Just got an EV PXM-12MP - sounds harsh and mid-spikey

jzucker

jzucker

Experienced
I play mostly clean jazz. Kind of reminds me of the way a 12L sounds when you're on axis with it. Used it in wedge monitor for me it's almost unusable due to the spikeyness. If I turn it on it's side it's more usable but it's surprising how directional and spikey it is compared to the cheapie alto ts310...I'm sure out in the audience it mellows out but on stage at 5' away, i'm not sure it's going to work for me...

I have read a ton of glowing reviews about it but I think the demographic of playing clean jazz is probably significantly different from how others are using it.
 
jzucker said:
I play mostly clean jazz. Kind of reminds me of the way a 12L sounds when you're on axis with it. Used it in wedge monitor for me it's almost unusable due to the spikeyness. If I turn it on it's side it's more usable but it's surprising how directional and spikey it is compared to the cheapie alto ts310...I'm sure out in the audience it mellows out but on stage at 5' away, i'm not sure it's going to work for me...

I have read a ton of glowing reviews about it but I think the demographic of playing clean jazz is probably significantly different from how others are using it.
Click to expand...
What DSP preset are you using? Most here suggest Monitor 2 as it seems to be the “flattest”. With that said, your presets may need tweaking to eliminate the spike you speak of. Most every speaker will sound different (some minor, some more drastic) than the speaker used to dial in the preset initially.

I will say that the EV sounds closer to my CLR (MY gold standard) than any other option I’ve tried. The Alto speakers you mention seem to be a little more bass heavy than most, so you may have dialed out some bass in your preset to compensate.

I would suggest you make a preset from scratch that sounds good (maybe not perfect) to you using the EV, then plug in the Alto and I’ll bet it will sound muddy. Keep it simple at first, amp, cab and maybe a smidge of reverb.
 
What did you dial in your presets with?

They are pretty flat, so something is definitely wrong.

The DSP mode on Monitor 2 is my preference...

From what I've heard the Alto speakers are not very flat.
 
unix-guy said:
What did you dial in your presets with?

They are pretty flat, so something is definitely wrong.

The DSP mode on Monitor 2 is my preference...

From what I've heard the Alto speakers are not very flat.
Click to expand...
All of this. Presets dialed in on the Altos are going to sound different on different monitors.
 
nolesj said:
What DSP preset are you using? Most here suggest Monitor 2 as it seems to be the “flattest”. With that said, your presets may need tweaking to eliminate the spike you speak of. Most every speaker will sound different (some minor, some more drastic) than the speaker used to dial in the preset initially.

I will say that the EV sounds closer to my CLR (MY gold standard) than any other option I’ve tried. The Alto speakers you mention seem to be a little more bass heavy than most, so you may have dialed out some bass in your preset to compensate.

I would suggest you make a preset from scratch that sounds good (maybe not perfect) to you using the EV, then plug in the Alto and I’ll bet it will sound muddy. Keep it simple at first, amp, cab and maybe a smidge of reverb.
Click to expand...
I did not like the CLRs at all for clean jazz stuff. I felt they too - were very spikey. I think some of this is demographics as I've noticed very few jazz guys using the CLRs and/or EV speakers.
 
jzucker said:
I did not like the CLRs at all for clean jazz stuff. I felt they too - were very spikey. I think some of this is demographics as I've noticed very few jazz guys using the CLRs and/or EV speakers.
Click to expand...
CLRs are also very flat...

It sounds like you need to dial in from scratch on the EV.

You didn't answer any of the earlier questions.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JTI
Dramelot said:
EQ or throw some duct tape over the horn, done
Click to expand...
No, not done lol.

I've already taped over the dome (assuming it's under a dust cover) and it makes almost no diff in the Spikyness. I have my cab set for a 5k high cut so I'm not sure how much more eq'ing i can do without having a graph of the cab's freq response and knowing which peak is the culprit. I've played around with the parametric eq a bit if the speaker deviates that far from "normal", perhaps it's just not a good fit for me.

p.s.

using monitor-2 eq profile on the cab
 
What happens if you adjust your amp and cab settings to sound good on the EVs?

There are no absolute "good settings", everything is always relative to what you're listening through. You definitely should be able to get it to sound good, even if the amp settings look weird to you, bass 10 treble 0 for an exaggerated silly example.

Or is the problem that you have other speakers you also use, and you're trying to get your presets to sound good on them both? Gotta say, that's a tricky project, no matter what the two systems are. I saw Alto got mentioned above, and as someone who still has a mostly functional pair of Alessis 12"s (same company), which I don't use at all since I got a pair of EVs, they suck, relatively speaking, I'd trust the EVs way more.

Switching playback systems can really knock your perspective for a loop. On a good day it'll take some time to get used to, and to adjust your presets to.
 
