SpaceStation Stereo PA Speaker? One speaker!

[Minneapolis Musician]

Anyone ever heard this speaker. Does it really work and sound good?

They claim that it uses phasing to send a sound wave for each channel and it really does maintain stereo in a live PA setting all over the room.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Spacestation3

Got great reviews. They say it works.

Michael Boddicker demo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2XDOul0L44

20-minute Video explanation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orMVe_TQ1SA

I recommend watching the video and then comment.

[Sharp]

A few people on the forum have this speaker and swear it sounds brilliant.

That being said, it's mid range speaker is only 40WATTS RMS. I'd fart louder than that after a good Sunday dinner It's full range speakers are 100WATTS RMS, so it's not exactly something your going to gig with. It might make the perfect practice amp, or something for playing in Church, but nothing you could gig with.

Regards
Sharp.

[Minneapolis Musician]

A few people on the forum have this speaker and swear it sounds brilliant.

That being said, it's mid range speaker is only 40WATTS RMS. I'd fart louder than that after a good Sunday dinner It's full range speakers are 100WATTS RMS, so it's not exactly something your going to gig with. It might make the perfect practice amp, or something for playing in Church, but nothing you could gig with.

Regards
Sharp.

One reviewer said this at Sweetwater:

"Spacestation delivered on Friday, gigged on Saturday night at a local bar with a LOUD rock and roll band.

The Spacestation held its own....all settings at 12:00 o'clock. Keyboards used were Electro 4sw and a Kurzweil Pc3....plenty of volume and the sound was enveloping...I used a Bose L1 for 10 years (great sound!) and recently I have been using a Line 6 L2t which I still love for its clarity and studio monitor sound, but the dimensional quality of the Spacestation has them beat.

If I have to play a louder gig (I hope not) I would use both the spacestation for the fullness and Line6 for extra support. If you are on the fence about the spacestation, just buy it. You won't regret it."

[Sharp]

I'd be wary of any comments like that.
The spec details 40WATT and 100WATT Amps. From that alone you know it has a certain limitation.

I've heard nothing but good things about the quality of the sound from the speaker, but from what I've read most people purchased it knowing it wasn't loud and they are using them in places where they are suited.

Like Church and Practice rooms. It sounds perfectly suited to that in my opinion. Can't imagine doing a gig with one.

Regards
Sharp.

[Minneapolis Musician]

Sharp,

What is the amp power of the Bose L1 speaker systems, though?


49 reviews, by the way: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ ... n3/reviews


I may try this speaker.

[Sharp]

Not so easy to answer. On certain bose systems they refer to volume in the number of “People” a system will cover because they don't want you to know the true technical spec. The reason for this is the speakers Bose use have very limited frequency range and because of this in a standard RMS test they would perform poorly on certain frequencies and excellent at others.

For example, at a low frequency you would hear almost nothing coming from the speakers Bose use in their Poles, but they would be very loud at high frequencies. This gives them a poor result on paper when tested individually and not as an entire system. Because of this and the rules of quoting the RMS, they choose not to give the actual value and quote volume in terms of how many people the system over all can cover which in reality means nothing to measure the system by to be honest.

When it comes to real figures, I can only quote what a service engineer told me. He said that the AMP in the base unit the Pole sits into is 1000 WATTS Peak, which means probably 500 WATTS RMS.

49 reviews, by the way: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ ... n3/reviews

I don't think I've ever read a bad review on the speaker. Everyone always seemed to be impressed by the quality and claims. Just bear in mind the power of the AMP is a real figure, not someone's opinion. It's only as loud as it's rated.

Regards
Sharp.

[DonM]

O.K. Since you asked. . .
I bought one and gave it a good trial. I was accustomed to using two Bose Compacts.
I found I had to use a sub-bass cabinet with it for it to produce the bottom I wanted. I also found it sounded great out in the audience but was much harder to get a good sound on stage.
In short, I didn't like it as well as the Boses, so I sent it back.
I must say I am in the minority. If you buy it from Sweetwater, you can return it within a month if it doesn't work out for you.
And they WILL dicker on the price. I bought mine for $599. shipped.

[Minneapolis Musician]

If it sounds good, I would get a subwoofer since my music depends on feeling the bass even if not in an overpowering fashion. I love big and rich.

As for hearing myself, I plan to use in-ear monitors for that off the board.

Added bonus: it's weight just 40 pounds. Easier on the back and up the stairs.

[DonM]

The powered sub I used weighed as much as the SS! The Bose Compacts weigh 26 pounds each. There is plenty of bass with the Compacts, but not that really DEEP thumping bass that many prefer, and some situations need.
Plus the Bose cost a lot more!

[jazzmammal]

I just saw this thread and wanted to comment. I was one of the first users of the SS because I live in LA and Aspen (the owner of CPS) has his studio about 20 miles from me. I drove there almost two years ago to test one out and bought one on the spot. I normally gig as a keyboardist in a full band using a lot of organ from my Hammond SK1 and I'll do the usual AP's and EP's too. The thing sounds awesome and has a ton of power. The first gig I did with it was a medium sized bar (about 100 people) in a pretty damn loud blues band. Guitar, bass, drums, keys, vocals and a sax all going through the PA except for me. The SS got so loud I had to cut it back a bit. Btw, it's a very efficient tri-amp system as in three discreet amps totaling 280W.

However what it does lack is a loud bass, the woofer is an 8". But it still puts out a surprising amount of bass for it's size, it's fine for small lounge or coffee shop gigs even if you are playing LH bass.

