Using PA Speakers In A Home "Audiophile" Application!

I have tried many brands of PA speakers for home and still do use them, but I also have several hi fi speakers. I like to experience it all!  I have 6 rooms with audio gear. I have not tried Yamaha in my home, but I am very familiar with JBL, Meyer Sound, Claire Brothers, Peavey and others.  When you want "raw power" and high sound pressure levels there is no substitute, but if you want refinement, hi fi speakers are the way to go. You have to decide what you are after. Just my humble opinion...

@ellajeanelle , What hifi grade DACs & amps have you put in front of your PA JBLs, for example?

 I was pleasantly surprised w.r.t refinement of the presentation i heard at a recent show, couldn't be sure what electronics were used. 

P.S. 6 rooms?! You are fortunate indeed...

deep_333: Keep in mind that I have been at this hobby since the early 80’s. Things accumulate over time. We have no kids and it’s just me and my partner in the house. My favorite DAC at the moment is my Ps Audio Stellar Gold DAC. It’s the most musical of the DACs I have, regardless of cost. Some of the speakers have built in amps, but mostly QSC and Crown amps for PA. For non-pa amps I also love just about any Ps Audio amp. There’s just something about their voicing that I haven’t found anywhere else. You may want to consider a mix. Such as HI FI main speakers and a couple of PA subs, if you’re into extreme bass. I used to do that, but the older I get the more balanced, even and realistic I like my music to sound. 

Funny true story - Years ago I was at work bidding on 4 or 5 stereo components simultaneously when a co-worker who has 5 kids looked at my computer monitor and asked me how I could afford all that.  I pointed at each auction while I said: this is kid #1, #2, #3, #4 and #5!  He looked at me with a face of regret and disappointment (he likes audio also).

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I don't know how Yamaha can call that a full range speaker when the bass drops off at 55 hz.

@deep_333,

In my experience I would not use the JBL PA line for home stereo. I use the JBL studio monitor line for home stereo as better sound quality, high efficiency, high sensitivity, high power handling and great imaging. I used both the JBL 4430 and 4435 studio monitors in my home stereo. The 4435's have an efficiency of 2.7% and a sensitivity of 96 dB with one watt @ 8 Ohm's. In my room with one watt I get 103 dB SPL @ ten feet from the speakers, which is great for any genre of music. The 4435's do not sacrifice low frequency bandwidth for high efficiency. See my system page. 😎

Mike

The crossovers used in PA speakers are typically designed more for power handling than that nth degree of que ne se quoi for ultra high fidelity. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t be adapted for home use with quite good results. This is just CD played on an Oppo95 through a Yamaha RX-Z9 RECEIVER in "Pure Direct" mode through two speakers (JBL 2241H, 18", JBL 2251J, 9-1/2", Heil AMT) easily filling a 5,000 cu ft volume with no sub or eq of any type being used.

@toddalin Nice!

One of my rooms is around 5000 cu.ft as well. I have always tied some of my less pleasant PA speaker experiences to lousy venues and subpar electronics behind them. But, yeah, putting some hifi grade electronics in front of the better designed/built PA speakers should make them exhibit significant audiophile attributes, i’d think.

These guys seem to have such a huge list of PA speakers in different series and it is hard to tell which ones are supposed to have the best drivers and so on... I just zoomed into a smaller one from the "For discerning engineers" category, for now. I don’t think some of these models with the bigger drivers are all that affordable w.r.t prices either...

https://usa.yamaha.com/products/proaudio/speakers/index.html

P.S. I had that meaty RX-Z9 for many years.