The Inconvenient Truth about your Electro-Voice ZLX-12P & ZLX15P amplifier (Read Show More)
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- čas přidán 19. 04. 2018
- The Inconvenient Truth about your Electro-Voice ZLX-12P & ZLX15P amplifier
A 210 x 2 watt chip can't give you 1000 watts.
Repair here
• Electro-Voice ZLX-12 &...
If you can get the max voltage +/-36 volts into the woofer, you are looking at 647 watts RMS if your woofer is 4 ohm.
The repair 'scope shot' shows +/- 30 volts peak to peak before it limits down to 20 volts PP.
30 volts PP times 2 = 60 volts PP.
60 x 0.707 = 42.42 RMS
42.42 x 42.42 = 1,799.4564
1,799.4564 into 4 ohms = 449.8641 RMS
At full power, this 449 watts lasted just a few seconds before the chip cut the output down to 200 watts approx.
READ THE DATA SHEET.
The audio signal has a crest factor of 10 (the ratio between peak power and average
power (20 dB); this means that the average output power is 1⁄10 of the peak power.
Thus, the peak RMS output power level is the 0.5 % THD level, i.e. 92.5 W per channel.
The average power is then 1⁄10 × 92.5 W = 9.25 W per channel
The repair scope shot shows +/- 30 volts peak to peak before it limits down to 20 volts PP.
30 volts PP times 2 = 60 volts PP.
60 x 0.707 = 42.42
42.42 x 42.42 = 1,799.4564
1,799.4564 into 4 ohms = 449.8641 RMS
At full power, this 449 watts lasted just a few seconds before the chip cut the output down to 200 watts approx.
well that's bloody rude of them isn't it. these are expensive speakers here, well over a grand, performing like speakers worth only a few hundred.
@@maebeans you can watch the repair video, the proof is on the oscilloscope.
@@JohnB-2021 oh no, i believe you, i've been making these measurements myself while designing an amplifier. i'm just disappointed that a "trusted" brand can't be.
@@maebeans I saw someone fixing an Alto TS310 and quoting 2000 watts. It has a 500 watt chip for the bass and another for the treble lol.
Merci pour votre vidéo et vos conseils@@JohnB-2021
I’ve had my EV XLX 12ps for nearly 4 years now, and with an EKX 18” subwoofer, they sound beautiful and look great. I suggest using the DSP and setting the main volume limiter to negative 1 or negative 2, this will reduce the hiss to a level that’s so low, it’s almost nonexistent. It’ll also protect your speaker from going above where it should. Then set the treble to negative 1 or 2. I Dj Weddings and venues and charge between 1500 and 2000. The amount of compliments I’ve received on my sound and presentation have been very encouraging, and have allowed me to get more weddings from every wedding I’ve DJ’d. My EV’s have been in use, as stated for close to 4 years, 4 to 5 times a week. On Sundays, when I Dj at a Caribbean restuarant, they’re in use for 8 hrs straight.
The information in this video isn’t anything new, even though it’s very good information, that’s readily available on any good DJ forum, and it’s true of literally every speaker brand. Of course the 1000 watt number is wrong, It’s the advertising peak number, or more technically, the sound one can sustain for 2 seconds, without a hard limiter, before literally blowing the fuse in their PA speaker. Whenever a Dj tells me they have 1000 watt speakers, or 2000 watts, I laugh. The RMS number is what matters, and knowing how to properly use them as well. These actually only use about 250 watts at best. You simply need to make sure you don’t use a traditional power strip, but rather a power adapter or conditioner that lets you know if the wall line is clean and outputs reliable currents. The other aspect is, even with my QSC k12.2s, which were almost double the price of my EV 12Ps, most PA speaker that are self powered will be using a class D amplifier and rate it’s power as peak rather than RMS.
Once you have a subwoofer and set the cutoff on the EV ZLX 12Ps to the user generated -100 or -120hz frequency setting, or the included properly pre-designed presets for the EV subs, you’ll prolong the life of your PA speakers, because the subwoofer cones in all of these are where the faults lie. They’re not reinforced properly to cut costs, and due to being bi-amped, will never replace a dedicated subwoofer. Using the Sub cutoff on the EV 12Ps also allows for more power to be relegated to the tweeter, producing a more well rounded sound with an external subwoofer .
As for the Mackies? I’ve owned several models that are newer, or within the 4 year mark, they all have the same poor, overly done bass, and sound boomy instead of clean. They also tend to have a louder class D amp hiss. While all class D amps have this, with the EVs when you cut the limiter by 2 it reduces this to negligible levels. Because a lot of excellent singers come to karaoke nights, when the music drops out and they sing, acapella, you can hear the clarity. When certain people sing, the bar crowd becomes quiet enough to their vocal nuances. With the Mackie Thumps, when people stand near my speakers, the hiss is perceptible and sounds cheap. I can use my $350 a pair EVs with my EKX 18” Sub and have people come out for either music and karaoke nights, or simply DJ nights, and always have people come back due to sound quality. When I use my QSC K12.2s, the main difference is that with the cutoff, they have a higher overall decibel rating. Without my included EKX Sub, the QSC k12.2 PA speaker subs also provide crisper bass. Aside from that though, that’s my OCD noticing that.
Some of my favorite singers who come out that also perform in churches and showcases, generally can’t tell the difference in the sound. That’s also down to my mics, as well as my mixer and my DBX go rack, where I use a final warm acoustic EQ, overall sound compressor, and lastly, a feedback suppressor, because at times I have as few as 2 singers with wireless mics out, or as many as 8 singers with wireless mics out. The DBX Go Rack is unfortunately not sold anymore officially. I paid $27 for mine when they were liquidating them. Unfortunately I only bought one. It was used at every gig I had for 3 years before dying during the last 10 mins of one of my gigs. I unplugged my XLRs from it and then plugged them directly into my PV AT10 sound mixer. The audio sounded nice, but it lacked the warmth that my crowd expects from my sound. Alesis mixers are naturally warmer, but the PV AT10 has a nicer array of effects and shielding. As a result, I bought a new in box DBX GoRack replacement and due to only being sold by 3rd parties, it set me back 225 on reverb. 😭
I can safely say that if you get the covers for the EV ZLX 12ps, and work with a sub, cutting off the 100 to 120hz signals, you’ll be in great hands. I treat my gear very carefully, and understand how to use the limiters and the mixer to avoid clipping. It’s also important to turn off the speakers first before turning off your mixer. Knowing about these things keeps your gear from getting damaged. At that point, after well over 1000 venue gigs and roughly 15 weddings a year, my EV ZLX12Ps still sound amazing. To be fair though, for roughly 5 of the many wedding gigs a year that I do, I use my QSC k12.2s for crowds above 200. They simply carry further for those events. If the fuse ever goes, EV makes it incredibly easy to replace via a cap on the back of the speaker.
