EBS_freak

No need - if you aren't moving around on stage, you are unlikely to hold any attention anyway and you'll be playing to nobody.

Those subs are beasts. They did that festival I played at last year - and were barely on tick over!

https://www.jhaudio.com/p/iem-display For when life is telling you that you really have nothing better to spend your money on!

Yup - primarily because of the different woofer.

Have to say though - what I saw at the show was well built, looked great and sounded great too. It certainly got me interested enough to walk over and have a good old nosey around it and look at the website whilst I was back at the hotel having a post show soak in the bath. I don't know what the prices for these systems are at the moment though - so not entirely sure what end of the market they are sitting in and who their competitors are. Could make for a good portable solution for somebody so as mentioned above, probably a good one to add to the list as one to check out. MA have done a great job on making their system stand out too. The owl eyes certainly made me know immediately who was behind it although the liking of the "owl eyes" could be subjective. Have you managed to get it out into the wide open and got it anywhere in the dealers yet @MoJoKe? -

In practice - sonically, very little, the crossover point of the 745 is a little lower than the 735. Consequently, the 745 should be able to handle more in the woofer department as the horn in the 745 can take on a little more than the one in the 735. The woofer voice coil itself is larger in the 745 so you are going to get a little extra in that department too. For use with bass and guitar, I doubt you would tell the difference. Maybe if you tried the 735 and 745 side by side with vocals you'd notice something... but I've never done that specific test. 735 or 745, they are both class acts and certainly better speced and performance that most of their counterparts with the same retail price.

I was tempted to investigate this further at the show but didn't think people would appreciate me putting my fingers into speaker cones. The thing is, the fact they are open is an invitation for poking around... something in my opinion that shouldn't be there in the first place. Things like this always draw my attention... mostly due to the fact that some numpty threw a plectrum into a horn on a monitor I had. You can imagine what that did to the sound (made it unusable for the rest of the gig) - and the work required to remedy the situation was far from trivial. It would be easier for the manufactures just to mesh it off so that such things can't happen. In the case of the MA system - I'm not sure what the design rationale behind the semi exposed speakers is but I'm surprised that it got to market like that. The fact that these things are going to be widely used in venues where there are going to be a lot of drunk w*nkers around does worry me - as I suspect that this is the market that Mark Audio have squarely targeted these systems at.

Whatever is appropriate!

A challenge of challenging proportions nonetheless.

I think the challenge of having a more affordable line is certainly a challenge - so much to think about in terms of perception of the instrument, impact on the value of existing instruments and their potential resale rate, the perception of the brand itself etc. I'm not really sure who has managed to do it properly - I remember Fodera and their line of more affordable bases (I think they were made in Japan?) - and I for one was thinking - well, they are certainly cheaper but they aren't a Fodera. But then again, I don't really get the Fodera thing anyway. Lakland are the only brand that I can think of where they have managed to do it... maybe Sadowsky... I don't think people perceive the Skyline and Metro series as lesser instruments than the full fat models. Mind you, I'm guessing that they shift a lot more of these series of instruments than the top series... whereas the smaller luthier probably wants those figures the other way around. Difficult one.

But they haven't mastered tolex adhesive, handles that don't fall apart or feet that don't fall off?

I've played too many drunken weddings to know that the design is a bad idea. Would be good to feedback to the developers!

And to think that speaker inside costs all of about £50 trade.

Mmm. Danley. Sorry, I'm still having a moment!

Quite - manufacturers have been booted from other forums for ridiculing other manufacturers. It's a pretty lame thing to do.

Everybody has their reasons for being there - all valid of course!

I would never buy one of these Mark Audio things based on one thing. Too easy for somebody to be a prick and poke their fingers into the speaker cones.

Mmm. Danley. When I bought my last rig I nearly went Danley... til I saw saw the weights. Having said that, the rig above seems quite manageable in terms of size and weight. But then again, I was working around a TH18. What we really want is a Jehrico coming in a 20kg

Yeah - but they are made of unicorn poo!

They probably do bat an eye - it's just that the Aguilar name is nowhere near as prevalent as the Barefaced name round these parts.

Brex.... :-p If you were Aguilar and you could price it that high and it still sells... you'd slash the prices...?

Like LEDs :-p

I don't think there would be anybody willing to disclose prices in a public forum as they tend to be negotiated directly with the organisers. There's the "price" and then there's the "price". About orders - that's kinda what I was referring to above. Some luthiers already have a healthy stock of orders and additional interest stemmed from a show could flood them. I see that Status were notably missing this year - I guess they don't need to be there. I guess they are also in the lucky position that if they ever need a cash injection, they just release a new take on the King bass and they'll hear the sound of multiple lawyers and bankers opening their wallets. Working a show is very hard work - typically, there's the van hire, the parking, the booking of hotels for Friday and Saturday night, the load in, the load out, the eating out costs, the cost of the stand itself, the cost of power to the stand, the cost of printing any leaflets and business cards. Some exhibitors will clearly make a loss or find it hard to justify being there... especially if their orders are already looking healthy. Some guys of course, just love the social aspect of exhibiting - I am guessing people like the Aguilar guys and Sheldon Dingwall fall into this camp - but it also gives them chance to catch up with the players, distributors etc... and see a different part of the world for a while under "business expenses".

Hofner. But that's for all the people that want to play at being Macca I guess.

Agreed - theres a fine line. Fender have done it great that the Squier is not a Fender - but is overseen by the Fender powerhouse. As for the luthier, yeah, I'm guessing that theres definitely the risk of damaging the brand. I'm not even sure that it has worked for Lakland with their Skyline series. The skyline series is pretty much Lakland and the US stuff is just expesnive Laklands that people dont really buy. Different is I guess, is that with the Skylines, that is more a box shifting model... whereas for cheaper luthier built basses, there's still the whole hands on element which then brings the more expensive range into question as to whether it's worth the money or the more affordable range are just a pale imitation. Difficult.