NE4 and EV ZLX 12P's

[jimmyjames]

I recently added the EV's to my rig. With the first gig for the rig coming up in a couple of days, I set things up to EQ the various sounds I will be using to my taste. The clarity of sound from these speakers is great, especially for the acoustic pianos (the two Yamahas and the Petrof) and the various instrumental and synth samples. I did find myself dialing out about 5 db at around 300 hz to get things to sound "balanced" to me. I'll see how room-dependent that is when I get to the gig, but I have the feeling it's a combination of the samples the speaker response. Anyone else see a heaviness in the samples at this frequency or any other?

Where I am a little concerned is with the EP's...all the Rhodes and the Wurli. I have not been one of the 'bashers' of these sounds as I thought they were quite good (I had a NE2 prior to my NE4 so I've worked with them for years). Nonetheless, I am getting sort of distorted sound trailing the attack when moderately aggressively playing chords in the middle registers. I put on the headphones and can hear still hear this, although it is not as prominent as it is in the speakers. Anyone else had an issue with this?

[AgeOleSun]

Trailing the attack or the release? Is it a pretty broad distortion? Can you pinpoint it with the sweepable EQ to boost it and find out where it is? How hot are you running your master volume?

The ZLX's have definitely piqued my interest. I'm really skeptical of them because of their price. 1000w, a 12" and a DSP? $400? What corners are being cut you know!?

I have a pair of ZXA1's from when they first came out and I was kind of disappointed at their performance for the price. But it was just an initial volume/impact impression, I've grown to love their clarity, reliability, and balance at the expense of volume

[jimmyjames]

The distortion trails the attack. It is gone in about two seconds or on release. I had the master volume and gain both at 50% and all effects off. Will see if I can Eq it down or out but I think it will be tough as it has a white noise quality. I don't think this is a huge deal for me since I play in a rock band but it could be to someone who plays solo or in a small group. Still not sure whether to "blame" the NE or the speakers.

[jimmyjames]

OK..an update. Plugged my Casio PX-5s in, put on some electric piano setting and the noise is still there, but again, not on acoustic piano or synth settings. It is the speakers not the NE4. I recall having a similar issue with my old Roland KC-300's. I think there is something about the strong transient combined with the comparatively high fundamental/low overtone nature of the Rhodes and Wurli signals that are just hard for speakers to handle. It is definitely noticable and annoying though. I will bring this up in the Keyboard Corner and see if anyone is having a similar issue.

[AgeOleSun]

Jimmy I caught wind of an EV recall for the ZLX 12P's for a rattle and some wiring problem behind the EV logo that rattles as well. Check with EV to see if your serial number is in the batch.

[rb4u1]

The Rhodes attack is possibly closer to a plop than the attack of an acoustic piano.
Also, powered speakers are not necessarily intended for use with
Keyboards, although they usually work better than keyboard amps.
I'm not sure what the input/output levels are supposed to be for each piece.

[jimmyjames]

See this http://forum.fractalaudio.com/amps-cabs ... t-day.html. There is a video in the thread producing what sounds to me like the same "buzz" I hear with the EP sounds, but with a guitar instead. Nonetheless, I have decided to keep these as I play in a rock band where this is completely lost in the shuffle and I still think the overall sound of these speakers is still quite good especially for the price and weight. Age, I am quite certain the my speakers are post-recall as I just purchased them from GC a few weeks ago....but thanks for the tip. Also, RB...I agree with you. I went back to GC and had them set up a keyboard (a Kronos) and I put on an EP patch and ran it through a series of different speakers...QSC's, Yamahas and different EV's. They all had some type of quirky noise or distortion...granted the ZLX was probably the worst. The Yamaha DXR 12 sounded the cleanest IMO. My old Roland KC-300 did this "boing" thing with EP sounds. I think the nature of the EP sound is just difficult for speakers to handle cleanly...as you say rb...a "plop". I started a thread on the Keyboard Corner about this...clearly some strong supporters of these speakers out there. http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthread ... ost2530783

[AgeOleSun]

Interesting. It almost sounds like an air leak...hey for curiosity sake do you want to crack open your brand new shiny speakers so we can see the guts of the cabinet!?

You're probably on the right track with the low fundamental/high overtone...difficult for a single speaker to try to create an entire overtone series...painfully apparent on a lot of tones through my KC-550 as well. I wonder what this can be attributed to on spec sheets...damping factor?

[rb4u1]

To the best of my knowledge damping factor is an indication of how tight the bass response might be.
A high number would indicate a tight bass (solid state) a low number might indicate a looseness.
A fender Bassman might have a low damping factor but I'm not positive.
I tried a single electro voice his CDL X 12 he just the other day and thought it sounded very nice.
I wouldn't call it a K10 killer though.

[AgeOleSun]

My understanding was that damping factor is the ability/quickness of the amp to pull the driver back to a zero-state/resting state. With a slow/loose damping that might create a distortion or a fuzzy "boing" or "blop" trailing the initial attack as the speaker has a difficult time returning to zero quickly enough in order to reproduce a natural sounding overtone or resonant tones. But, the more likely culprit at $399 is faulty/cheap construction or incomplete engineering testing in the cabinet that backs up air into a corner and escapes through an air leak, or hits some natural resonant frequency for the thickness of whatever polymer their using for the cab and causes a buzzing rattle. In the link jimmy provided with the guy filming a guitar it looked like he was filming the cab. Unless JimmyJames can verify it's coming directly from the driver? A frequency sweep might be able to pinpoint a natural resonance and reproduce the buzz without overtone interference.

I had an EV 12" passive floor monitor that, no matter what I did, could not resonate a middle C correctly. I don't know if the cabinet just didn't allow the right airflow or compression but middle C was dead, lifeless, and fizzy, almost like there was some phase cancellation going on. Tried multiple power amps and could decrease it slightly with EQ's but it didn't every go away. Different samples and keyboards changed it slightly but for the most part it just didn't sound quite right. Gave it to the vocalist to use...

I'd hope that they wouldn't kill the K10's they're half as much! Reason i'm pursuing this thread to death and over-thinking it is that these cabs really piqued my interest and was considering a stereo pair.