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#1 · (Edited)
Behringer Eurolive B215XL 15" 2-Way as L/R Mains

I recently posted a review of my new L/R mains, a pair of Behringer B215XL speakers. I ran a search here on AVS and found very little information about those speakers. The thread I found was three years old and very short.

Evidently the low price and the PA (public address) speaker designation dissuaded people from considering the Behringers for home use. However, over the past year I've heard a lot of different speakers, including DIY SEOS builds and a broad array of commercial speakers, from $100/pair up to $150,000/pair. Overall, speakers I liked the most had a lot more in common with the Behringer B215XLs than typical dome tweeter-based speakers aimed at consumers.

When I went to the AVS GTGs, after hearing a few nice 2-way speakers with compression-driver horn tweeters, I'd think to myself "could a molded plastic PA speaker give me the sound I craved in a more manageable package?" Mark Henninger's B215XL review




I was confident the Behringer B215XL would perform well in my system, they are 8 Ohm, 96 dB efficient, and handle 250 watts RMS—a great match for my Pioneer Elite SC-55 receiver. My experience with other Behringer products amounts to a grudging recognition that the company's aggressively priced pro audio gear is quite musical. I decided to take the plunge and buy a pair.

I'm currently on my fifth day with the B215XLs acting as my mains. I suspect they will serve that purpose for some time because it's really hard to find fault in them. Yesterday I even got goosebumps while listening to Metallic Spheres, a collaboration between The Orb and David Gilmour. I'm really enjoying everything I listen to through them, be it rock, rap, classical, or electronic music. Movies are even better, each time I watched one I forgot about the speakers altogether.

I planned on a much longer integration, with perhaps a bit of tweaking, before I was happy with my new speakers. That never happened; the B215s were so good out-of-the-box, I positioned them, ran MCACC on my SC-55, and measured the results with REW (Room EQ WIzard software for PC). The resulting setup sounds exceptional and measures flat at my listening position (+/- 3dB) from 80Hz to 17 kHz. Subwoofers take care of the low end and old age makes the rolloff at the high end irrelevant—I can only hear up to about 17 kHz. The speakers have so much headroom, it's easy to EQ them to extend both the bass and the treble response. However, I found that the only EQ they needed was a 3dB bump at 20 kHz, to counter a bit of roll-off at the very top.

I built my own 2-way speakers a couple years ago, but considering the value the B215s represent it's unlikely that I'll ever embark on another DIY speaker build. Before I got into DIY tweaking, I used to have a pair of B-52 LX1515 speaker, which were way too big for my home theater and (for various reasons) didn't sound nearly as good as the Behringers.

I feel really good about buying the Behringer B215XLs. In fact, next time there is an AVS get-together where members compare different speakers, I'll jump on it. My guess is the B215XLs will hold their own against significantly pricier competition.

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#384 ·
Yes, I did. I'm going to write that one up tonight. I have a Dolby Atmos demo disc that allows me to listen to the same clips via my 7.1 system, that's one of the things I did last night.
 
#387 ·
Mark, have you heard the B12XL's? I'm debating about the 12's or the 15's. My main use for them would be in my lower level family room and using them for my daughter's school when they have movie nights in the gym. I run that for them and I know both of these will fill the gym fine, I'm just wondering about the family room. Is there a quality of component difference between the two?
 
#394 ·
What is the major difference between the 12's and 15's? Woofer only? Anyone heard both?

I do understand the difference between the 15 and 12" horns.

I posted above about my usage for them but didn't hear anything back. I want to order one or the either but is there a big sound difference between the two? I see the 15" seem to go to 20k vs the 18k for the B12XL Odd.
 
#395 ·
Larger woofers have narrower dispersion, which is accounted for by the narrower dispersion of the horn on the B215s, as compared to the B212s. I prefer the narrower dispersion of the B215s for use as L/R mains, but for surrounds I'd use B212s. I have not performed a direct A/B comparison between the two. However, I have considered adding a pair of 212s as my surrounds. If I do, I'll compare the two, for sure.
 