I have the Pa1XPro and would love the new 4 but the cost...I could sell 4 or 5 of my other boards and maybe justify it. Anyway, I did my first gig with the Korg and SS a few weeks ago. It was outdoors in front of a row of art galleries. Knowing I was going to be pumping out the bass as well as all the other accompaniment tracks AND vocals I also brought my EV ELX112P and a mixer. I took the sub out from the SS to the mixer. The combination sounded killer, I had a ton of power and one thing that surprises everybody is the SS still provides that stereo "bloom" outside with zero reflecting surfaces around. I have no idea how that's possible but I swear it really works. It will amaze you.

I've also done a few duo gigs where I played LH bass with the sub out going to an Eon based PA and that also sounded great. If I just need more bass and not full range I cut back the treble on the PA head. The SS still gives the very cool full stereo effect and the PA fills out the bottom end.

Since this is a Korg arranger forum and not just a keyboard players forum I'll agree with the comment that the SS by itself is probably not enough for loud gigs because of the need for 'mo bass using an arranger. For my SK1 it's plenty because bands have a bass player and if I get too far into the bass range on organ I'll get something thrown at me across the stage...

When someone talks about comparing the SS to the Bose or other systems look at the price. A pair of Bose systems costs how much again? There's a few guys on Keyboard Corner who compared the SS to a pair of Turbosounds or ART 408's that cost like $6,000 for a pair. Well, gee I hope those sound a hell of a lot better than a $749 amp!

For me this is by far the best stage amp I've ever had.

Bob

[kbrkr]

I used to own a Fender SFX200 which was a Stereo Keyboard Amp with a 12" main speaker, a Tweeter and an 8" Transmoidal speaker used to produce stereo. It was claimed to have 80 watts per channel. It was a poor stereo implementation and just did not cut it in a live band situation.

I'm with Sharp on this one; I would look at other amp options.

Al

[Minneapolis Musician]

I am pleased with the SpaceStation!

I added a 300 buck Behringer subwoofer that fills out the bottom nicely.

Sounds great with my PA4x.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ ... oC5LLw_wcB

[mstodola]

I also use a spacestation. I own both the MK2 and version 3. One thing to watch out for if you play in a band is not to face the side speaker at the other band members. They will complain. Face a corner of spacestation at them. Or put it on it's side so one side of the side speaker is facing the floor and the other upwards. Many people use amp stands for this.

Also, don't use the same setup tactics as other monitors that you have used. The speaker is supposed to be about 3-4 feet away from you. The more the better and preferable near a wall if possible. The sound from the speaker should bloom to get the best effect.

Yes the lows are lacking but with a sub or any other speaker, that can be resolved as you have noticed. Placement of another speaker is critical to get the best sound. As you can see -- how the speaker is made, is that the side speaker needs to be as close to the front facing speaker as possible. So if you need more volume just put a more powerful speaker facing forward and put the spacestation on top inline with the other speaker, adjust the width to taste and all will be wonderful.

Most people who complain about the spacestation use the speaker too close to their ear with ideas that it should be like any other monitor. Big mistake.

Also, if you use the Pa4X organs with the spacestation, don't expect a lot of wirly leslie. How they have implemented their leslie in the Korg is more like a tremlo than a leslie. The PC3K that I own makes the whole room come alive. You need the L-R part of the sound to make the side speaker work.

I noticed that I don't have to use very much EQ like with other monitors. I don't get the peaks and squeals that other monitors create. I use to have to really EQ for every venue I played in when using a standard monitor. I EQ very little and get a great sound. It doesn't seem to respond to the room's resonant peaks like other monitors.

I also have found using a little mixer inline between the keyboards and the spacestation make the whole setup sound better.

Hope this helps.

[jazzmammal]

Agree with everything you wrote including putting the SS horizontal on an amp stand. It's very counterintuitive but that has no effect on the stereo blooming, it's still there and it keeps the side firing speaker out of the drummers ear.

I also have a PC3 76. The EP's are just stunning through the SS and you should hear the leslie on my SK1. Glorious! This SS really is the closest I've come to using a real one I've yet heard on stage. Of course if you're in a big venue using a PA and soundman once you go through the FOH it's just another recorded leslie at that point but for the much more common smaller venues, private parties and such, the SS is just great. I've even done some 18 piece big band gigs with it using piano only and it is awesome. Did I mention big bands are LOUD? You just have to make sure it's a stereo piano patch which the PC3 certainly has and I'm assuming the Pa4X does too.

I just remembered Aspen posted a live vid of a big band where the pianist is using the SS. You can hear the piano clearly, here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shi5CLi0fT0

Bob

[AntonySharmman]

As a sound engineer , designer and developer of audio systems including class-D and DSP implementation I can tell you my experience in this field.
I had designed before many years a middle+R / middle+L omnidirectional single loudspeaker in my lab , mostly for emulating a decent rotary
Hammond Leslie speaker and came to conclusion that this technique (Pioneer invention) is insufficient for proper sound stereo image mostly
because of phase conflict of close frequencies/harmonics of a sound and sound cancellation in middle low frequencies that disturb the original
stereo sound of a source especially when DSP processors are involved in panning and timbre character like in PaArrangers.

In my opinion this could be a very decent low-middle/low-high frequencies loudspeaker in limited power when is set at center only possition ,
suitable for Hammond/electric pianos/guitars but definately not for an arranger where sophisticated panning/detuning , <100Hz frequencies
and cymbals are involved , and really powerfull high frequency 1,5-2" dynamic compressors must be used !
High-rated Arrangers must be treated as an orchestra from sound engineer part , it's not a simple lead keyboard so the sound demanding in
frequency response / overall stereo image is crucial !!!
But ... in the case of using a single stage monitor , this loudspeaker might be the best solution for a real stereo arranger set though !