Wow!! What awesome information! I'm a DJ/KJ as well and am looking at the EV's ZLX-12P and ZLX-15P. I would "really" enjoy communicating with you in helping me with my current setup. Your setup sounds very similar to mine. MY gray area is dialing everything in safely and getting the best I can out of it. Thanks for your Info. Ray 👍😊
RAPA Ent. You can always feel free to, I’m always happy to talk about DJ gear. To say the EVs have been great for me would be an understatement. My friend who DJs told me I have the warmest sound of the local Dj’s he’s seen, and truth be told, when I started again, his sound was my goal. He was using the original QSC K12s with the KSub. The thing that he had an issue with was equalizing his sound. Now starting out, I bought the Mackie Thumps, and the balance was never quite right. The hiss was also always present, and the treble, even with careful EQ presets was muffled. Then the JBL Eons were going down in terms of quality.
At the time, the EV ZLX 12ps were the best reviewed in class, and they also were the only speaker in that price range at the time with a Digital Signal Processor. Ironically, I bought the DBX GoRack to see if I could fix the sound issues with the Mackie Thumps. There was nothing that I could really do, even lowering the bass to see if it would bring out the treble didn’t help, it only made the class D amplifier hiss more prominent. While that wouldn’t be much of an issue with club music, for karaoke with the singers I’ve been lucky enough to bring in, it would be terrible. Their reliability also isn’t great. The JBL Eons had less hiss, but it was still prominent, they also had harsh sounding mids, and the bass wasn’t clean.
I returned both sets, and went with the ZLX 12ps. As stated, they’ve been used more than a 1000 times according to my nearly 4 year Virtual DJ history. When I finally bought the QSC K12.2s, it was interesting, by default, the sound is a little harsh, but it’s exceptionally clean. The bass is also quite good. Despite the price difference, like all PA speakers, they use a class D amplifier, so there’s going to be hiss, however, it’s lower than any speaker I’ve tested, even the ones most companies have had me use in the rare times when I’ve worked with a Dj team rather than solo. Properly EQ’d, they sound stunning. Now with the EVs, especially given their price point, the way you can cut back the hiss by reducing the hard limiter is surprising, it’s a little bit louder than the QSCs, but it’s also less than half the price, and the fact that that’s my OCD also comes into play. As with any PA speaker, having a sub helps, and as far as subs within a good price range, EVs ELX118 Sub is quite excellent. I’ve used it with both my ZLX 12ps and my QSCs. It’s not the most powerful sub, but I’ll let you in on a little trick I discovered accidentally.
Here it goes, most venues have wood floors or hard tiles. When you place a sub directly on those surfaces, it creates what feels like reflected bass, it sounds like rattling in a way. Basically, the frequency of the subwoofer is vibrating the surfaces directly. If you use a Rock and Roller mini cart to wheel in your gear like I do, they sell an overpriced wooden, carpeted base for it that’s a separate charge. It has little lifted, wooden feet to slot it onto the cart. Placing it directly on the floor in a venue, then putting the sub on top of it completely prevents the refection noises. The carpeting on top also prevents the sub from vibrating on the surface. As a result, you get cleaner subwoofer bass and performance, without the odd sounds you get from directly placing it on the floor in a venue. Initially, what I’d do is use one of the Subharmonic EQ presets on the DBX GoRack, but since they’re overpriced now due to being discontinued, it’s not a recommendation that’ll help anyone. The Rock and Roller mini cart floor mat accessory provides a more consistent result in this case.
Hopefully this helps you in some way. And in the end, the ZLX 12Ps are routinely on sale on reverb with the EV slip covers. I’ve seen them for $600 during holiday sales, $100 less for a pair. When I bought them, they were $345 each, on sale from $400, and the slip covers were $60 each. It’s still a great value given their sound quality and the amount of usage I’ve gotten out of them. I have an EV EKX 18 inch sub, but use my ELX 118 much more because I only weigh 145 pounds and the ELX is just over 60 pounds, plus, it sounds great. The trick with the subs is the cutoff. It doesn’t matter how good the bass sounds on PA speakers, people complain at times because the bass is literally in their face or slightly higher when you poke mount them, and with a sub, it’s completely grounded. When you use the DSP on the ELX 12ps, there’s an option to cut 80-120hz of bass off of them, sending that down to the subs. The ELX DSP has a ZLX 12p preset, which sounds nicely balanced. With the subwoofer cones in PA speakers, and the amazing 6 year warranty on the QSC K2 series speakers is included in this comparison point, the woofer cone is typically always the first thing to go. Why? The bass cone will eventually micro tear after awhile, either blowing a fuse, or it’ll simply be due to how costs are always cut on the sub aspect of PA speakers. The QSCs have 6 year warranties due to using somewhat better materials than other PA speakers, but taking them apart reveals that while they have better cooling, with a clever passive heatsink and quiet active fan system, the sub cone, while still of better than average construction, is still the weak point. A decent dedicated sub, like the ELX, uses some composite titanium cone drivers as reinforcement. That’s why it wasn’t so bad to buy an ELX floor model from Guitar Center. It cost me $475 instead of its initially much higher price point. I wouldn’t do that with any other piece of DJ gear at all.
Sorry for the long response, it’s a bad habit on my part...
@@ArtofZenDigital Awesome information! Not too long, I found it quite educational. I've been trying to decide between 12" and 15" EV's and JBL EON's. Hum & Hiss is one of my biggest concerns from small rooms to even hearing it in larger halls. In either situation, DJing or KJing I don't want it. I've alway heard that powered speakers will carry it and that's mainly why I stayed away. I wonder how much newer EV ZLH's quality has gone down since you purchased yours? I know they have been around forever and have carried a great reputation for years. JBL's are looking good to me as well but, as you pointed out they have gone down in quality along with some hiss issues. I don'rt know how you feel about Bose other than the price tag. I came across their F1 812's that's quite different than anything I've seen.
That sub Rock and Roller mini cart sounds interesting. I have a passive Peavey 18" SP Subcompact that come in at 110lbs. Been nice to for quite a while. I currently use a pair of passive Yorkville YS 15" which has also been great for me but......heavy.
It's really hard to make a decision these days due to higher prices and quality loss. I do love the all the options that the EV's have. Decisions...... decisions??? Thanks again for the info., nice to hear a great positive side. Happy New Year to you and yours. Ray 👍😊
@@rapaent I have 4 zlx 12p's and apart from being very happy with the sound quality, there is indeed some hiss. It's not the same level in all of my speakers though. Perhaps I should dig deeper into the DSP, or that one has a little more wear - they were pre-owned by a DJ for 3 or 4 years. On my last gig I combined them with a DB technologies sub 05d which has a fixed built in crossover at 100 Hz.
The trick of insulation the sub from the floor is funny, never thought about that. Usually sound folks recommend putting the sub on the floor or near a wall because the reflections will gain you another few Db.
So far I've not squeezed the last Db out of the zlx+sub combo, the gig was in a rather small room, but it looks like I have plenty headroom on the sub anyway since I have to turn the gain down by what has to be about -5 Db.
Great the things u re saying..Please i ll need your knowledge.I have 2 zlx 15 p never pushed to the end and an ekx18sp sub.. whats the best adjustment i can make to them when pairing them? I have them on the pre factory adjustment the zlx to the sub on mode at the ekx 18sp and the ekx18sp to the zlx 15p mode..is that the best they can make cause i havent tried any other adjustment for example 80db or 100 or 120db...i want the best sound taking out of all of them.
