I'm thinking about picking up a portable stick PA (linear array type). Kinda had my eye of the Yamaha Stagepas 1K but saw that recently EV released the Evolve 30M.

Both seem to have the same wattage (1000 peak) and have approx the same horizontal dispersion but the Evolve has a 10" woofer and the Stagepas has a 12" woofer. At -10dB the Evolve will go down to 45Hz whereas the Stagepas at -10dB will go down to 37Hz.

If I'm looking at this right, which I may not be, the lowest note on an 88 key keyboard goes down to 27Hz. So the Evolve will roll-off further on the last 9 or so keys, where the Stagepas will roll-off on the last 6 keys.

I'm concerned here about bass response and I don't want to have to resort to a sub.

So if the lowest note on a 4 string bass is 55Hz, does any of this really matter? Is there really any difference between a 10" and a 12" if the wattage to each is the same?

Appreciate your insight and counsel.

Jeff

In a word yes.
Bigger woofer moves more air.
My experience has been a larger woofer gives a much cleaner (distinct voicing) at the low frequencies.

That said, I believe either a 10 or a 12 will work for you.

I've gigged for a season with an Evolve 50.
My only complaint is the bottom weighs about 45 lbs

My backing tracks contain bass/drums/hammond b3/piano, etc
Lots of stuff that gets muddy. The EV can cover any room from a small restaurant to backporch tiki bar with 150 people easily. The sound is crisp and clear all the way down the frequency range.


I've done some testing lately on the Evolve 30 and really like it. The bass voicings are crystal and the weight is almost 10 lbs less.

I think that unless you are playing serious EDM stuff either would do you fine.

I just don't know much about the StagePas.


The new Evolve 30M has more mixer capability than previous versions. Make sure either rig gives you what you need there.

The bluetooth implementation is "good enough" on the EV, certainly for streaming between sets. I'm still old school enough that I use a cable from my tracks player (usually an Ipad) to the EV while I'm playing.


If weight matters to you, bear that in mind also.
The StagePas looks pretty heavy to me.

Hope this helps a little

You can get a woofer that’s too big for a purpose, that makes things muddy. But that doesn’t apply to these choices.

Thanks Matt....done.

Appreciate all the comments guys. I must admit, the enhanced mixer options of the Evolve 30M and its lighter weight do have some interest. Off to GC for some listening.

Jeff

Listening to different options is a good idea .. even better, bring along a CD/USB example of your music so you can see how your stuff sounds on the target system.

rharv is spot on.
You want to hear your stuff/rig on the device
I brought my phone and pad in with my backing tracks.
Checked it out using both direct connect and bluetooth.

I spoke with the guy there beforehand and even brought in my guitar and a small direct box. Set up my rig and played a few tunes on the EV 30m. Convinced me of its goodness.

I'm guessing you could use one of their keyboards to help in your decision making. Most of the times they are pretty helpful as long as you keep clear of playing the "forbidden songs".

I offered that advice as a first thought from personal experience, but to answer the original question; yes woofer size matters, as do most of the other components involved in a speaker. Let your ears be your guide, don't go with specs or speculation. Listen to your stuff on it (that determines whether the final result meets your needs) but also know that yes it matters, as does whether it is polypropelyne, kevlar or stamped board .. or metallic coating or ...

Lots of the specs matter but the one that matters most is your needs.
I like different woofers for different applications (recording/mixing vs live performance for example)

So the answer isn't as simple as saying yes or no. 12" vs 10" cones. Looking at the specs from a single speaker really doesn't give you a clear answer. You must account for the number of speakers, speaker efficiencies , and the amps, just to mention a few of the factors involved.

I've played in bands with a simple little 100w 8 channel PA system into passive cabinets to PA's that were suitable for outside large venues that had thousands of watts into tri-amped stacks of cabinets. Big was fun.....


The fact of the matter is that either of the systems you are looking at will do a good job for you in the small clubs you would be playing. The 10" vs 12" speaker size will not be an issue that you would be concerned about. Your main concern is portability and ease of transport. Good sound is important too and should not be an issue with either of those. A buddy of mine loved the one he was using on a cruise ship gig he did for many years. He raved about that thing.

Just my 2 cents worth.

I would be more concerned about low mids and mids with any of the pole in a box systems. As well as radiation patterns for coverage. As others have pointed out the speaker diameter does matter but so does its throw, the cabinet design, crossover details, servo control if present, etc.

Well, I headed off to GC with some of my MP3's in hand.

Have to admit, the way my local GC crams every speaker into a fairly small "speaker" room you're forced into standing not much more than 10 feet from each unit.

I even tried to move further out into the "keyboard" room and even further back to the guitar area. Didn't work too well...with every other customer testing, demoing and playing their favorite riff, I really couldn't tell much difference between the Stagepas 1K and the Evolve 30M.

Then again, maybe that's the point or maybe my old ears just aren't up to critical listening anymore. In any case, its a hard decision to make in that over the years I become accustom to sitting in my small studio and sitting 3 feet away from my KRK Rokit 8's. Now that still sounds good to these old ears!

Having never heard my music through a PA, maybe its just a case of realizing that tunes played through a PA system are never going to sound as good as in a controlled studio setting...and in that regards maybe that's the key take-away.

Jeff

A PA is never going to sound like a controlled studio environment in real use.
It will take some extra effort to get your studio tunes prepped for a given PA
.. but in order to do that you have to know which PA. <grin>
A bit of chicken/egg but if you couldn't tell much difference between the two at this point, I'd start considering cost, build quality and ease of transport next.

Once you have the new PA in an isolated area (not where lots of extraneous noise is happening) you can do the final step of optimizing the content for the playback system.
The real question is whether either or both systems were 'acceptable'.

Old ears lose high frequency hearing. Bass should still come through fine.

I don't think you're going to find a great deal of difference between the Stagepas 1K and the Evolve 30M.
They are very similar animals.
Perhaps like picking one zebra over another because you like zebra x's stripe pattern.

Where I found a great difference was when I compared these line arrays to a powered speaker like the QSC 10.2 or 12.2 - both high quality rigs.

It seemed the bottom end was a bit cleaner, the mid range had great definition and the highs sounded good.

In short a line array PA costing at least 1.5 that of a powered speaker sounded better. Go figure.

I think you have found two winners. Examine the feature sets of each system and make your decision based on how well those match your needs. They both sound great. Either way I think you'll be happy.

Pull the trigger

I can vouch that this is often disappointing! I'm one of the FOH sound guys at our church and now and then I'll bring in my stuff to play through the PA - which sounds fine to me for recorded audio that I'm not familiar with, and then when I play my stuff - ugh!

I like well enough how my recordings sound in my car, over headphones, and of course over my monitors. But the church PA - haven't had one sound satisfactory yet.