Yamaha DSR 118 W

I bought the complete DSR115+DSR118W set, and after a month of use, I’ve noticed the following. First: In terms of power, these speakers are more than sufficient for most concerts, but subjectively, I have to note that the sound is so clear and smooth that you’ll reach the limit relatively quickly and eventually find that the sound is so powerful that all those decibels are making your ears ring. You get the feeling that you could turn it up even more—the sound is literally addictive— on the other hand, with the RCF TT-25 I experienced something similar, but at full volume the RCF is more aggressive than it is pleasant to listen to, so you get the impression that these speakers are playing louder—and that’s the mistake! When the speakers sound as clean as the DSR-i, you don’t feel like the pressure is unbearable—just like with the L.A. Acoustic hanging system! Hats off to them. On the other hand, I’m preparing a test of the actual power consumption of the DSR115+DSR118W system, which will confirm the system’s true performance—since it’s “digital” and has high efficiency, it shouldn’t have such high power consumption—but at 850W+450W (DSR-115), the current draw should be around 5A, and at 850W (DSR-118W), it should be around 3.5A! I’ll confirm this in the near future. For now, however, I must confirm the claims made by reviewers from foreign audio magazines that these speakers really do sound very clean even at full volume, and you won’t even notice if someone’s stealing your Harley from the garage—Davidson—is being stolen from your garage, because you won’t hear it! Second: the D-Contour feature is just right for DJs, ensuring the system has plenty of bass and treble for every song regardless of how it was mixed in the studio; but for a sound engineer, it’s not such a big advantage because this multiband compressor interferes with the sound’s natural character; that’s why I turn this feature off and take full control of the sound myself as the sound engineer. Third: The fact that you don’t use the D-Contour feature is an advantage for you as a sound engineer; without it, the system is easily predictable, the sound is more balanced, and what pleased me the most is that it’s much harder to get this setup to feed back than with other systems—and that’s without using any equalizers or feedback controls! The singer sang almost directly in front of the speakers without any problems, and there was no sign of feedback. Of course, the laws of physics still apply here, so if you stand directly in front of the speaker with an excited microphone, feedback will occur. In addition to the excellent mechanical design, the converters—which process the signal digitally—certainly play a role; they introduce a slight (and inaudible) delay, which also helps limit feedback. Fourth: I don’t know about the DSR-112, but the DSR-115 has absolutely no problem reproducing bass; it sounds really nice—I tested it with “Hapka and Jana Kirschner—Bude ti lehká zem.” The sound was beautifully balanced and pleasantly soft, almost tube-like. Of course, in open spaces and especially with other music styles, you’ll need to supplement the DSR-115 with subwoofers. I opted for the front-firing DSR118W (NOTE: the cheaper DXS12 and 15 are bandpass speakers; they’re tuned to a single frequency, so they’re suitable for DJs and techno parties, but not for sound engineers!!!) When using the DSR-118W, I recommend enabling the HPF filter on the DSR-115; the highs and mids will be clearer, and the system won’t have unnecessary boomy bass but will sound very powerful and balanced. In conclusion: Anyone who tries this system for live sound will definitely be very satisfied. When I bought this system, I had quite serious concerns about the YAMAHA brand—while it’s known for making reliable equipment, the sound quality of its speakers has always been a weak point. With the DSR system, you can see—and HEAR—the excellent work done by the engineers at "NEXO." This system performs like a well-tuned fly-in system, but you don’t have to worry about its setup—which greatly simplifies the sound-check process—and you’ll just get to enjoy the praise for the excellent sound! After all, the rule is: if you deliver great sound, you’re guaranteed more work; if you mess it up, they won’t call you again! And if you mess it up with the DSRs, the problem is probably somewhere else. I highly recommend this system to anyone who’s serious about sound engineering and wants a compact setup that delivers the sound quality of a fly-in system. I’ll post the measurements shortly. Best of luck!