Electro-Voice PXM-12MP report

greiswig

Power User
Based on the evidence I see online, FRFR monitors are probably about as subjective a preference as real guitar cabinets. That's pretty counterintuitive to me, given that by definition you'd think that the qualities of being both full-range and flat response should mean that all speakers with that characteristic should sound the same. Clearly that isn't the case.

Where my AxeFX sounds best to me playing at full volume is through my DB Technologies IG4T speakers. Since I try to control the low cutoff anyway, subwoofers aren't entering into the sound and the IG4T's can handle anything above about 90Hz, more than low enough.

I’ve also had two different Atomic CLR’s, the Neo and the original. I seem to be one of the few people here who never could get along with that speaker. The mids, in particular, never matched what I was hearing from my different pairs of studio monitors, and always felt harsh. As I think we’ve all experienced, different “flat” speakers seem to hit us differently. I’m sure there are some good reasons for it with speakers, just as different "pretty much flat" microphones match different voices.

I recently tried a pair of Electro-Voice PXM-12mp. Part of my interest was the coaxial design, but also the user-setable DSP. I believe these are the sister version of the Dynacord AXM12A (same parent company), but there may be some differences. It does say "powered by Dynacord" right on the outside, though.

They are almost completely silent at idle, in contrast to the CLRs. Hiss is barely audible at all. The cooling is passive, so no fan. And so far, they don't seem to mind that at all; very little heat buildup, even when running pretty strong for awhile.

There are four starting points for the DSP: one full-space and three half-space. One of the half-space settings is "guitar cab" setting available, which from what I can hear is likely just cutting the feed to the tweeter and cutting some lows. Not something I find useful myself, but maybe it's great for some.

The other three preset DSP starting points are pretty useful, and they are all able to be tweaked for bass (130Hz) and treble (6kHz) shelf levels, mid level and variable frequency center but not Q, and a feedback “notch” that actually sounds pretty wide...not like a notch. But that width seems to work pretty well for helping with room modes, or at least in the two rooms I've played them in.

The EQ and other DSP settings can then be stored in one of five nameable slots. Between this and the PEQ on the output of the AxeFX, I think you're pretty well covered, and you could store settings for five different venues within the speaker itself, tweaking them for different temp, humidity, beer-stain thicknesses and so forth with the AxeFX PEQ as needed.

The setting I've found most useful in the spaces I've tried it at begins with the "Tripod mode," which does not compensate the bass for the floor monitor positions. Even on the floor with the cabinet aimed horizontally, that sounds better to me. From there, I put the lows down -2dB or -3dB, the bypassable feedback notch set somewhere between 220-250Hz, the mids set to around 3.7kHz and down -4dB or more, and the trebles level or only down -1dB or -2dB. With these settings in either my practice room or my living room (adjusting that feedback notch to the room mode), I get a very satisfying, very loud representation of what I hear on my studio monitors. Nice!

They are plenty loud, pretty light, and flexible in terms of how you can position them. BUT....

There is one issue, which I've let Electro-Voice know about. At the tail end of a note or chord, there's a bit of what sounds like IM distortion or something. The effect is there even at low volumes where it is more obvious because the signal to noise ratio is lower. At full volume and in a band situation, it would likely be hard to detect, but it's there. In contrast, my Yamaha DXR10s, IG4T's, monitors and other speakers definitely do not have this effect, so there is something happening inside these speakers. Electro-Voice is supposedly exploring whether they can recreate it. I had thought it might be a defect in one speaker when I first chanced it, but I ordered a second one anyway. The second speaker exhibits the same issue, so it must be either a design flaw or an issue with the DSP. The effect is there no matter which DSP mode is used.

Anyway, overall I am pretty pleased with these speakers. When (!) we get to go out and gig again, I feel like I have a really good backline for the first time, a better floor monitor for guitar than my Yamahas, and hopefully EV/Dynacord will come up with a fix for the noise I can hear as notes fade....the one real wart that I've found so far.
 