And another question..comparing to the qsc 12.2 which speaker is better according to the better sound quality and the power cause im thinking of selling the zlx15p and buying the qsc.will they pair ok with the ekx18sp if i ll do that ? Or should i stay with the zlx15p which are very very good for me.The only use is at home studio never got them out at any event outdoors.
Sorry for my english hope u reply thank u.
I have owned (7) ZLX12P's for over 3 years and they rock everything from a full band (used with subs, of course) and an audience of 300+ in a medium-size venue, to DJing for a party or wedding. For smaller DJ gigs I've used (2) for mains, and (2) side by side on the floor in front of my table as subs. For my bigger gigs, I have (4) ETX35P's.
I'm very happy with my EV's
Great news.
dont know if you guys gives a damn but if you are stoned like me atm then you can stream all the new movies on InstaFlixxer. I've been watching with my girlfriend recently :)
@Greyson Eduardo Definitely, have been watching on Instaflixxer for years myself =)
Thanks I’ve finally managed to fix my zlx 15p with a new board. Thanks for this video 👏🏽
Thanks for taking the time for the review John. I have the ZLX12 BT, no internal fan to keep things running cool. The amp (class D) gets quite hot to the touch even at idle, no input outputs set to nominal 0dB. On the other hand, there's an internal fan on my Yamaha DBR10 (which sounds fantastic btw) cool as a cucumber even after on for several hours.
Thank you for your comments CVee, you could take a look at mine one day lol.
Yes I did a review & repair on the Yamaha DBR10, it’s a better class of speaker and more powerful too; they would be my first choice of active speaker.
Due to the cheap ZLX design, even the 15 volt regulators cook themselves and switch off after a few minutes with zero signal input, see my repair for proof.
There is so much heat from the little amp chip and the regulators, the case will get warm in minutes.
Been using my pair of ZLX in more than 70 weddings, last 30 of them with an ELX118sub.. they sound fine for the price, but one day I heard a pair of ELX 15’s outdoors and I was blown away by the quality of them
Hi,
Yes as I mentioned in the video, with the dsp, one can get a nice sound out of them.
I have 2 ZLX-15P's here that are blown and they are the newer pcb revision.
I love to see smart people expose the truth behind a products specs. Great video!
Thank you
I would love to see a response from Electro-Voice on this. Well done, sir!
Look at some of the comments, people love them and will have nothing bad said about them lol. The others are looking for a repair shop.
Thank you for your comments
Sir thankyou for your time and your expertise. This is what musos and DJs need to hear. None of us are millionaires and what we spend on gear needs to give us an ROI. So again, thankyou thankyou thankyou!!!
John Mciellan Thank you kind sir, I agree.
Look at some of the users below, they will have nothing bad said about EV and many try and justify the inflated power ratings.
Great breakdown of the technology used in these. Soon as the video began and you showed the main power supply the first thing that came to mind was where is the sufficient heat sinks for 1K of power to cool the Fets down. Hence there isn't any. lol Nice work on this, wtg!
Thank you kind sir, positive feedback at last. lol :)
Oh wow, I was just about to fork out for a full set of EV EKX (rather than ZLX) tops and subs as a first time buyer of their gear and you’ve now shattered my faith in any EV products! Back to the auditions..
Thank you for your comments.
@@JohnB-2021 John...I saw your video some time ago and it led me down a path to find ou the whys, hows and what nots. Can you please review this video and tell me if it makes sense as to how the 250 watt chip can make 1000 watts. Its a very informative video and after doing some homework it seems that you may be incorrect. Please check this out and help us understand. czcams.com/video/PP7DxyX7c7Y/video.html
@@deejayqueazy8251
Hi, I tried to listen to most of the video but found myself skipping to the facts.
They are saying / stating how one can get 1000 watts when only consuming 100 watts from the mains.
The guy is correct.
Because there is energy stored in the capacitors, it is possible to get 1000 watts peak music power and consume less from the mains power over 'short' periods.
BUT, they are not saying one can get 1000 watts from a 210 x 2 watt chip.
Look at the repair video I did.
There is insufficient voltage to get 1000 watts into a 4 ohm speaker, further more, the chip limits the current to 12 amps to protect itself.
Your video link is saying how one can get more power out of a box than one puts into the box.
That works for very short periods only.
The guy also did NOT recommend driving your speaker with a continuous sine wave which would be required to measure the full RMS output at a specific frequency.
In my repair, I do drive the bass with 1000 hertz, you will see the chip cuts back on power when it starts cooking.
Wish you could specify ALL speakers like this to educate us pleeeease John B. GOOD ON YOU! AND THANK YOU SOOO MUCH
Thank you for your comments, unfortunately I have only seen a few speakers i.e. Mackie (Thump & 450), Yamaha DBR10 and a QSC12.
All were powerful speakers.
I didn't rate the Mackie Thump and this EV was in the same class as the Thump, I would never buy one.
The Mackie subs HD1801, SWA1501, SWA1801 will blow your socks off, really great subs.
The Mackie SRM1801 is not bad too, though the HD is twice as powerful.
The Mackie 650 don't sound as crisp as the old 450.
I did repair a JBL speaker, a 525 or something like that.
2 woofers and again super powerful but twice the size of the above speakers.
Your explanations are great and informative a lot of it is over my head but with your insight I have information to decide what my next move should be Thanks
Great to hear!
Thanks for showing this problem. I have a set of ZLX-12P speakers, and have the same issue with one of mine. Two repair shops told me that they could not repair that board, and they were not interested in trying. They told me that they could not obtain documentation and replacing the entire amp was the only option (too expensive). I used these speakers lightly for about 2 years for our band. They sounded great, and I was happy with them until one burned up - it is so disappointing that it cannot be repaired. Contacting EV, or Bosch Security was absolutely no help at all. I feel like, for my purpose and the way I use and treat my gear, that the ZLX-12P should have been more than adequate to meet my needs. As I purchase new speakers, I'm going to have to be more diligent about looking at how they are made.
Thank you for your comments, I show the repair link in the 'show more'
Great video. It you look at the passive version it says 250w continuous and 1000w peak with the identical drivers so its obvious the marketing team ran with the 1000w to get the sales. However the good thing is that the powered version amplifier can actually deliver the 250w.
Thank you for your comments
Very informative, thanks for posting. I have no problem with getting what I pay for, but I don't like paying for inaccurate advertising.
Thank you for your comments, I agree with you.
@@JohnB-2021 BTW I wanted to ask your opinion: I'm looking to buy powered speakers to amplify bass guitar. In terms of tone, I prefer powered speakers with a flat response. Do you have any recommendations. Thanks.
@@catboyzee
I like the Mackie SRM450v2, there is a small emphasis on the 100 Hz but is otherwise flat.
I'm yet to hear the cheaper version 3
@@JohnB-2021 Ok, thanks.
