Using PA Speakers In A Home "Audiophile" Application!


Hi guys,

I am a bit inspired to explore/trial usage of a pair of PA speakers at home after i attended a live event recently. 

I looked at some Yamaha PA models and zoomed in on one that isn't too huge/heavy, relatively easy to move around perhaps. 

Are there any audiophiles here who had relative satisfaction trying such speakers at home? I am also thinking that this may not be a great idea, but, just curious at the moment.

 

deep_333

You can commute to work in a 3/4 ton longbed dually diesel pickup also, although most folks wouldn't really enjoy it. But if it needed to tow a 25 foot boat, that's a good choice. 

Same goes for speakers. I was in pro sound for many years, and have designed and worked with lots of pro drivers and horns. Great for their intended application, but most are definitely not HiFi. Exceptions noted for Altec 803-8G and 288 horn drivers and 515 woofers. But each of those components used probably cost near what those Yamaha's cost. 

I’ve read of Crown amps driving in-home hifi speakers to the owner’s taste, but not the reverse PA-hifi match.

The variable to consider for PA speakers in-home is not just how they are designed for power-over-fidelity, but what you’d be playing through them. You’ve heard PA speakers play live music, which is generally less dynamically compressed than highly manicured recorded studio music in pretty much any genre.
 

Have you listened to studio music on any PA kit? In my anecdotal take, I always thought the recorded popular tracks played while the techs set up the stage before a band sounded, well, very much less-than-great even before live shows that were fantastic. So the potential difference in compression (or other elements) between live vs. recorded music is likely no small factor in predicting how PA will work in-home.

I don't know about these particular speakers, but in the inexpensive but very good, with pro like features have you seen the Hsu satellites?

When Paul Klipsch designed / introduced the Lascala, it was for PA use. I was the 1st in Brooklyn to have a pair for home use...going back a ways.

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.