I have two that I bought to use at a rehearsal place. I have been using RCF NX 12 speakers for years and love them. I keep the RCF speakers at my house and use output one to feed them or go to FOH. I did not want to move them back and forth from home to rehearsals.

The EV PXM 12MP looked close to the RCF's but 1/2 the cost so I gave them a try using output 2 and global eq to adjust. I was able to get pretty close to what RCF sounded like with using the AXE FX 3 output 2 eq and the EQ on the EV'S with out making any changes to my patches.

They are much better than the RCF on the dispersion of sound. I can move around much more and not lose the sweet spot.

My RCF'S are still #1 for tone but may have been bump out due to how close I got the EV to sound with much better coverage of sound.
 
Interesting. I owned an NX12 for awhile when I had the first AxeFX, and I liked it, but it had a low-mid bump that I didn't get along with. And at the time, it was thought to take second place to the CLR, so I sold it and got the CLR.
 
Based on the evidence I see online, FRFR monitors are probably about as subjective a preference as real guitar cabinets. That's pretty counterintuitive to me, given that by definition you'd think that the qualities of being both full-range and flat response should mean that all speakers with that characteristic should sound the same. Clearly that isn't the case.

Where my AxeFX sounds best to me playing at full volume is through my DB Technologies IG4T speakers. Since I try to control the low cutoff anyway, subwoofers aren't entering into the sound and the IG4T's can handle anything above about 90Hz, more than low enough.

I’ve also had two different Atomic CLR’s, the Neo and the original. I seem to be one of the few people here who never could get along with that speaker. The mids, in particular, never matched what I was hearing from my different pairs of studio monitors, and always felt harsh. As I think we’ve all experienced, different “flat” speakers seem to hit us differently. I’m sure there are some good reasons for it with speakers, just as different "pretty much flat" microphones match different voices.

I recently tried a pair of Electro-Voice PXM-12mp. Part of my interest was the coaxial design, but also the user-setable DSP. I believe these are the sister version of the Dynacord AXM12A (same parent company), but there may be some differences. It does say "powered by Dynacord" right on the outside, though.

They are almost completely silent at idle, in contrast to the CLRs. Hiss is barely audible at all. The cooling is passive, so no fan. And so far, they don't seem to mind that at all; very little heat buildup, even when running pretty strong for awhile.

There are four starting points for the DSP: one full-space and three half-space. One of the half-space settings is "guitar cab" setting available, which from what I can hear is likely just cutting the feed to the tweeter and cutting some lows. Not something I find useful myself, but maybe it's great for some.

The other three preset DSP starting points are pretty useful, and they are all able to be tweaked for bass (130Hz) and treble (6kHz) shelf levels, mid level and variable frequency center but not Q, and a feedback “notch” that actually sounds pretty wide...not like a notch. But that width seems to work pretty well for helping with room modes, or at least in the two rooms I've played them in.

The EQ and other DSP settings can then be stored in one of five nameable slots. Between this and the PEQ on the output of the AxeFX, I think you're pretty well covered, and you could store settings for five different venues within the speaker itself, tweaking them for different temp, humidity, beer-stain thicknesses and so forth with the AxeFX PEQ as needed.

The setting I've found most useful in the spaces I've tried it at begins with the "Tripod mode," which does not compensate the bass for the floor monitor positions. Even on the floor with the cabinet aimed horizontally, that sounds better to me. From there, I put the lows down -2dB or -3dB, the bypassable feedback notch set somewhere between 220-250Hz, the mids set to around 3.7kHz and down -4dB or more, and the trebles level or only down -1dB or -2dB. With these settings in either my practice room or my living room (adjusting that feedback notch to the room mode), I get a very satisfying, very loud representation of what I hear on my studio monitors. Nice!

They are plenty loud, pretty light, and flexible in terms of how you can position them. BUT....