I haven't had any issues with spikiness on mine at all. Quite the opposite. I guess you could try the "GUITARCAB" dsp setting to defeat the coax horn. If the Alto isn't spiky, then it's likely that there is a frequency you don't like that the Alto wasn't reproducing that the EV is. As previously mentioned, the EV is far closer to flat.

-Aaron
 
Dave Merrill said:
What happens if you adjust your amp and cab settings to sound good on the EVs?

There are no absolute "good settings", everything is always relative to what you're listening through. You definitely should be able to get it to sound good, even if the amp settings look weird to you, bass 10 treble 0 for an exaggerated silly example.

Or is the problem that you have other speakers you also use, and you're trying to get your presets to sound good on them both? Gotta say, that's a tricky project, no matter what the two systems are. I saw Alto got mentioned above, and as someone who still has a mostly functional pair of Alessis 12"s (same company), which I don't use at all since I got a pair of EVs, they suck, relatively speaking, I'd trust the EVs way more.

Switching playback systems can really knock your perspective for a loop. On a good day it'll take some time to get used to, and to adjust your presets to.
Click to expand...
I have not been able to do that.
aflynt said:
I haven't had any issues with spikiness on mine at all. Quite the opposite. I guess you could try the "GUITARCAB" dsp setting to defeat the coax horn. If the Alto isn't spiky, then it's likely that there is a frequency you don't like that the Alto wasn't reproducing that the EV is. As previously mentioned, the EV is far closer to flat.

-Aaron
Click to expand...
guitar cab sounds worse I think so the problem is likely a spikey freq in the driver. The alto sounds very similar to the Mackie HR8 studio monitors. I hear no peakyness from them either. One of the advantages of the alto setup is that my recordings sound almost exactly like the Altos in the room.

I frankly don't care if the altos "suck". They sound great for what I do. Just not enough dispersion from the 10s. Maybe I'd be better off going with a 3rd alto or getting the alto 12.
 
just plugged the altos back in and it's like a breath of fresh air. Very transparent, sounds just like the mackie studio monitors and sounds more like a guitar cab. I can see if you're playing heavy rock / low tuning the EVs would be better but for jazz, the altos sound better. And I like them better for a robben ford style fusion too. I will probably try an alto 12 to see if they disperse better and don't have the spike that is bothersome (and frankly fatiguing).
 
jzucker said:
I frankly don't care if the altos "suck". They sound great for what I do. Just not enough dispersion from the 10s. Maybe I'd be better off going with a 3rd alto or getting the alto 12.
Click to expand...
Fair enough, use what works for you.

Where are you?

I'll sell you one of my Alessis 12"s for a good price, and throw in the other one with a broken power switch if you want it.

These are the "pro" version of the Altos, same company, slightly higher specs, though I don't have specifics, it's been a while.

Seems like the broken one ought to be fixable, but the switch itself is in little pieces, and replacements are unavailable, far as I've found. It might be at least workaroundable, like wire around it and turn it off and on with a plug bar switch.

Message me here if at least the working one interests you. They're just sitting in my basement doing nothing, might as well go where they're appreciated. I used them for several years myself.
 
I use the EV, and I also thought it sounded a bit harsh when I first got it. I hooked an audio source to it, closed the room off, and played music through it at a fairly high volume. After a couple of times of doing this, the speaker seemed to have “broken in”, and I’ve been quite pleased with it ever since.
 
@jzucker - I'm also wondering if there might be something wrong with your 12" driver. I have the same speaker and I would never call it harsh. I currently am using an FR10 for practice, both personal and with the band that I recently joined. My EV is more "balanced" sounding than the FR10, but definitely not harsh. It may be easier said than done, but comparing your EV to a different one might be informative. Another thing that might help is factory resetting the EV, especially if you bought it used. The EV also has EQ in the onboard DSP. Have you verified that the EQ settings on the EV are flat? Here is a link to the EV manual. Check out page 16, which discusses EQ options on the EV:

https://products.electrovoice.com/binary/PXM-12MP_IM_en.pdf
 
jzucker said:
just plugged the altos back in and it's like a breath of fresh air. Very transparent, sounds just like the mackie studio monitors and sounds more like a guitar cab. I can see if you're playing heavy rock / low tuning the EVs would be better but for jazz, the altos sound better. And I like them better for a robben ford style fusion too. I will probably try an alto 12 to see if they disperse better and don't have the spike that is bothersome (and frankly fatiguing).
Click to expand...
Sorry, not playing heavy rock or down tuned except my baritone Tele for some funky stuff.

However, I suspect my posts must be being ignored by @jzucker because he's not replied to any of my questions... Oh well! ;)
 
P. 19 on the above link also describes how to do a factory reset. I think that I would start with a reset and then see if it is still harsh. If it sounds closer to what you're looking for then you could adjust from there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom