PA speakers for theater use?

[fourdegrees]

Are there any PA speakers suitable for theater use, like say a Mackie C200? Mainly interested due to dynamic capabilities and generally lower price then pro cinema speakers, not sure if they're accurate enough.

[Paul O]

The cheaper "pro" speakers are cheap because there is next to zero engineering put into them, the crossover is basic and usually provides just enough protection to prevent blown drivers in abusive conditions. Some of them would make outstanding theater speakers with redesigned crossovers and some EQ, but you could probably build one of the speaker kits from PE for the same money.

[billfitzmaurice]

Are there any PA speakers suitable for theater use, like say a Mackie C200? Mainly interested due to dynamic capabilities and generally lower price then pro cinema speakers, not sure if they're accurate enough.

Pro cinema speakers and high quality pro-sound speakers are similar; not so long ago they were identical. Low quality pro-sound speakers could be used for cinema, if you're content with low quality sound. The C200 very much falls into the low quality category.

[Hackomatic]

As Paul and Bill have stated . . ya get whatcha pay for.

Can you give more detail on the exact application implementation and the room/ auditorium setup?

[fourdegrees]

As Paul and Bill have stated . . ya get whatcha pay for.

Can you give more detail on the exact application implementation and the room/ auditorium setup?

oh nothing serious, just want to bring the big dynamic theater sound to the home environment without overpaying for hifi speakers.

Do you guys have any recommendations for accurate pa speakers, preferably something that's been measured?

[envisionelec]

oh nothing serious, just want to bring the big dynamic theater sound to the home environment without overpaying for hifi speakers.

Do you guys have any recommendations for accurate pa speakers, preferably something that's been measured?

My take on this is:

Small cabinet, big room. Big cabinet, small room.

To me, PA speakers in PA speaker cabinets sound terrible in a home audio environment. I don't know why this is exactly, but I think it has to do with the combination of tuning and system Q.... Somebody want to quantify this?

[Hackomatic]

Here is an OPINION . . .

Theaters use the PA style cabinets out of necessity to fill the venue, not because of the ultimate in sound quality. No one will ever convince me a compression driver can sound as good as a Hi Fi dome, whether metal or silk, or other. It's all about coverage and decibels in an auditorium. Sure a professional installation company can tweak the system to the room and make it really sing, but for a home environment?? nah. No need for the PA type speaker.

If I were you, I'd try a set of studio monitors. I use a set of JBL 4408s for my mains and they sound AWESOME. If price is a concern, may I suggest a pair of the Behringer TRUTH B2031p monitors. I can attest, for the price, nothing comes close . .

Again, just MHO

[billfitzmaurice]

Here is an OPINION . . .

Theaters use the PA style cabinets out of necessity to fill the venue, not because of the ultimate in sound quality. +1. Pro-sound speakers are primarily designed to be loud. They also can sound good, as good as any hi-fi speaker, but only at a price.

[dotzs]

Its a question of your room size and how much D.B., you you want to push.I installed re done J.B.L. synthisis systems in big buck home theaters -the system switches the horn drivers for theater sound to dome tweeters for music listening --you can do this yourself for cheaper and better but the switching from one format to the other can be time consuming unless you can hook up some means of switching speakers .

At some of the last "real " C.E.S shows when home theater came into reality some of the super high end audiophile gear sounded cruddy for theater-not enough hype for the sound effects Its a weird that the people who wouldn't listen to music now play movies so loud that the noise level outside the room is deafening.

[Phil_RC_1]

Are there any PA speakers suitable for theater use, like say a Mackie C200? Mainly interested due to dynamic capabilities and generally lower price then pro cinema speakers, not sure if they're accurate enough.

I've been toying with a similar idea. Are you interesting in building your speakers? How a bout the "Smithereens" or the top end of "The Blue Wonders" (dressed up a bit,, of coarse LOL). I have been thinking about a MTM using the Selenium D220 and two Selenium 8"s.

[GordonW]

At some of the last "real " C.E.S shows when home theater came into reality some of the super high end audiophile gear sounded cruddy for theater-not enough hype for the sound effects Its a weird that the people who wouldn't listen to music now play movies so loud that the noise level outside the room is deafening.

This thought made me recall a system that Tannoy had at one of the CES shows... which illustrated that if PA speakers might not work well in a HT system... large STUDIO MONITORS can do ASTOUNDINGLY GOOD things.

Tannoy had a system in a large conference room, with FOUR DMT15 dual-15" cabinets (15" dual concentric plus 15" woofer per cabinet) in the four corners of the room and a SMT15 single-driver cabinet as a center channel.

With 9 15" woofers worth of radiating area and some careful active EQ on the bottom end, there was no need for subwoofers. This thing could do the literal "make your pants legs shake" thing with full fidelity and amazing focus and timber balance.

Of course, having a rack of Crown amps didn't hurt... on 97dB sensitivity speakers... :D

Regards,
Gordon.