Thank you John B for an informative report. I am tossing between the Yamaha DBR12 and EV ETX 12P but after seeing your review I made up my mind and save my hard earn money. ;)
Good choice, thank you for your comments
I think DJ's should go to their local pro audio store and listen to the speakers. I used JBL Eons 15 for years and had other DJs come up and tell those speakers sounded awesome and couldn't believe they were Eons. I use 2 EV ZLX 15 with a 18 sub now and I played a 350 to 400 person school and they filled the place. Some times it's not what you have, it's how you use it.
wow,good to know your system is working for you.
Hope it doesn't blow up like the others I have seen.
Straight to the point on this product.. Yep I do prefer good old power supply and transistor circuits. Or even valve amplifiers..
Thank you
You're absolutely spot-on! They seem to have rated their speakers for peak power. I'm still learning but, typically, loudspeakers are rated with "peak musical power", which they achieve with a pink noise tailored to have a 6dB crest factor. That means that your speaker will be rated 4x the average power it can really take indefinitely.
It's a way to make your speaker seem more power-hungry than it really is, as higher power doesn't necessarily mean higher SPL. A speaker can, for example, take plenty of power and heat up like a kettle, and still deliver puny SPL figures, if its efficiency is shite.
Thank you for your comments.
The repair 'scope shot' shows +/- 30 volts peak to peak before it limits down to 20 volts PP.
30 volts PP times 2 = 60 volts PP. (Times 2 because amp is bridged mono)
60 x 0.707 = 42.42
42.42 x 42.42 = 1,799.4564
1,799.4564 into 4 ohms = 449.8641 RMS
At full power, this 449 watts lasted just a few seconds before the chip cut the output down to 200 watts approx.
I have been using my set of EV Zlx 12p for over 2 years now. & I push these babies to tapping into limit every weekend. & not one problem yet! I drive my speakers hard & I have always been able to trust EV for my over 30 years of DJing. I also have a pairs of the ZA1 12" sub's for when I need to add extra bass for like a school dance. no problem with those ever either. all my other EV speakers are passive with QSC amps with I have had for over 30years & still work great til this day. I have 20 EV passive speakers all work great. but only one powered zlx system. but so far for these 2 years I have worked them hard without not one problem at all!
& to put them up against Mackie thump or jbl, they blow them away in sounds quality & sound much louder!
Thank u for your video, but maybe that was just a bad board. it can happen. :-)
Just a bad board?
lol
No, the newer boards fail as often as the older boards, just read some of the forums or look on CZcams to see the blown EV's on all models.
It's no good comparing a passive speaker to an active speaker.
Give your amp time, it will blow up, they all do, especially if you are running it at the 'limit' as you mentioned above.
That simply means your speaker is too small for the job.
I'm with Andre. I beat the crap out of mine, and they perform flawlessly. Sounds to me like there's something more going on here.
The blown amp was 4 years old, it also performed flawlessly until it failed.
Nothing going on, just showing how they go wrong and how the woofer is driven.
Bought the Zlx-15p's for home use in a game room (light use, not driven hard)--so far 2-amps have failed, not a happy camper! He's 100% correct that these are crap. Done with EV's.
You just saved me $500. Was thinking about buying one of these as a stage monitor. I thought it would be nice because of the two channels that I need, and 1000W, which I now know is a joke. Ill look into the Mackie or Yamaha options instead.
Thank you for your comments, you'll have to let me know what you choose.
QSC K series look pretty good too.
Watts doesnt matter. Max dB SPL output is what matters, and if you comprare the max dbs of the other brands in the same price range they are about the same
Thanks for your enlightment. Good Job! 🎻🔊🎼🤔
Thank you, you're welcome
you definitely know your stuff,,,what a pleasure to hear!!! I am a keyboard soloist,,,I am looking for a powered speaker for small venues , restaurants,cocktail parties,,,,please help with some recommendations for powered speakers,,,just getting back in the game after a long lasting medical problem,,,thank you in advance,,,,,,keep up the good work and the truth,,,,,God Bless,
Thank you kind sir
I recommend the Yamaha DBR10, very nice sounding speaker and I show a repair here too, have a search
Or, get a second hand Mackie SRM450 version 2, very nice sound, plenty of punch and easy to repair.
A friend told me his new Mackie SRM650's do not sound as good as his 450v2 s
I 100% agree. Yamaha are good quality speakers. Plus they add their warranty to back it up. Great video a lot of knowledge. 👍! You are a genius...👌!
Thank you for your feedback Dj Roly G
Only Rcf
7 Year warranty.
Ok I was literally about to buy the 12 this morning. I had been tossing up between this and the Yamaha dbr10. I thought I had decided but it looks more trouble than it's worth. Since the sound quality is comparable. I think I'll go with yamaha. Thank you for this video.
Good choice Gabrielle but isn't the Yamaha twice the cost?
Thanks for your comments.
@@JohnB-2021 It actually worked out $60 cheaper here in NZ. Looking forward to its first show tonight. Thanks again!
I own 4 of these speakers and they are fine for small venues with a decent DJ that knows the difference between distortion and loudness or live gig with an active speaker! Like John says they do sound really good, i vouch for that, but my advice to anyone that reads this with ALL MANUFACTURERS look for the RMS rating not the first large number you see. RMS rating in theory is what a speaker will definitely produce (although someone will probably have a more accurate way of saying that) in power. When i brought these they where a lot cheaper than they are now and I knew immediately that they could be no more than 200-250w. EV for some reason do not publicise this (probably to dupe certain customers) but they do produce good speakers.
Thank you for your comments.
The simplest way to look at the 'root mean square' is the 'heating effect' in watts if the amp was driving a resistive load like a heating element.
Hard when they give rms less and less often.
Thank you for your video it has alot of information especially on the ZLX speakers
Thank you for your comments
@@JohnB-2021 btw do you have a email address or somewhere you can be reached privately?
Here is my email.. omar@ave-africa.com
Kindly email me thank you
You cant beat martin audio wavefront and crown macrotech - heavy duty old skool power and sound.great video john.
I have heard of both but never seen them in real life.
I did own a light controller, pretty sure that was Martin Audio, the touch pads were knackered.
Thank you for your comments John.
I bought ZLX 112 once to play with my Voicelive 3. Broken after 3-4 hours at normal volume. I changed it to ELX 112P and no problem at all ! The ELX is really better than ZLX serie according to my experience and what i red on forum.
Thank you, your info may help someone.
Exactly. The ZLX is garbage but the ELX is another level.
I like the comparison videos and trust this man's advice and he is right about the components used here in the powered EVs but if you go passive then you go off the sound and the EV ZX5's do sound great - powered speakers in my mind are a bit unreliable n heavy still and the rush to get them over a powered desk is silly I think and I still think passive is king because if you get a good desk - A nice little usually reliable dynacord mark 3 for example or a H and Allen I still think its better for a few reasons firstly all these great passive speakers are cheap as chips now so EV ZX5 passives are cheap and so you can get great speakers for half the price. # Maybe though I get sentimental - Miss my old studio master horizon desk (Never let me down for 15 years and sounded lovely) and I used to love mini disk players ...lol.
