STAM,
if I were you, I'd go visit the http://live-audio.com/.
Here you get a very good idea about what speakers to get. A bunch of knowledgable people there too. Barbettas aren't even mentioned. Good luck!

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Roy-Andrè

The Barbettas are keyboard amps, maybe that is why they are not listed in the Pa group..Maybe the Barbetta owners have no complaints and have no need to post on that chat site..Some of us just know what works and do not have to consult with "knowledgable" people..I don't own Barbettas, but I know they are good.

Keyboard amp or not I would say is not the issue. If you sing and have a drum machine, you are still using a frequency range that needs a decent PA. I would also say that advising people to ignore a forum is rather ignorant. Ok, I apologize if I hurt someones feeling with my Barbetta comment, I just mentioned a discussion in a forum of a competitors forum, forget I mentioned it! The general concencus is that 15" speakers are far from ideal for vocals. The gap from 15" to 1,25" horn and tweeter can be rather big, meaning that as you turn the volume up, you start to lose mids because the prime frequencies for a tweeter and a 15" horn start taking up the increase in power. Therefore a 12" is better suited, less gap, less clipping and loss of mids where the vocal and lot of percussion and the guitar frequencies lay.

Hey,
I'm really happy with my Behringer Ultrawave B300. Got it at $314. That's a heck of a good price for this powered speaker. The only drawback it's heavy!! http://www.music123.com/Item/?itemno=10214

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I don't steer the ship, I bail out the water.
DJ
http://www.chipos.com/beachbum/

Lets see now--Dave sings, Donny sings, I sing, and nearly every keyboard player I've met in the past 20 years sings and nearly all prefer the sounds coming from a 15-inch speaker over the sounds coming from a 12-inch speaker. Some of the bigger bands, such as The Hubcaps, have much larger speakers, but I've never seen them using a 12-inch anything. The last time I performed using 12-inch speakers, even after a lot of EQ work, I was not at all happy with the quality of both the keyboard and the vocals. During the second set I switched to the 15's and everything sounded considerably better. My advice is: If you're going to do this stuff for a living, then put the best sound out to your audience you possibly can produce. If you want good, solid bass, you'll have to move lots of air. There's no question that you can move a lot more air with a 15-inch speaker than you can move with a 12-incher. Just MHO!

Good Luck,

Gary

I played bass guitar in bands for many years and my choice was multiple 10" speakers over 12" or 15". Smaller speakers can pump as much bass and air as bigger speakers but you need more of them. They tend to have a much better midrange response than bigger speakers.

Your main consideration is the distance over which you wish to project the sound. 15" have good bass response but only over a long distance. It takes a lot for the wave from a 15" to develop. They are not so good for personal stage monitoring which is why I liked 4 x 10" for bass onstage which was very punchy onstage but didn't throw so far that it would interfere with the front of house PA mix.

But if the speakers are your main source of audio for your performance then 15" will fill a room well.

Beachbum,

That is exactly what I think.
All the salesmen whom I met make the eloge of B300 but for me all cases their important weight (30 kg) are a reason for exclusion. Too bad.

Has somebody test these systems made up of a sub connected to 2 satellites?
They are 3 ways systems and some offer interesting levels of power.

I'm running twin 15's with 10x4 horns.
....Just my thots...

Having worked in the speaker manufacturing most of my working life. Nigel is correct, a small cone multiple configuration produces better overall (CLEAN BASS) and better CLARITY.
The reason is smaller cones respond faster to transients and the stopping and starting of the signal.

Graham UK

I guess this explains the reason I like the sound of the two 10" woofers included in my 'single unit' Motion Sound KP100S stereo PA so much. Thanks Nigel & Graham for your explaination. - Scott