#396 · (Edited)
Well I got them today from my DJ guy. Played them quite loud this afternoon without realizing how loud they were. I guess the low distortion can cause that. Played with them tonight for a couple of hours too. They are very dynamic compared to my supposedly audiophile like speakers. I've never used horns before so it's quite a difference. I don't expect any of the audiophile qualities of floating instruments between the speakers with horns and I don't think I got that. They were only about 6 ft. apart in my listening area so if I move them wider it would probably be better. I'm still testing, running through all my test CDs. I wanted to get a Yorkville PS12P to compare it but that will have to wait for next week. Haven't played a movie yet, only music. I'm not sure on the 15" vs the 12". 12" might be better for voice but I don't have that one around to compare. Either way looks like I will purchase this type of speaker, it's just which make and model will suit my tastes. I heard the 1099's in July and a few others too, but that was in a different environment. Also heard the 1099's in the exact spot where these B215XLs are currently. I prefer the 1099's from what I remember. It's hard to say what they had that I preferred. I guess the multi drivers helped with instrument separation and soundstage. Anyway my search goes on.

Tried playing with the toe in and that makes quite a difference too. Crossed just in front of the listening position sounds very good. I wish I could move them further apart and see how the stage gets bigger.
 
#411 ·
Well I got them today from my DJ guy. Played them quite loud this afternoon without realizing how loud they were. I guess the low distortion can cause that. Played with them tonight for a couple of hours too. They are very dynamic compared to my supposedly audiophile like speakers. I've never used horns before so it's quite a difference. I don't expect any of the audiophile qualities of floating instruments between the speakers with horns and I don't think I got that. They were only about 6 ft. apart in my listening area so if I move them wider it would probably be better. I'm still testing, running through all my test CDs. I wanted to get a Yorkville PS12P to compare it but that will have to wait for next week. Haven't played a movie yet, only music. I'm not sure on the 15" vs the 12". 12" might be better for voice but I don't have that one around to compare. Either way looks like I will purchase this type of speaker, it's just which make and model will suit my tastes. I heard the 1099's in July and a few others too, but that was in a different environment. Also heard the 1099's in the exact spot where these B215XLs are currently. I prefer the 1099's from what I remember. It's hard to say what they had that I preferred. I guess the multi drivers helped with instrument separation and soundstage. Anyway my search goes on.

Tried playing with the toe in and that makes quite a difference too. Crossed just in front of the listening position sounds very good. I wish I could move them further apart and see how the stage gets bigger.
You do need to toe in controlled directivity speakers. I get tons of precise imaging with floating instruments and voices out of by B215s, so hopefully with some experimentation you'll find an arrangement that gives you those audiophile qualities.
 
#4,145 · (Edited)
Can anyone tell me how to remove that passive crossover from the enclosure? I'm guessing it's also adhered with some adhesive because it doesn't come off even after screws removed. I tried very little prying since I am worried of damaging. I want to try this also open baffle with the passive crossovers, because I don't want to buy a minidsp and multiple amps for a distant secondary (third or fourth actually, somewhere in there) system.


EDIT: Nevermind. I figured it out after trying more than a hammering and prying with a screwdriver.... You have to disconnect the inputs (xlr and unbalanced) from the rear of enclosure.
 
#404 ·
For sure. It's there to limit output during big peaks. In other words, cause compression. Short it out.

The magnet looks quite small so I'm guessing a high Q driver. Thus open baffle wouldn't totally kill the bass. There are many technical issues I have with doing that otherwise, but if you're enjoying it, go right ahead.

Thanks for sharing. I've wanted to see the guts of this one for a while.
 
#405 ·
I'm actually amazed that the compression driver is as well-made as it is. The bulbs are gone already. Open baffle is definitely working for me, my sump basin subs are breaking up the back wave. Without EQ, they measure very favorably compared to having the enclosures on, so there's that.
 
#406 ·
Ya it looks like a good unit, especially for a budget speaker. And the components in the XO are good too. You should see the Paradigm speaker I have open in my shop right now, the XO is 1 electrolytic cap and 1 iron core inductor and 1 resistor. Total junk.

Open baffle will extend the directivity down below the woofers usually omni frequency. So it makes sense if you're getting less room interaction. And like I mentioned, that woofer is probably a suitable unit for OB. Going OB might not work so well with other speakers.

My concerns would be a dipole peak right around 400 or 500hz. You can't eq those. Most guys go 4way active to avoid them. But they're also hard to hear. The other would be power handling. Excursion will go up quite a bit, even with the higher 100hz XO. And eq will add to that issue if needed. So you win some and you lose some :)
 
#410 ·
Ya it looks like a good unit, especially for a budget speaker. And the components in the XO are good too. You should see the Paradigm speaker I have open in my shop right now, the XO is 1 electrolytic cap and 1 iron core inductor and 1 resistor. Total junk.

Open baffle will extend the directivity down below the woofers usually omni frequency. So it makes sense if you're getting less room interaction. And like I mentioned, that woofer is probably a suitable unit for OB. Going OB might not work so well with other speakers.