I am not totally put off active speakers however and If I was to pick a brand for sound in the powered speaker range I would pick the Yamaha DSR 15 personally nice wooden cabs warm sound lots of ummmmph n top end better sounding than the yamaha dxr range which is good too though its heavy as my Aunt Bessy and you need a crane to lift the DSR 215.onto a stand ..they remind me of the old nexo range - great old speaker.
I heard John B say if your desk goes down you lose your amp technically not always true cos usually you would lose one side of the desk (usually) and so you just link the speakers thro one side thats working and go mono from one channel.
My question to John is have you heard of the EV evolve 50s what everyone seems to be getting - what do you think of those - Had a repair on them yet?
HI, not had an Evolve 50 yet, it would be very interesting to see the design and measure the output.
Thank you for your comments.
interesting video... I was in the electronics field for 15 years or so. mainly working microwave antennas and such. I wish I would've got more into digital.
Wow, microwave stuff.
Digital should be a walk in the park for you.
I do love RF stuff but get lost with the microwave stuff.
Thank you for your comments.😁
Wish I'd seen this before I bought my ZLX-12P, Oh well, you live & learn & it'll be my first & last EV purchase.
Well it’s a good speaker, just not 1000 watts.
How much did you pay?
I think about 550 Watts is fine for a 15 inch full range. Pretty much what I expected (actually I expected a bit less power). Of course the advertised "1000 watts" is peak power. But you could already tell because they dont tell you the rms power.
@@Chris-yy7qc
To find the peak from RMS you multiply the RMS by 1.414 which is the square root of 2.
To find the RMS from the peak, you multiply the peak by 0.707.
The speaker is 420 watts peak with an additional 100 watt tweeter.
2 months old & it's shit itself, no bottom end
Thanks John for the well spoken and intuitive video. I've looked at (as a tech) not only the E-V series but also the Mackie, JBL and the Alto brands, they are all primarily the same using the same components which I believe are built in the same factory in China. I guess by today's standards these would be considered good products. Today's goods are not built by the electronics engineer but by the marketing departments of these giant conglomerates. They are built with pre-planned obsolescence., so if they last 4 or 5 years they can sell you a new one. By the way you mentioned some Russian guy having a schematic, could you let me know where to find it, for I have two of these units from two different customers on my bench. the one party said there was a power surge but I think he plugged it in to another amp of sub that wasn't grounded properly cause it burned the input "DSP" board. I phoned E-V and they said they don't sell that board because it needs to be programmed. What happened to the good old days of discrete components, in most cases you didn't even need a schematic.
Hi Phil,
Thank you for your comments.
I prefer the Mackie 450v2 to the EV since they are certainly more powerful, generally more reliable and do have a remarkable sound that has been specifically engineered as can be seen on the pcb with the 20 to 30 op amps.
I found the same picture of the schematic with a Google search.
It is only the power supply section but is very helpful since I've had one EV also blow resistors that drop the 240 down to 12 for the fet driver.
I think this is the link
elektrotanya.com/electrovoice_zlx15p_12p_zlx-15p_12p_powersupply_schematic.png/download.html
EV do sell the input board because my friend purchased one as explained in the video.
Awesome video mate! Thanks
Glad you liked it!
Nice video, thx for shared
Thank you
I own 4 of these and they do get hot. They do sound surprisingly decent though for monitors.
Yes, a great little speaker.
I am fixing a similar EV ZLP-15P. You can get a schematic from Electro Tania which is very close with only Q9 not displayed on the schematic.
Well i have my pair of zlxp15s for about 5 years already prettt much playing with them 2 days a week and they still running as new they got hot and the lcd displays shows clipping since the first day i bought them
The only thing important is set the master volume to 0 and the mic level to the middle position or a bit less that will prevent the speaker to work the best i have never used the mic level more than half like i said
I guess you may only be able to use the whole volume up if you just use it to connect an ipod or a music but in live music situations just cant
I hope this helps
Hi Ev gives the 1000w as a peak for the drivers (so not the amp!) The amp just gives around 240 rms to the drivers. They only use their 1000 watts peak for advertising and that kind of stuff. Greetings from the Netherlands and keep up the good work! Edit size does not really matter in small amps like this, of course you wont get like 1000rms out of this but it could be for this kind of size up to around 500rms.
Good day to the Netherlands, thank you for your comments
Don’t care what you say about them, they sound fantastic.
So does a 20 watt valve amp.
I just purchased a Lase amp for an E/V eliminator.. Im going from passive to self ppwer.. The last amp boast 500whats Rms and 900 max it is recommend for E/V's
John love your honest vids!!...in your opinon best powered speaker for DJ'ing..thanks
Thank you Neil.
Yorkville
Love it when the truth hits the air!!! Well done for the technical explanation. Have you done any teardown analysis on the Partybox 1000? I would love to see what's inside this so called "Party Beast"!
Thanks for your comments.
I don't do teardowns, just try and fix what is in front of me.
Do let me rephrase my question then. Have you repaired any JBL partybox 1000 speaker?
@@Lamprosjo No.
Thanks
Glad I've seen this as will save me forking out on speaker package. Given your knowledge of the inner workings and boards of the powered loudspeakers and me as a mobile dj wanting to get back into things - can you give any guidance of where to start looking for 12"/15" tops and 15"/18"subs for up to 200 people medium/intermediate venue. So much to get through with specs and even then you are lost as there's no clue about the inner boards and electronics. Currently particularly difficult to get anywhere to hear different loudspeakers for myself. I've been trying to get decent loudspeaker info for over 20 years and this is still as mysterious as it always has been. Any help/advice greatly appreciated :)
Yamaha DBR range tops, second hand Mackie Subs SWA range are great.
@@JohnB-2021 thanks. I hadn't even considered Yamaha speakers until you mentioned this. Could be a good match with the Yamaha MG12XU mixer I've got my eye on! Seems lots of good things have been said about the DBR15's. Any idea what the difference is matching one with a DXS sub compared to your recommendation Mackie SWA?
Hi John B... I had a question if you don't mind?
I run sound for a bar and grill. We have a nice entertainment room. It's about 40 feet wide by about 90 to 100 feet long. We currently run 2 JBL EON 615, and we need extra monitors, but I figured instead of just getting monitors, as we want to upgrade to the EV series of speakers for more headroom on power (although after seeing this video, I think only the EVX or higher series is going to offer more power) and just take the JBL's and use them as monitors. That way we aren't wasting or needing to sell the JBL's as they have a monitor selection built-in to them. We already have 2 MR 905 monitors, but sometimes the backline can use another monitor or 2 as the drums get quite loud in our entertainment room.
What I am curious about is what speakers would be good for that size of room? We also have an old JBL 418S that's powered by a Crown CH 2 in bridged mode. I know we need another sub for a room that size, but currently we have a need for monitors and my boss wants to upgrade to the EV series speakers because a band brought their own sound guy and his EV speakers sounded amazing in our room.
Now I have concerns about the power, as I'm always telling my boss when they state 2000 watt power it's bullshit. I can't for the life of me figure out why they don't have a standard at this point. I just want to know what wattage I have on tap for constant usage, no peak power handling bullshit that doesn't tell me anything.