There is one issue, which I've let Electro-Voice know about. At the tail end of a note or chord, there's a bit of what sounds like IM distortion or something. The effect is there even at low volumes where it is more obvious because the signal to noise ratio is lower. At full volume and in a band situation, it would likely be hard to detect, but it's there. In contrast, my Yamaha DXR10s, IG4T's, monitors and other speakers definitely do not have this effect, so there is something happening inside these speakers. Electro-Voice is supposedly exploring whether they can recreate it. I had thought it might be a defect in one speaker when I first chanced it, but I ordered a second one anyway. The second speaker exhibits the same issue, so it must be either a design flaw or an issue with the DSP. The effect is there no matter which DSP mode is used.

Anyway, overall I am pretty pleased with these speakers. When (!) we get to go out and gig again, I feel like I have a really good backline for the first time, a better floor monitor for guitar than my Yamahas, and hopefully EV/Dynacord will come up with a fix for the noise I can hear as notes fade....the one real wart that I've found so far.
Thanks for your review
Would be interested to know if the distortion you hear is from the coaxial speaker itself or from the DSP/Power Amp. Do you know if the distorted sound "exits" out the "thru" jack ?
Thanks in advance
 
Thanks for your review
Would be interested to know if the distortion you hear is from the coaxial speaker itself or from the DSP/Power Amp. Do you know if the distorted sound "exits" out the "thru" jack ?
Thanks in advance

That is one test I haven't tried, and a great suggestion. I'll try that when I get a chance. The "thru" jack doesn't pass DSP-processed signal, though, so it wouldn't surprise me if it is just a Y, so it doesn't pass the noise along.
 
That is one test I haven't tried, and a great suggestion. I'll try that when I get a chance. The "thru" jack doesn't pass DSP-processed signal, though, so it wouldn't surprise me if it is just a Y, so it doesn't pass the noise along.
Your probably right ...but what about the "mix" out jack ?
 
Based on the evidence I see online, FRFR monitors are probably about as subjective a preference as real guitar cabinets. That's pretty counterintuitive to me, given that by definition you'd think that the qualities of being both full-range and flat response should mean that all speakers with that characteristic should sound the same. Clearly that isn't the case.

Where my AxeFX sounds best to me playing at full volume is through my DB Technologies IG4T speakers. Since I try to control the low cutoff anyway, subwoofers aren't entering into the sound and the IG4T's can handle anything above about 90Hz, more than low enough.

I’ve also had two different Atomic CLR’s, the Neo and the original. I seem to be one of the few people here who never could get along with that speaker. The mids, in particular, never matched what I was hearing from my different pairs of studio monitors, and always felt harsh. As I think we’ve all experienced, different “flat” speakers seem to hit us differently. I’m sure there are some good reasons for it with speakers, just as different "pretty much flat" microphones match different voices.

I recently tried a pair of Electro-Voice PXM-12mp. Part of my interest was the coaxial design, but also the user-setable DSP. I believe these are the sister version of the Dynacord AXM12A (same parent company), but there may be some differences. It does say "powered by Dynacord" right on the outside, though.

They are almost completely silent at idle, in contrast to the CLRs. Hiss is barely audible at all. The cooling is passive, so no fan. And so far, they don't seem to mind that at all; very little heat buildup, even when running pretty strong for awhile.

There are four starting points for the DSP: one full-space and three half-space. One of the half-space settings is "guitar cab" setting available, which from what I can hear is likely just cutting the feed to the tweeter and cutting some lows. Not something I find useful myself, but maybe it's great for some.

The other three preset DSP starting points are pretty useful, and they are all able to be tweaked for bass (130Hz) and treble (6kHz) shelf levels, mid level and variable frequency center but not Q, and a feedback “notch” that actually sounds pretty wide...not like a notch. But that width seems to work pretty well for helping with room modes, or at least in the two rooms I've played them in.

The EQ and other DSP settings can then be stored in one of five nameable slots. Between this and the PEQ on the output of the AxeFX, I think you're pretty well covered, and you could store settings for five different venues within the speaker itself, tweaking them for different temp, humidity, beer-stain thicknesses and so forth with the AxeFX PEQ as needed.