My concerns would be a dipole peak right around 400 or 500hz. You can't eq those. Most guys go 4way active to avoid them. But they're also hard to hear. The other would be power handling. Excursion will go up quite a bit, even with the higher 100hz XO. And eq will add to that issue if needed. So you win some and you lose some :)
A peak like that is not obvious in my initial measurements but I'll be on the lookout. As for excursion, I just ran some tests and there's zero issue, I got the system up to dangerous volume levels running sine waves between 80 and 150 Hz—the woofer barely gets moving and it's already intolerably loud.
 
#412 · (Edited)
6 days, somewhere between 20-25 hours in front of the B212 now. They integrate so well with my 18" subwoofers it is pure bliss. I obviously had major phase issues with my old setup because I have turned down the subs many db over this week. Many db first, and gradually some more. Somewhere around 8db I think. What I find strange is that I did not have the bass I have now even when my old speakers was set to same xo frequency...

My setup sounds very good right now.
 
#413 ·
A peak like that is not obvious in my initial measurements but I'll be on the lookout.
It won't be. Its hard to see any wave front coming off the speaker at 500hz in room, especially something that behaves like a dipole peak (changes quickly off axis). And it can't be eq'ed even if you did see it. But like I said, you may not notice.
 
#415 ·
So...almost breaking things...

Well Godzilla (2014) came out and I wanted to see how much boom I could get out of this...keep in mind I'm in an apartment so care is key here( I can't blast it unless people around me are out...I watch for these opportunities). So I've been running the following sub setup for my B212XLs which seems to be great:

Sony STR-D511 powering TWO 12" 1230w infinity subs in a car enclosure. I like this because it kills the boom will keeping the impact of the lower end so I don't bug the locals :D

But I also have two other subs sitting around I'm not using due to...well...fear.

So I hooked up my Sony SA-WM40 12" subwoofer and my JBL LSR2310SP(this guy was the one that really pushed the limit)

Obviously not setup for this(I run a SC-37 Elite), I just set the volume on each sub to halfway and and quickly jumped to the part where Godzilla shows up at the airport. Well I successfully rattled the whole apartment with his foot steps. I thought I was going to break the place. I did not even place the subs in a decent location just front and center. The B212XL's kept up no problem, however it was very hilarious. I don't think it's watchable at that level, I would need to calibrate it but it was a fun test. Also just tells me why I love the B212XLs. I could get louder across the board that is obvious. I turned off all the other subs and went back to just my 1230w. Honestly the JBL and Sony are just too much for daily listening. Thought you guys might enjoy this.
 
#433 · (Edited)
Open baffle mod B215XL

Here's where I ended up with the B215s. The only catch is I have to use a very beefy amp—in my case a Crown XTi-2002—to handle the EQ curve required to make this work. However, the B215s have plenty of reserve capacity, and they convert that extra power into very tight, clean bass that extends deep enough to use a 50 Hz crossover. I'm more than thrilled with the resulting sound, and it's a bonus that the speakers no longer take up much space. I probably should have picked something a bit classier than cinder blocks, but they do work very well. I used hot melt glue to put them together.










 
#434 ·
Here's where I ended up with me B215s. The only catch is I have to use a very beefy amp—in my case a Crown XTi-2002—to handle the EQ curve required to make this work. However, the B215s have plenty of reserve capacity, and they convert that extra power into very tight, clean bass that extends deep enough to use a 50 Hz crossover. I'm more than thrilled with the resulting sound, and it's a bonus that the speakers no longer take up much space. I probably should have picked something a bit classier than cinder blocks, but they do work very well. I used hot melt glue to put them together, fwiw.










Pretty cool. I'd be interested to hear your impressions after mounting those into like a 2' wide open baffle..... It looks like there are already screw holes. Youd just have to cut some holes in a 2' plywood panel and screw the two together. Something like 6' tall 2' wide with cutouf for behringer baffle to stick through.... That would give you stands and more baffle width which should help.

If you did that you also could then push them back into the corner which would kinda t-line load them, idk how it would sound but it looks like your into experimenting so might be a fun experiment....
 
#437 ·
Something I have noticed about pro speakers. Their bass response is always poorer than home audio speakers in spite of using large bass drivers. I suppose it's assume you will use a bass cab with them. I assume that many people would still use a powered sub, so it's not a knock, and there's probably different ways to measure response ( such as in room, etc.) Just found it interesting to see PA cabs with 15" drivers and bass response to 40hz when a lot of home audio floorstanders are down to 30
 
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