Mr John . Thank you for your CZcams contribution. I love your videos and how you explain it in layman terms. I have a Sansui 7500 A. It needs to be refurbished. Would this be possibly something you do? I live in Baltimore Maryland U.S. Thankyou Sir. Fred.
Hi Fred,
Thank you for your comments.
I'm in the UK, your unit would cost a fortune to ship here, plus I usually just repair stuff and not refurbish equipment.
There is a guy on CZcams that does wonderful refurbishments, Mr Carlson / Carlson's Lab, I would seriously consider asking him, I believe he is in Canada if not the USA.
John Thank you I was just getting ready to buy these and found your video. Thank you
Thank you for your comments
Nice video👍
But the zlx12p and zlx15p are only rated for 250 W permanent output and 1000 W peak. As anybody in audio business knows the peak power is only marketing. But as you demonstrated it is not even capable of delivering the 250 W.
But in general it is not that unrealistic to have 1000 W from a PCB that size. E.g. the Powersoft Litemod or ICE Power ASP1200 they are at least close to 1000 W. But of course they do need good cooling although with 90% efficency you would "only" need to cool 200 W.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us!
Thank you for your input.
Got 2 each of the 15" and the 12". One 12 just quit upon switch on. The fuse burnt. No scorch marks or anything visual except that HUGE amount of glue-gunk spread over everything. It's enough to make me want to just rig up a passive xover and use the speaker for garage entertainment... or give it away to a fellow hobbyist.
Nice video good explanation can you also do a QSC K-12
I looked at a QSC K series amp, not a bad construction but a nightmare to work on since the boards screw down into a deep metal box, not service friendly.
Nicely explained John, got to learn so much from you. Well, could you recommend me a budget FRFR speaker with a flat response, I am a guitarist and I use a Line 6 Helix Guitar processor. So I am looking for a blank slate. Thanks !
I have only seen the Yamaha & Mackie speakers on a regular basis, generally I don't give cheap speakers the time of day.
I was about to buy these EV's. Think I'll go with the Mackies instead. Cheers man.
I think EVs are nice speakers, just not 1000 watts and they seem to fail more often than Mackie.
Thank you for your comments.
Thank you so much i have 2 board with the same problem fet, pwm, resistores all dead
I have a repair video , link in 'more'
@@JohnB-2021 Where ? i have replaced all resistors pwm and 17n80c3, and diodes 3 lags but is not tourn on i don't know where probleme, sorry for my english i am from France
@@armandbabet2160 You need to test if there is over 5 volts on the chip.
I've had ev zlx115p for over 6 years with no problems atall and they have driven very hard till thermal comes up on the dsp with no problems up to now
That’s great to hear.
However, if you look at the comments below, one viewer has just had a second amp blow up.
It seems some go on forever and some don’t.
I've had 2 speakers go out. I have 6 total and looking for a replacement brand if thiey keep burning up.
Interesting video i have both the thumps n the zlx I use zlx as mains thumps for monitors.. for me the thumps sound more muddy zlx sound clear and are louder but they do get really hot at the amp, im having a problem with with my thump while playing it turns off after a couple of seconds do you know what could it be
Maybe a woofer going short circuit since many, like the EVs, are over driven.
Great Video John and Thanks for your expertise in the electronics field. Can you recommend to us a more reliable speaker with a similiar affordability to these EVs. PS I subscribed to your channel. Great stuff. Thank you.
Thank you for your comments
Yamaha DBR series are a very good speaker, they do cost more and are more powerful with better quality.
@@JohnB-2021 Thank you
You are right.
That said, don't judge a power supply by its size. Depending on the topology used, a SMPS with a transformer that size could *easily* deliver in excess of 2000W.
And none of that "watts RMS" rubbish! The correct is *watts,* period!
Show me a 2000 watt SMPS with one small transformer and one fet driving it.
Watts RMS is rubbish?
Please.
There is no room on that bobbin for an amount of wire to deliver 2000 watts.
@@JohnB-2021 I'm designing a 3000W SMPS for a 2500W amplifier. That supply will deliver 4400W of "burst" power. Also, inside the Yamaha T5n (2500W @ 4R x 2), for example, there are transformers even smaller than the one in the video. Trust me!
Matheus Moreira no I will not trust someone who says RMS does not exist
@@mattmoreira210 I have just found some poor res pictures of the T5n, there are 2 transformers in it, did you forget to mention that part?
@John B You didn't look at the specs, did you?! Because the amplifier is rated 2 x 2500W in 2 ohms. That's 5000W split between two transformers. And guess what?! 2500W + 2500W = 5000W. Magic!
I think many manufacturers over-hype the wattage. Unfortunately Mackie Thumps don't have EQ controls just "Speaker Mode".
Ich denke das dies auch der große Unterschied zwischen der ZLX und der ELX200 Serie ist! Das ELX200 12p Top hat laut Datenblatt 4 dB mehr Power mit exakt dem gleichen Mitteltöner! Angeblich hat das ELX Top mit 1200 Watt nur 200 Watt mehr als das ZLX Top, aus 200 Watt mit gleichem Mitteltöner holt man aber keine 4 dB raus. Ich kann mir gut vorstellen das das ZLX Top nur ca 400 Watt hat und das ELX Top ca die 1000 Watt hat (das würde ungefähr 4 dB machen)!
Interessanter Beitrag ... Ich hatte mir nämlich schon gefragt wie es sein kann das eine 1200 vs eine 1000 Watt Box mit dem gleichen Mitteltöner 4 dB mehr haben kann!
Love my ZLX EV's. So far so good.....
Hi could i ask you something about them?
@@rumely7232 Sure. Ask away...
@@longsnapper5381 is the mini jack as good as a trs input port? I use bluetooth now but kinda want to switch to wired
@@rumely7232 We use the Bluetooth only. I'm sure the 1/8 jack would work fine, too but I'm speculating.
Just started using these first gig was the weekend zlx15bt, I noticed they get really hot on the back panel is this somthing to be worried about or is it the normal ?
BEWARE: Al the other vendors do the same! Sometimes they take the musicwatts in 2 ohms times 2 to get 3000watts or something for a 2 channel amp. It is
redicuolos. So I have been thinking it over one more time. Lets assume that they really could deliver 1000watts, and that the distribution would be 200:800 w
for tweeter/bass. Do any off you know reasonable priced tweeters and woofers that can stand that amound of power?? With real life speakers it is probably
50/150w clean input power ... And what goes out must come in somewhere. The specs from the datasheet said that worst case scenario is 0.6A @230v. This
is not a 100% correct calculation, but you will come close by saying 0.6A*230v=138w, and the efficiency of a good Class-D amp is about 95%, then we are down
to 131w RMS. And I frankly don´t think that this circuit has an efficiency of 95%, because then it would generate almost no heat. So where does the rest of the
power come from? Physical laws tell that power stays the same, it can be converted, but it stays the same. Or am I complety wrong here?
In the old days we had the same problem with HiFi amps, that got correctet over a long time when customers got aware of it, but when Class-D amps came in
to the scene, the same nonsense started all over again.
Thank you Brother for Your information .... What do you Really Recommend on a 15" Powered Speaker ..