The setting I've found most useful in the spaces I've tried it at begins with the "Tripod mode," which does not compensate the bass for the floor monitor positions. Even on the floor with the cabinet aimed horizontally, that sounds better to me. From there, I put the lows down -2dB or -3dB, the bypassable feedback notch set somewhere between 220-250Hz, the mids set to around 3.7kHz and down -4dB or more, and the trebles level or only down -1dB or -2dB. With these settings in either my practice room or my living room (adjusting that feedback notch to the room mode), I get a very satisfying, very loud representation of what I hear on my studio monitors. Nice!

They are plenty loud, pretty light, and flexible in terms of how you can position them. BUT....

There is one issue, which I've let Electro-Voice know about. At the tail end of a note or chord, there's a bit of what sounds like IM distortion or something. The effect is there even at low volumes where it is more obvious because the signal to noise ratio is lower. At full volume and in a band situation, it would likely be hard to detect, but it's there. In contrast, my Yamaha DXR10s, IG4T's, monitors and other speakers definitely do not have this effect, so there is something happening inside these speakers. Electro-Voice is supposedly exploring whether they can recreate it. I had thought it might be a defect in one speaker when I first chanced it, but I ordered a second one anyway. The second speaker exhibits the same issue, so it must be either a design flaw or an issue with the DSP. The effect is there no matter which DSP mode is used.

Anyway, overall I am pretty pleased with these speakers. When (!) we get to go out and gig again, I feel like I have a really good backline for the first time, a better floor monitor for guitar than my Yamahas, and hopefully EV/Dynacord will come up with a fix for the noise I can hear as notes fade....the one real wart that I've found so far.


Any update on how this wedge is working out for you?
 
Any update on how this wedge is working out for you?

I haven’t heard back from EV and I need to reach out to them again. I think I’m keeping them regardless of that one issue, because it’s only a nuisance at low volumes. I’m confident it won’t be noticed at normal volumes.
 
Electro-Voice reached out to me today. Their engineers were able to reproduce the small issue I raised with them with one of their units, and they are working on finding out what is causing it and fixing it. They've promised to fix mine once they figure it out. Meanwhile, I'll just enjoy them!

I'd like to emphasize two things:
  1. This is, in my opinion, a relatively minor issue. The sound is only noticeable on critical listening, and in a gig situation or normal rehearsal, nobody would notice it. But that doesn't mean it should be there.
  2. EV reached has been nothing but responsive and helpful about it all, and they intend to do something about it. That's honestly what we should expect from companies, but I've come to expect that most companies will just tell you "we can't reproduce it" even if they likely can, or will never follow up with you. FAS's support is also excellent, but this level of support isn't the norm anymore. I think we should reward companies who respect the win-win of a good support relationship with their customers. So Electro-Voice is one step closer to earning a long-term customer because of this.
 
I got one too the other day, for my FM3. I can only compare it to the QSC CP12 I used before, and I think the EV is quite a bit better. I've been using the EV in the default Option 1 so far.

The most obvious difference to the CP12 is having a lot more bass. In the mids, the CP12 seems a little congested in comparison. In the high end, the EV seems to have more clarity, in a pleasing way.

I also like that the controls are on the side and not on the back like those "wedges" that are really designed for PA application. It's a little more compact and lighter too than the CP12, and it probably has less directionality (cannot confirm yet), so moving around on stage should still give better monitoring. These were the factors I tried to improve over the CP12, and the additional better sound is great of course!
 
Hi, anymore reports on this? I am thinking of giving one of these a shot. However, I usually set my FRFR on a table and I'm wondering how I would position this particular speaker. Does it sound as good on it's side (I guess the controls on top? Curious to hear your thoughts, I would not pole mount.
 
Hi, anymore reports on this? I am thinking of giving one of these a shot. However, I usually set my FRFR on a table and I'm wondering how I would position this particular speaker. Does it sound as good on it's side (I guess the controls on top? Curious to hear your thoughts, I would not pole mount.
I'm not sure how well it'd work on a table and it probably wound't be very stable on its side. Do you need something this big/loud to primarily use as a tabletop amp?

