Using PA Speakers In A Home "Audiophile" Application!

I always run PA systems in mono sometimes with a little stereo reverb to make people think they’re having more fun, and the soundcheck stereo thing is for my own amusement...if you mixed an act in stereo, even relatively small venues, people on the edges would deserve a ticket refund and the crowd could riot and burn the place down.

I’m a pro concert sound "person" (!), and a long time pro musician. Most home listening areas won’t abide Clair Brothers boxes or even La Scalas, but I use a pair of original series Mackie 350s (10" woofer) with a 92 lb Mackie woofer in my music studio (along with other small near field things) and they’re great. Titanium horn loaded tweeters and a very strong woofer. Note that most well designed pro stuff is far more efficient and tougher than nearly any home audio items. Put an uncompressed kick drum through a PA speaker and it works...put it through some home audio speakers and they’ll explode. The pro stuff is generally far less expensive also. I run clean stereo recordings through live show systems before soundcheck and just sit in the middle and note how great it sounds.