Yamaha and then maybe the Mackie range
I read somewhere that all EV advertisements show 2 speakers 2x 1000w = 2000w peak to peak RMS about 700w and maybe that's a bit on the high side , thanks for showing us the FIBS John , and I suppose they are made in China , I'll stick to my RCF
Thank you for your comments.
I think RCF might be the better speaker.
For someone who dabbles in the technical stuff this was an interesting watch so Thank You! That said I have been using 4 ZLX 115P's as stage wedges for 5 years now without a single problem and I use them often and ride them hard when I need to.
For me I don't pay much attention to wattage ratings. I pay attention to how they sound and will it be loud enough? These may not be 1,000 watts but they are LOUD and they sound great for the price. I shopped around a lot and did a lot of sound demo's before I chose these as my stage wedges. I chose them over Turbosound, Behringer, and JBL. The JBL's sounded better I thought but the price delta was too great for the little bit of sound quality I'd be gaining. I will say that recently I lost the horn of one of my ELX 112P's (not ZLX) and am not going to bother troubleshooting as they are cheap enough to just replace the whole speaker and use the "bad" one for parts. I have done some pretty big shows including National Acts with my ZLX's and they have done a remarkable job for me.
Thank you for your comments Bob.
Many explain they have been great speakers.
Sort the comments to 'newest first' and under your comment is a guy with problems after using his speaker 4 times.
Then there are the others where their power supplies have gone bang in a year. (see repair video).
I think they are an ok speaker, just not 1000 watts, though many try and tell me otherwise lol.
Very nice video i have exactly same problem if you could tell me what is the replacement for that voltage regulator as im trying to fix it.
The repair is in the link under 'show more'
Hello sir. Between EV zlx 15bt vs LD icoa 15bt in your opinion, the specialist who has good quality parts for me and who develops the best sound for me? Thank you
Hi John, I was wondering if you could take a look at my ZLX15P circuit board; the speaker no longer turns on and it seems like the same resistors (or part of the circuit board) are blown out as shown in the video. My knowledge on this subject is veery little, but I have always wanted to learn more about electrical engineering, and this seems like a good project to learn from. Thanks for your time and help
I have a repair video, the link is in the 'show more'
I do not have any FETs for the EV, last time I checked there was zero stock.
Hi John... I have my band and I have 2 Mackie Thump 15a they give me around 200 real watts . They are ok but I need something louder now that I am growing my proyect and I was thinking about 2 Zlx for the price. Now watching your video I have my doubts. What you recomend me to do?
I have ELX 115 15 inch.mains I have used for about 6 years.. I have Giged these speakers about 30 times in many different venues inside and out. Never had an issue and they.are super quiet when active and idle.. They push excellent SPL. I know the Class D amps are not the best but a class A Amp in this.speaker.would weigh 85 pounds. I also have SXA 250 EV speakers..I.assume they are Class AB amps .they are tremendous speakers but weigh a ton. I am looking at replacing them with PXM 12P monitors...Basically would rather have EV than turbosound wedges.Everyrhing now has DSP and is Class D.
To each is own I chose ev over Mackie do to cleaner sound it was really close choosing though
Thanks
Lord John B. I remembered the Peavey products we used in early 80's. We read 200 watts from the pancake an the sound rich all the Block and all night. Today we see it portable powered speakers with 10,000 watts this is the energy off 10 floors Building consumer so the new generation don't know about Peak (a few seconds ) Program 1 hour at some volts and the RMS. Continuos. 8 hours like a party events. Thanks so much for your info.
Thank you for the comments, good old Peavey hey :)
Hi John, thanks for your video. I have a ZLX-15P in for repair and the TDA8953 cuts out when it gets hot. I've reflowed the solder pads, so it's not a dry joint, and the heatsink is in good contact with the chassis. Do you have a source for the chip in the UK? I'm struggling to find one. Cheers, Trevor.
Hi Trevor,
I doubt the chip is faulty.
It's probably the heatsink pad is not conducting the heat to the chassis.
I use Farnell & Mouser for parts here in the UK
Hi John, in your experience of opening and repairing powered speakers, which ones do have well-designed and implemented amplifier circuits?
Yamaha DBR range, Mackie (not under-powered Thump), QSC.
There are others that I have not seen.
Can someone help out with any possible solution on the back panel heating issue on EV ZLX BT12. After a service of around 2.5 to 3 hours - it heats up... :(
I am looking to purchase some powered speakers for live music. I am looking at the JBL eon, Peavey Dm, Mackie Thump. I would really like to hear your suggestion out of these
Hi,
What JBL?
The Thumps and EON615s are a medium power, less than 500 watt, speaker.
If you want them for small venues they will be fine.
I wouldn't choose them, I'd look at a more powerful speaker like the Mackie450v2 and the Yamaha DBR range at nearly twice the power output.
I have not seen the schematics for the Mackie 450v3 yet.
After the Class-D PA amps came out we got the Watt War back, that we had in the early days. Most companies are lying and cheating about watts. Normally you can divide
by at least 4, and that is also the case here. How do I know that? Because if you buy the non powered version of the same speaker, they are rated at 250w continuous
and 1000w peak power. That is because the speaker can not handle more, and they don´t want to take the guaranty if people blow up their non powered speakers.
I suppose somebody could also do some math when they write in their technical material that under worst case scenarios the speaker draws 0,6A @ 230 volts.
Having said all that I like those speakers quit a lot, I have 4 ELX-12P and 2 ELX-15P, and have not had any problems with any of them.
Kim Hansen
Thanks for your comments.
Even this chip has the watts pushed up by measuring it at 10% distortion.
At 0.1 % they are around 84 watts x 2
I have a roland rd-2000 for piano in a jazz trio. What's the best budget speaker with a flat response for piano? I was looking at the ZLX-12P but maybe you know something better. Thanks!
Good question
I would have said a used Mackie 450v2 but they have extra emphasis at 100 Hz.
Maybe a version 3? They seem to be cheap and I've not seen one to repair yet.
Nice video! What do you think about the ALTO TS3 series?
Everyone I speak to don't rate that brand.
Thanks John for sharing this video, it was really informative... I would like to ask you your opinion about the JBL EON12 or the Presonus Air 12 speakers? Have you had to fix any of them? If not have you heard anything about them? Thanks in advance
alamakluke anything from JBL is most likely going to blow PreSonus out of the water... JBL has had way more experience and knows what their doing.
@@dennisondenatalie presonus bought a loudspeaker manufacturer I am sorry to say that I don't remember which one. But they can now use their experience in the product line of presonus
I've fixed some of the large JBL amps, they are super powerful and generally pretty reliable.
Not sure about the smaller units.
also they are 1000 watts peak. I would say they are a good 500watts RMS.
but still get very loud for the wattage they are. & you just can't beat there clean crisp sound. :-)
420 x 1.414 is not 1000 and that is at 41 volts not 36.
And the distortion is THD = 10 %; RL = 4 Ω at 210 watts.
A 15 watt amplifier can sound very loud too.
Below is taken from the bass chip data sheet
In the following example, a heatsink calculation is made for an 4 Ω SE application with a ±30 V supply:
The audio signal has a crest factor of 10 (the ratio between peak power and average power (20 dB); this means that the average output power is 1⁄10 of the peak power.
