We did a little sound test today between a few of our different pieces of kit which seemed worth sharing the results from. Really impressed with every piece of kit DB Technologies are making at the moment, and definitely think that they’re benefitting from their close association with RCF.
Here’s the brief description of the point of this test: to highlight the difference between groundstacked arrays of DB’s 2 flagship single transducer 1kW subwoofer speakers, the 15″ DVA S09 and the 18″ DVA S10 . Sometimes we don’t get much of a chance to critically listen to our rigs when they’re actually installed, and so to just set them up next to each other is useful to highlight key differences between the speakers ‘natural’ sound
For reference we placed a single Felxsys F10 on top of the boxes to add some high end so the sound wasn’t all bass, but these are obviously way out of their depth as 150 watt tops against 2 killowatt bass bin setups.
Sound sources were Pioneer CDJ1000mk3 digitally connected to a DJM800 desk, which in turn was connected with single neutrik van damme XLR cables to the input stage of the subs crossover networks. The decks were around 15- 20 feet away from the two stacks, as seen here:
DB technologies DVAS09 vs DVAS10 sound test
On paper these 4 subs produce 140dB (2 x DVA S09) and 142dB (2 x DVA S10) at one meter distance from the front of the speaker as a result of groundstacking them as shown above. Anyone involved in pro audio would testify that 140dB at 1 meter is officially the threshold of ‘pro’ audio. The point is not to run your system at this level all the time, but having this kind of power gives systems ‘headroom’ to operate for longer periods of time at high output levels without either sounding strained or breaking down.
Without getting too technical with this review, we’ll just leave it as this: both of these boxes produce excellent results without the need for any additional EQ or crossovers. They sound strong, defined and musical in equal measure with the obvious trade off being that the 15″ sub produces a more ‘punchy’ sound versus the slightly more weighty sound of the 18″ unit.
When groundstacked like this the 4 subs produce very professional output levels, and as both subs have 4″ voicecoils inside it is no surprise to hear that they continue to produce the solid sounds for hours without sounding tired or losing definition.
We switched them around into a few different configurations to hear what different tones we could produce, including trying them in the same sort of setup as you found in the Forty & Fifty line configs- dB tech’s previous flagship line of PA gear. With an 18″ on the bottom end, the 15″ producing a naturally more punchy middle weighted sound & the Flexsys F315 (15″ 6″ 1″) in a proper horn on top and crossed over at 120hz we get a very high power, clear and versatile sound system which can handle everything from Jazz to dancemusic for crowds up to 400 outdoors and maybe even up to 800 indoors.
Overall we are very impressed with the versatility this equipment offers us, and until we find ourselves offering playback to crowds over 1000 strong we don’t see any need for larger, heavier or more expensive gear than this kit.