I saw your comment on TGP about other FRFRs and the PowerStage. I had similar experiences with an Alto, a K10.2 and a PS-170/cab. I don't know if it's the wooden enclosure, coax speaker or what, but I'm much happier with the PXM. With Cygnus on my III, it's the most enjoyable FRFR experience I've have. It's not "amp in the room", but it has an immediacy and connected feeling that is similar to what I get playing through a real amp. The notes have more weight to them, if that makes sense. I'm sure part of that is the new firmware, but I was enjoying the PXM well before that dropped. For $699 I feel like these things are an amazing deal.
 
Don't like the cover they are selling though. It really is more like a dust cover, rather than protection during transport. Does not wrap around the bottom.
 
A couple of good updates on this FRFR:

First, EV proactively reached back out to me and said that yes, they have found the source of the noise issue I was describing and are working on a solution for it. They will fix it under warranty and extend the warranty once they have that solution.

Second, I did my first real gig since COVID using this monitor, and as I expected I did not notice the noise at all with stage volume.

So from what I can tell, this is really a good, lightweight, loud option from a good company that is aware of the one small flaw it has and is working to fix it. I think most people wouldn't even notice this noise, but I'm a picky SOB.
 
I got one too the other day, for my FM3. I can only compare it to the QSC CP12 I used before, and I think the EV is quite a bit better. I've been using the EV in the default Option 1 so far.

The most obvious difference to the CP12 is having a lot more bass. In the mids, the CP12 seems a little congested in comparison. In the high end, the EV seems to have more clarity, in a pleasing way.

I also like that the controls are on the side and not on the back like those "wedges" that are really designed for PA application. It's a little more compact and lighter too than the CP12, and it probably has less directionality (cannot confirm yet), so moving around on stage should still give better monitoring. These were the factors I tried to improve over the CP12, and the additional better sound is great of course!

I think im going to try one fo these out. Im coming from a the Cp12 as well. They are nice but ya i hear ya. is that pretty much best price now $699? havent really searched around yet,
 
A couple of good updates on this FRFR:

First, EV proactively reached back out to me and said that yes, they have found the source of the noise issue I was describing and are working on a solution for it. They will fix it under warranty and extend the warranty once they have that solution.

Second, I did my first real gig since COVID using this monitor, and as I expected I did not notice the noise at all with stage volume.

So from what I can tell, this is really a good, lightweight, loud option from a good company that is aware of the one small flaw it has and is working to fix it. I think most people wouldn't even notice this noise, but I'm a picky SOB.
Thats great that EV is hip to the problem and is fixing..i wonder when would be a good time to buy one without the issue. probably impossible to tell. maybe one of the newer ones in a few months
 
A couple of good updates on this FRFR:

First, EV proactively reached back out to me and said that yes, they have found the source of the noise issue I was describing and are working on a solution for it. They will fix it under warranty and extend the warranty once they have that solution.

Second, I did my first real gig since COVID using this monitor, and as I expected I did not notice the noise at all with stage volume.

So from what I can tell, this is really a good, lightweight, loud option from a good company that is aware of the one small flaw it has and is working to fix it. I think most people wouldn't even notice this noise, but I'm a picky SOB.


So i picked one of these up...So far i like it better than my CP12s forsure...i know what you are talking about, that faint sizzle as the notes fade away..any updated on getting that fixed? I have a gig tonight and it will be the maiden voyage. I dont think i will hear that with band cranking but would like to not have it there.,
 
Daamn this little wedge kicked ass last night..i was pretty impressed. did a quartet, jazz/funk thing believe it or not didn't even really dial it in..just used one of my patches i always use and it sounded great..didn't notice the sizzle at all but i still want o get that fixed..Funny the bass player (for Bruce Hornsby) was even like what is that thing sounded great..one thing i liked to is its on the smaller side. i had very little room last night i think if i had the CP12 or a CLR would have been to big. Now ill see how this thing does on the country gig tonight..lol
 
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