Why is there a misconception out there

[HuskerOmaha]

of Pro-Audio products being a poor choice for HT?

Just wondering, since I'm a newbie pretty much.

[nwboater]

of Pro-Audio products being a poor choice for HT?

Just wondering, since I'm a newbie pretty much.

One valid difficulty with pro audio gear is that they typically use balanced interconnections with XLR connectors, not unbalanced with RCA connectors, and the signal levels (voltages) are much higher than with consumer gear. So when going from a consumer preamp for example to a pro power amp there may not be enough voltage to drive the amp to full output. It depends on the preamp of course as some do put out enough, but these are the kinds of difficulties you can run into. Re the interconnects you can make or buy reasonably priced XLR to RCa cables. (As long as you aren't in the camp of needing a $1,000 12" RCA interconnect!)

On the other hand, the better pro gear is very well built and you are paying for a heavy duty piece of gear that is designed to take a lot of abuse and will probably last forever in the home environment. Pro gear also avoids a lot of the BS and insane pricing that a lot of high end home gear has.

If you can properly integrate pro gear into your system you can get a lot of bang for the buck. But as with anything a lot of research is worthwhile.

Rod

[woofersus]

Well, I think there's a difference between pro gear and pro style gear. Products like the TCA pro/sho speakers are the latter. Aside from the issues of balanced/unbalanced mentioned above, there are design factors that don't always fit the HT environment.

For example, live music reproduction doesn't need some of the frequency extremes that you want in a HT system. I have a pair of EAW LA118 subs each pushed by a QSC PLX1602 bridged mono for 1100 watts. I think they're fantastic because they'll output a sustained 125db and a peak of 131db with great sound quality while being (relatively) small, light and inexpensive, but they are -3db at 31hz and -10db at 25hz, which would be unacceptable for HT.

When you get to the other speakers there are more differences. CHT pro/sho speakers are only "pro style" in the sense that they use compression drivers for the purpose of constant directivity and high sensitivity. Like many pro speakers they roll off fairly high and assume subwoofer use, but most actual pro speakers will either be very large or be designed to group into arrays, with the expectation that you will employ active crossovers and bi/triamp. The constant directivity used in HT is primarily to allow successful room correction at a listening position (Harmon has a very good white paper on this) while in pro use it is generally to allow multiple speakers to be grouped for maximum coverage. With large cabinets this means controlled dispersion axis is important well below the crossover point for the compression drivers, which leads to horn loaded 8" or even 12" drivers. Also, maximum output is more important that being compact, so you see things like 15" drivers used for low mids. Obviously most of that is impractical at best in one's living room. Mini line arrays are currently all the rage in pro systems, at least for small to medium sized venues, because of their scalability flexibility, but even with those you usually have to fly separate low mid boxes unless it's a really small system or not that compact.

Anyhow, people talk about pro style speakers with something like the pro/sho speakers or Seaton stuff or JTR, but those are really more an adaptation of pro style designs to fit a small room, and not really designed to be used like most pro gear would be used.

All that aside, I think there are two main criticisms that have some validity when it comes to the use of pro gear in home systems. First, speaker design is a series of trade-offs and compromises, and some feel that the trade-offs required to reach ultra-high sensitivity or in some cases constant directivity requires some that are unacceptable. There are high order modes, coherency issues in the near field, less than svelte form factors in many cases, and problems getting dispersion patterns right so that no spot in the room has a 10db roll off in the high frequencies. Furthermore, a good compression driver requires some fairly beefy parts, and a lot of home audio drivers skimp and suffer for it. (although plenty of "pro" gear does too - more on that in a moment) I for one, am not generally a fan of horns in my house despite having far more experience with pro sound than home audio. I will note here that, while not my personal cup of tea, I found that the CHT pro-10's did a better job than most with these things when I heard them a while back. For HT use they were quite good. I also quite liked the (much more expensive) JBL Everest speakers. Of course they're really big, but some other home audio speakers are huge too I guess.

The second thing, and more my own pet peeve, is that people seem to assume that if something was designed for pro use, that it meets some kind of arbitrary standard for quality and performance. Often what I see recommended on HT forums is real bottom of the barrel stuff that somebody making their living on pro sound wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole. I'll see people touting some speaker that is cheap, big, and loud like a Peavey PV215 or a JBL JRX125 or something like that and I just want to puke. Those people must be at least 80% deaf to not realize those sound like utter trash. I don't care what the fr graph says. They're awful. Then you'll see a Behringer Super-X or some such piece of crap used as an active crossover. And of course the amps. They aren't well built, their specs are a fantasy like the old car stereo brands that claimed 10 million watts from an amp made out of paper, and they're super noisy. Now people have sworn to me that the more recent Behringer amps have measured well and are somewhat power efficient, but I guarantee the overall failure rate is higher than you'd like. Also, disconnecting the fan or swapping it out will void your warranty.

I see no problem with using something like what TCA sells. I also see no problem with using a pro amp with a DIY sub if you don't mind the noise and are aware that the spec sheet might be telling you a fairy tale if you go cheapo. It all depends on your personal tastes, budget, and output needs. I personally find that very low sensitivity is impractical and ultra-high sensitivity makes unpleasant trade-offs. I'm happy in the 90-95db area. Then again, I think most movie theaters are too loud and have no desire for 105db peaks in my small living room. ;) What I don't like is when people suggest that a high sensitivity speaker with a horn and a cheap amp automatically equals a good sounding system or that something with a "pro" design is automatically good. I've done live sound for a long time and I've heard both really good and really bad.

[Kevin_Wadsworth]

I'm not sure how much of a drawback people see with pro-stuff. wofferus covers the speakers pretty well. For amps, I see them recommended all the time and I'd bet >90% of the DIY subwoofer people use pro amps. For driving speakers, there have been discussions on pro amps for years and I think the main drawback comes to actiev cooling/noise.

[persisting1]

XLR connections really have nothing to do with pro vs audiophile/HT gear. Many audiophile companies offer XLR connections. It's a personal preference.

woofersus described it pretty well.

[HuskerOmaha]

Quite the indepth answers. Thanks guys.