Thus, the peak RMS output power level is the 0.5 % THD level, i.e. 92.5 W per channel.
So you have a 185 watt peak RMS power on the base. lol.
Your formula does not compute
you call 10%THD clean?
Who called it clean?
What is your opinion on the QSC CP12 for stage monitor/vocal practice use?
Sorry I have not seen one so can't comment.
What is the high pass filter setting on these powered zlx?
Can you check how much the class d is making power wise (rms) limiter or before? Also have heard of pascal amps
Yes you can check.
Take the peak and multiply it by 0.707 to get the rms voltage then work out the current through the load.
I just bought a ZLX12BT to use with my line 6 helix guitar multi-effects processor board. Are these speakers no good? I was going to
Go with an FRFR powered speaker that’s meant for guitar modeling but don’t exactly want to spend over 800-1000$. Any suggestions John?
These ZLX speakers are ok if you can get them for a few hundred bucks, I'd not pay more because they are simply not 1000 watts.
Yamaha DBR speakers are much better but come at a price.
Great video what do you think of RCF I'm planning on getting RCF HD12A M4 .
Two people I know didn’t rate them, that’s all I know.
I’ve had my ZLX 12p for around a year and I’ve had no problems. Sure hope I keep that good luck. What do you think about the EV EKX series?
The amp that blew up was 4 years old.
Not seen any other EV amp.
What would you recommend between the ev zlx115p/elx200 series or jbl 615?
Hi,
I've not tested or heard the elx series or the jbl 615 so can't really comment.
Thank you very much for that info what do you think of the berhinger b115 mp3
Sorry not seen them
im not saying you are wrong, but i own two zlx-15p for six months now for personal use, i thrash them with drumnbass and they still work, they play nice and loud and i like the finish of them, the way i see it is that in the cheap aera, ev, jbl eon and mackie thumps are all great buys, my guess is you will find the same "faults" on other brands in the same pricerange.
I've seen and now fixed plenty of these ev smps, the Thump smps is rock solid
@@JohnB-2021 Do you think its the same thing with te ELX series?
@@richau9058 No idea, I only see what I repair.
@@richau9058 I just did some repair on my ELX112p. I can say there are 2 amplifier modules for the low end, and 1 module for the high end. I have recently come across a forum that says they're using UCD amplifiers, and the schematic provided is showing IRFB23N15D Mosfet drivers. I would look at mine, but I can't get to the speaker right now. I did find a DIY amp module using a pair of the IRF mosfets, and it's a 300W amp module project. If that's the case, then using 2 of them giving you 600W on the low end, and 300W on the high end. I guess that explains why I hear so many ZLX users they're peaking all the time. I never peak my ELX at all for 98% of my use, and I've used them at proms.
@richau, personal use you say; try again in a bigger room (or earplugs, or both ;p ) and drive the inputs until it ocassionally says "limit". Base means power, means heat. It's possible you are going to run into that problem if the amp overheats.
Well that is upsetting. I have one of these and over the weekend it stopped producing sound on the low frequency channel. The high frequency work fine. I have tested the leads on the sub and I am getting an 8 ohm continuity measurement. Any recommendations on how to begin repairs would be appreciated.
No idea, it could be anything.
the manual says 250 watts so bonus its more than what it is rated
Do you know if the new EV ZLX 12BT and ZLX 15BT's are basically the same as these? I bought one from Musicians Friend as an open box deal and one of the channels were blown upon arrival so I had to get it fixed immediately.
I mis read that.
Sorry no idea.
Hi what portable Bluetooth with heavy bass would u recommend?
Hi John, many thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience. I am in a local band but have had problems with 2 separate EV ZLXP12 speakers having the main circuit board burn out (different reasons). The technician I went to was really helpful but said basically the replacement would be almost as expensive as buying a new speaker. I was wondering if the similar price point Mackie Thump or Yamaha DBR have a better record at being more repairable? Many thanks, Jonathan
Hi,
All the amps are repairable, it’s just Mackie & Yamaha make the schematics available.
I have a link in the video showing a repaired EV speaker.
Thumps are similar to the EV and I don’t like them.
Mackie SRM 450v2 or v3 are more powerful and can be repaired, I love the v2.
Yamaha DBR range are a different class, expensive and more powerful.
I also have a video repairing a DBR10.
Many thanks for your advice John. Maybe the Yamaha DBR series would be a good match for me...the 12’s seem to retail for around £350.
@@jonathansmith5787 That price is a bargain, they were over £400 each once.
The DBR12's are 500 watts RMS, much more powerful then the EV and lets say the 'not so good' Thumps.
How much are the ZLX12 OR 15s ?
Read the comments, so many EV's blow up and others say they are great.
Yes I saw that, too. I was very happy with the EVs except that two of them have now blown, without ever having been driven hard and always kept in good indoor conditions. Many thanks again 🙂
John, I have a pair of the newer mackie thump 15a's. I used them for band practice (vocals only) for 2 years now. then 1 gig with the. as full range mains (vocals, guitars, a little bass, and kick mic) though we had subs too. One of them sounded distorted after that. Distorted like an active bass with a low battery distorts. Repair shop says it has a bad "power bucket " I have no idea what that is? Should I fix it for similar future gigs? I was contemplating buying some EV speakers instead . what do you think?
I think if you buy the EV speakers mentioned, you'll be disappointed since they are no better than the speakers you have.
Get someone to swap the amp and power supply and woofer from one to the other to narrow the fault down.
I've never heard of a power bucket, not even as a slang term.
What country are you in?
@@JohnB-2021 USA my friend.
After paying $200 to have all the electronics/amp replaced... that speaker cabinet still had the same problem, same distortion. I took it back and since they mis-diagnosed the problem the 1st time (turned out to be a blown woofer) they re-coned the speaker at no charge.
@@chucksano Great news I guess.
You will see I mentioned swapping the woofer, it's a common problem on Thumps.
It's the first thing that should have been checked.
John B, do you know anything about the QSC brand as compared to Mackie or Yamaha or EV? in particular.
Great brand.
Fantastic video, although very sad. I am the sorry owner of a pair of ZLX112p's and a pair of ELX118 subs. I've got an almost identical set of circumstances in the same area. Fet's dead shorted and a fair array of the resistors have carbonised. I think I'm reading them at 1 ohm? Maybe precision? I've ordered the parts and'll hopefully have the ZLX back on its' feet by end of week. The big question I have is; will this keep happening? And the biggest question (because I'm a huge fan of court action) - can we prove that these speakers have been mis-sold? I'm hearing the bells of a 'class action' right now.
Hi,
Make sure you change all the parts as shown in my repair video.
None of the amps I have repaired have failed yet, but I guess over time, they will.
Yes 1 ohm 1% I think, not really precision lol.
Still sad. Changed all components & unit smelled of burning as power introduced. Didn’t even boot up. Am I right in understanding you repair these units? I have a couple dead now.
@@notdoctors
Yes I can repair them if the tracks are not too blown.
John B have you a better contact? Telephone number / email?
Hello?