and smaller pro recording studios. They're extremely flat, and have low distortion. Add a fair price plus integrated bi-amped power amps, and they're a winner all around. The 824 model is probably more popular than the 624, because the 824 goes down to 37 Hz versus 49 Hz for the 624. But I already have a big SVS subwoofer, so the smaller, less expensive 624s made more sense for me. When someone needs only two for stereo with no sub, I always recommend the 824s.

--Ethan