My friend from the Aquanets purchased a pair of 802's for monitors and 1502's for mains...He let me unpack the 1502's and try them at LaPiazza's in Wildwood...

LaPiazza has a house system using JBL's..15" with horns x 4...They suck..

Let me tell you..I don't know how they do it ..but Podium is making the best stuff I have heard..We will have to see how they hold up, but we have been using 2 pair of 802's for months now..and they are still perfect...

The 15's...no exaggeration dominate..they are full, powerful and when I dialed in EQ for bass...they are sub woofer great..They get down lower than our Yorkville 600 watt sub woofer..and the full range sounds over-matches our Yorkville speakers (12")..

I set them up on the floor, behind us about 5-6 feet and 8-10 feet apart...We didn't need additional monitors...The sound was good on stage..and projection thru out the venue was excellent...I had to test it before we finished the night, by opening it up a bit..I never got pass 1/4 volume...Super , crystal clear, tight bass...not a sign of a clip..all the head room in the world...They will really cook outdoors...
After the first half hour , both of my band members said...we have to get these...

Now..the unbelievable...They are being advertised currently at $369 each plus shipping...They still gave us the old $399 shipped..for a pair...Only a fool would pass on this deal..especially after trying them in the real world...

Get yourself a pair...but wait till we get our order in first...

Got a link? Google's not finding this for me - typed "podium 1502 speaker powered", didn't get a single hit...

Diki,
Search on ebay for them.
Gotta run, or I'd look up the link.
DonM

http://www.onlyfactorydirect.net/servlet/Detail?no=148

Diki
This should take you directly to the link on Factory Direct featuring the 1502

Fran, I'll be in Wildwood this weekend, are you playing?

------------------
www.AudioworksCT.com
203.876.1133

I see the 8" powered speakers are up to $300.00 a pair.

Jerry

Frank, LaPiazza's on Sunday nights..8-12 PM

Restaurant/bar

I played an outstanding venue in Panama City FL yesterday. They had a HELL of a good PA system...

All JBL PRX series FOH and monitor systems... First time I've played through those (I have used an SR series pair of passives for quite a while and LOVE those) and I have to confess, I was blown away (almost literally!) by the 12" monitors they had on stage. Superb clarity, 500W RMS (1000W peak) power built in, switchable system EQ for either FOH or monitor use, and, dig this... bombproof construction, built in power, and still only 40 lbs.!

On top of that, the venue provided vocal mikes, and get this... they were all Neumann KMS 104/5's A superb $700 microphone with air for days. I WANT ONE! Finally, something in a handheld that blows away my EV 767a...!

All LED lighting system, Allen and Heath split console mixing board, house engineer... Even a dedicated, reserved parking spot in the crowded parking lot for the band van! I thought I had died and gone to heaven!

But all this was for just another beach bar and restaurant, albeit a pretty large one, not some fancy theater venue... After seeing so many of these kinds of venues go cheap, nasty and sonically horrible, to get to play a place like this was a total pleasure. This was with a live reggae band (but I still just use my G70 ), and I play there again next Sunday. At long last, a beach gig with a house system I'm actually looking FORWARD to

BTW, place is called Pineapple Willy's, if you want to look it up...

Anyway, Fran, you want a reference to judge those Podium's against, stack 'em up against a pair of JBL PRX's and let me know how they compare... Yes, yes, I know, the JBL's are triple the price of the Podium's But seeing as how everyone else wants to compare the Podium's to the $2500 Bose systems, I thought maybe a comparison to a great conventional system might be interesting, too...

Height 27.5" x Width 19" x Depth 16"

55 Pounds each !!!! YIKES

Same weight and size as other high quality units..like the Yorkville you almost bought..

BTW: you don't want to A/B them to the Thumps..and these cost less money...a lot less...

Wait till other folks start talking about them..surly someone else bought them..any SZoners>

Fran at least the cubes have wheels

...and I am glad they do.....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330343578536&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Because it would be SUCH a pain to have to put them on a lightweight dolly, wouldn't it?

Price notwithstanding, it's interesting to compare them to the JPL PRX's. They also make a 500W RMS 15"+horn, roughly the same weight, etc. But while the Podium's claim a 'sensitivity' of 103db with 25-20,000 Hz Frequency Response, the JBL's (whose figures I trust a LOT more, anyway) claim Rated Maximum SPL : 133 dB SPL peak. Whether those two figures are directly comparable, I don't know, but I must admit that the max SPL is the ONLY figure that ought to be on every speaker's specs (maybe with a max THD along with it)....

What's the POINT of 500W if it is running into a less efficient speaker...? Truth is, most musicians only want to know two things... how LOUD does it get, and how clean is it when it gets there.?

Do Podium make a little sub, yet? I would think that, for the majority of us OMB and arranger users, those little 8" ones, if matched with an equally small powered sub (just the one) would do the vast majority of the gigs we have, without compromising the low end. Something like that little EV one, I mean. Lugging two 55 lb. speakers around, just to get a bit of REAL depth seems overkill. And stick those 15"-ers up on poles, you'll lose a fair bit of depth, anyway.

So, if Podium are lurking, how about a nice small powered sub like the EV?

So Diki, how does that work? Do most unpowered mixers have a sub out? If not, what is the cheapest, good-sounding mixer with a sub out? I have two 802's but don't really use them because of the lack of 'bottom' and the sound quality isn't good enough (plus they're not nearfields) to use as studio monitors (I have four different sets of monitors, including one inexpensive 6" which sounds better). They're probably ok as stage monitors for keyboards but could serve as mains with a suitable sub (as you suggested), in a small venue.

chas

Most subs have a crossover built in, with a high pass output jack. You feed full mix to the sub, it sucks out the lows, then you feed that to your top cabs...

Alternatively, if you just need a little extra depth, and aren't trying to get the system as loud as it can go, you just feed the mix (in mono preferably) to the subs, and full mix (in stereo) to the top cabs. As long as there isn't a big forward or backwards difference between the subs and tops (phase issues), it works fine.

Yamaha mixers, and some others too, I think, have a dedicated mono out. Some of them even have a crossover for the mono out if your subs DON'T have an x-over...

I only have 10's but I can tell you that I have never received as many compliments as I did at the gig I played with them. I'm not saying they are the everything but I can say that they are a tremendous value!