Turbosound

marc0810

Inspired
has anyone ever used turbosound powered speakers for on stage monitoring, I know they are the company that provide the PA system for the Floyd tour in 94, and sweetwater has some good deals on their powered speakers
 
I have a Turbosound IQ system in my studio live room. It is two IQ15 and two IQ18 subs. Sounds great with the AX8. Not tried my AxeFX XL through them yet but I imagine it will sound exactly the same.
 
I actually auditioned the IQ 12, 10, 8 and the ip1000 yesterday...but for FOH duty.

I was with a pro sound engineer friend who has some of the most ridiculous PA systems you could think of.
I trust him more than I trust myself....he has the best ears in the biz.

Anyway, we compared the iQ12 to the qsc hpr122', qsc k12, atomic CLR, rcf rx12ma, jbl srx712, eaw la212, mackie srm550....and I think that's it. I would have put a xitone 1x12 in there...but we only were auditioning pole mounted speakers.

I didn't want to like the iq12....but we all liked them best. I was shocked how clear they were, great instrument separation, and crazy loud.
We had a Robert plant song playing and there was this drum fill that we were using as out measuremet for how well they could handle transients like toms at really loud volumes....my atomic farted out, my rcf farted out.....the IQ did not. I was kind of mad. All my speakers did not keep up.

I bought the demo set of iq12's from the rep....I'll be trying my axe through them soon.

The iq8 was excellent as well....and the iq10 was good, but had some boxiness that would need to be dialed out.
 
Last edited:
@BBN, I saw the posting on FB up in Manchester, NH. Now I know where the Atomic CLR came from in one of the pictures LOL! I'm not surprised at all by Turbosound. In the early 1980s I put together a club system that I used for almost 15 years that consisted of 4 of their TMS-4 cabinets. They were one of the earlier all-in-one cabinets, with a down-firing 18", 10" mid and 1" throat horn. Great boxes, and about as close to a studio sound in a live rig that you could hope to get for the time.

Anyhoo, I was looking at their line-array stuff (IP2000 powered sub+column) in the same series to use for some of the tight stage setups I do with an acoustic duo/trio. Setting up speakers on a tripod actually takes up too much space and blocks a lot of view, and these line arrays look very cool. But now you've got me thinking about these IQ series speakers, too, especially because of the way you describe it handling transients. God, I can't help myself! LOL.
 
I actually auditioned the IQ 12, 10, 8 and the ip1000 yesterday...but for FOH duty.

I was with a pro sound engineer friend who has some of the most ridiculous PA systems you could think of.
I trust him more than I trust myself....he has the best ears in the biz.

Anyway, we compared the iQ12 to the qsc hpr122', qsc k12, atomic CLR, rcf rx12ma, jbl srx712, eaw la212, mackie srm550....and I think that's it. I would have put a xitone 1x12 in there...but we only were auditioning pole mounted speakers.

I didn't want to like the iq12....but we all liked them best. I was shocked how clear they were, great instrument separation, and crazy loud.
We had a Robert plant song playing and there was this drum fill that we were using as out measuremet for how well they could handle transients like toms at really loud volumes....my atomic farted out, my rcf farted out.....the IQ did not. I was kind of mad. All my speakers did not keep up.

I bought the demo set of iq12's from the rep....I'll be trying my axe through them soon.

The iq8 was excellent as well....and the iq10 was good, but had some boxiness that would need to be dialed out.
Those IQ12's are pretty affordable if I recall
 
My lead guy in our band which went totally insane after renting semi shite PA and stuff for all his events here in China, and he went mad ALL IN and bought Turbosound and MIdas all the way. Everything rock!!!! Monitors, PA, all turbosound brutally rocks.
 
Interestingly the only review on the thomann page is pretty bad...
I've seen really good and really bad turbosound products over the years.
For its price and features I can't really imagine it beating the CLR or RCF, but I don't know the box personally.
 
Turbosound is a recent partner in The Music Group along with Midas and Behringer, IIRC. Turbosound used to be exclusively pricey tour-grade quality stuff, and though I doubt they've recently produced any total garbage, they shifted gears quite a few years ago to add offerings in the pro-sumer market, for better or worse. The only thing that would give me pause with the iQ series is the composite injection moulded housing, rather than a wood product carcass. It may or may not be fine, but I like to give them my own low end rumble stress test in person to satisfy any possible misgivings. They are fairly lightweight designs overall. The 12" iQ really has my interest.

The partnership with Behringer probably helps them fabricate their technology with inexpensive components & labor that they may not otherwise have had access to, in order to be competitive with the JBLs and QSCs of the world.

The Behringer+Midas relationship has helped reset Behringer's standing somewhat in the mixing console segment. They're probably hoping their Turbosound relationship does the same for them with loudspeakers.
 
The marketing for the synergy between Behringer and Turbosound looks good on paper too.

I hold the new Behringer digital desks in high regard. They interface digitally to (some) Turbosound speakers.
 
The marketing for the synergy between Behringer and Turbosound looks good on paper too.

I hold the new Behringer digital desks in high regard. They interface digitally to (some) Turbosound speakers.
They interface to the iq series, we did that too....pretty cool....you can daisy chain turbo speakers together with one cat5 out of the xrack, and assign them all a specific mix out of the x32 software. You send one cat5 to your top....then cat5 from there to a wedge...then cat5 to another wedge...and cat5 from there to another top..or sub...and in the software you just assign them the feed you want them to get. Because it's cat5, the runs can be 100 feet.
Is it useful for me? Not really...but cool features for the price.
 
Turbosound is a recent partner in The Music Group along with Midas and Behringer, IIRC. Turbosound used to be exclusively pricey tour-grade quality stuff, and though I doubt they've recently produced any total garbage, they shifted gears quite a few years ago to add offerings in the pro-sumer market, for better or worse. The only thing that would give me pause with the iQ series is the composite injection moulded housing, rather than a wood product carcass. It may or may not be fine, but I like to give them my own low end rumble stress test in person to satisfy any possible misgivings. They are fairly lightweight designs overall. The 12" iQ really has my interest.

The partnership with Behringer probably helps them fabricate their technology with inexpensive components & labor that they may not otherwise have had access to, in order to be competitive with the JBLs and QSCs of the world.

The Behringer+Midas relationship has helped reset Behringer's standing somewhat in the mixing console segment. They're probably hoping their Turbosound relationship does the same for them with loudspeakers.
We ran out of a Midas console....their version of the x32 (which was actually designed before the x32).

Jim, I hate plastic speakers....but these sounded great. They make a wood version as well called the Siena series. The rep didn't have any with him...but my buddy is getting a set to try.
We drove every speaker into limiting....and the turbos were by far the loudest and held together under that stress without farting out.
I brought my arsenal of speakers and the turbos sounded the best. I was not happy....until the rep offered to sell his demo pair for cheap. I will be able to sell my eaw or qsc hprs and more than make my money back....so this was an easy decision to upgrade while spending no money.
 
Last edited:
Turbosound is a recent partner in The Music Group along with Midas and Behringer, IIRC. Turbosound used to be exclusively pricey tour-grade quality stuff, and though I doubt they've recently produced any total garbage, they shifted gears quite a few years ago to add offerings in the pro-sumer market, for better or worse. The only thing that would give me pause with the iQ series is the composite injection moulded housing, rather than a wood product carcass. It may or may not be fine, but I like to give them my own low end rumble stress test in person to satisfy any possible misgivings. They are fairly lightweight designs overall. The 12" iQ really has my interest.

The partnership with Behringer probably helps them fabricate their technology with inexpensive components & labor that they may not otherwise have had access to, in order to be competitive with the JBLs and QSCs of the world.

The Behringer+Midas relationship has helped reset Behringer's standing somewhat in the mixing console segment. They're probably hoping their Turbosound relationship does the same for them with loudspeakers.

My IQ18 subs are Birch Ply. The top cabs are injection moulded (IQ15).
 
Interestingly the only review on the thomann page is pretty bad...
I've seen really good and really bad turbosound products over the years.
For its price and features I can't really imagine it beating the CLR or RCF, but I don't know the box personally.

Merlin, I followed your lead on the RCF NX and I still love that wedge.
I brought that along with my atomic...set them both up with a smile on my face, thinking...this turbo rep is about to be amazed with my speakers. They cost more....but that wasn't a factor we cared about.

The rcf sounded woofy....too much low end and as clear in comparison. The atomic actually sounded great, but did not have enough gas in the tank to keep up.
We set all the speakers to an equal 'pretty loud' volume and ran some tracks...there was a great drum fill on ship of fools by Robert plant that was the test. Atomic farted out, rcf farted out....turbo held together....we went louder...turbo still held together. Not only held together, but sounded great. I was like....something is wrong. Checked all settings....nope....every speaker is set properly. Damn it....I was not coming here looking to buy new speakers!
I'm not selling my rcf or atomic....or xitone. Because they're awesome products with the axe and will serve that purpose perfectly.
But for FOH....I'm going to use the turbos.

I will repeat though....I did not try these in wedge position and I did not try them with the axe yet....just haven't had time. I will soon....and it will be side by side with my rcf, atomic and xitone.
 
@BBN, I saw the posting on FB up in Manchester, NH. Now I know where the Atomic CLR came from in one of the pictures LOL! I'm not surprised at all by Turbosound. In the early 1980s I put together a club system that I used for almost 15 years that consisted of 4 of their TMS-4 cabinets. They were one of the earlier all-in-one cabinets, with a down-firing 18", 10" mid and 1" throat horn. Great boxes, and about as close to a studio sound in a live rig that you could hope to get for the time.

Anyhoo, I was looking at their line-array stuff (IP2000 powered sub+column) in the same series to use for some of the tight stage setups I do with an acoustic duo/trio. Setting up speakers on a tripod actually takes up too much space and blocks a lot of view, and these line arrays look very cool. But now you've got me thinking about these IQ series speakers, too, especially because of the way you describe it handling transients. God, I can't help myself! LOL.

Where did you see the post? Jewel FB? Or Neil moxim?

Did I mention they also had the ip1000? We listened to some Bluetooth music being streamed to it. Pretty cool set up. They have an iPhone app to control the speakers...you can balance the sub and top, etc., using the app. It sounded great, but not what were were focused on hearing/testing. I think the ip1000 has a dual 8" sub if memory serves. And that would be fine for acoustic or dj...but a real kick drum would shred that sub imo.
One thing I mentioned to the rep...the design of how the top just plugs into the sub is very cool...until someone leans on it with even with a small amount of pressure...it's going to fall right out. So tight spaces will be fine if people can't touch it. I'm sure you've had morons lean on your tripods and they move or tip a little, then the person realizes it's not a leaning post. If they did the same to that column, it would fall out and be laying on the floor before that person even had a chance to realize they shouldn't touch it.
 
@BBN Nice score on that demo pair. Interesting...

Where did you see the post? Jewel FB? Or Neil moxim?

RPM Dynamics FB page via Jewel Nightclub:

One thing I mentioned to the rep...the design of how the top just plugs into the sub is very cool...until someone leans on it with even with a small amount of pressure...it's going to fall right out.

Is there any sort of way to fasten the top to the bottom through handles or anything? If I were to use these columns, They would actually be behind us to the sides, somewhat, to act as both mains and monitors, so in most cases, yes, they would be out of harm's way. No way to predict what idiots will do, though, so I'd like to investigate this a little more deeply. I'd also never be using a rig like this for anything demanding, although I'd hazard to guess that the iP2000 with 12" sub might be able to hold up OK. I've used other 12" based subs before and they can provide some decent subwoofer punch. No crazy expectations, though, for sure.
 
Back
Top Bottom