# Favorite Front Fill + Practical Speaker



## macsound (Dec 13, 2018)

In most of my theatre (and corporate) sound design and building consulting, the Meyer UPM has always been the defacto front fill speaker. Most of the time is we needed a sound effect to come from somewhere else on stage like a vacuum or goat or whatever, it was also usually a UPM.

Working in smaller theatre, youth theatre and churches, they usually had speakers laying around that ended up being used for these purposes.
On a project I'm currently working on, the front of the stage has a lip that was built to shield striplight footlights that have now been removed and we're looking to add front fill to a small space, about 20' across. I'd love place 3 UPMs but the budget won't allow it and the building is also afraid of something so small being so expensive living on the floor. (Someone spilling a mop bucket of water or something)

Soo0o0ooooo, what other small speakers have you used as front fill?
I'm leaning toward a JBL Control 25AV which I've used for immersive sfx speakers and restaurants and sounded ok, but have honestly never used them in a live environment. Also looking at the Control 52, also used for small scale sfx but never anything live. 
Am I going to blow them up? I'm not usually one who uses AV boxes for live audio. Any thoughts?


----------



## RonHebbard (Dec 13, 2018)

macsound said:


> In most of my theatre (and corporate) sound design and building consulting, the Meyer UPM has always been the defacto front fill speaker. Most of the time is we needed a sound effect to come from somewhere else on stage like a vacuum or goat or whatever, it was also usually a UPM.
> 
> Working in smaller theatre, youth theatre and churches, they usually had speakers laying around that ended up being used for these purposes.
> On a project I'm currently working on, the front of the stage has a lip that was built to shield striplight footlights that have now been removed and we're looking to add front fill to a small space, about 20' across. I'd love place 3 UPMs but the budget won't allow it and the building is also afraid of something so small being so expensive living on the floor. (Someone spilling a mop bucket of water or something)
> ...


 *@macsound* Meyer UB12, being careful NOT to exceed its power handling or pushing it's cone into over excursion. 
Toodleoo! 
Ron Hebbard


----------



## josh88 (Dec 13, 2018)

I've got some EAW JF80's that I'm using for fronts and I like them well enough. I've also used some NEXO ID24's which are killer little speakers.


----------



## themuzicman (Dec 13, 2018)

macsound said:


> In most of my theatre (and corporate) sound design and building consulting, the Meyer UPM has always been the defacto front fill speaker. Most of the time is we needed a sound effect to come from somewhere else on stage like a vacuum or goat or whatever, it was also usually a UPM.



UPM's seem to be the de-facto just because they are a Swiss-army knife speaker and work in a lot of different applications. These days they are too big a Frontfill for most of the shows I work on, scenic designers hate them! I've been using Meyer UP4-XP's. Budget follow-up speakers are the EM Acoustics EMS-51's.


macsound said:


> I'm leaning toward a JBL Control 25AV which I've used for immersive sfx speakers and restaurants and sounded ok, but have honestly never used them in a live environment. Also looking at the Control 52, also used for small scale sfx but never anything live.



The big upside on the JBL stuff is that it can take a beating, and when it goes it's pretty inexpensive to replace. They are totally functional speakers, they sound totally adequate. I've mixed in some really large theaters that put up Control 25's everywhere because they realized a lot of inexpensive delay speakers were better than a few expensive ones, with a little work they can be made to sound really decent.


josh88 said:


> I've got some EAW JF80's that I'm using for fronts and I like them well enough. I've also used some NEXO ID24's which are killer little speakers.



The NEXO ID24's are really great in theory, and they don't sound half bad -- I think the different horn sizes should be different model numbers because of how different they sound, but on their own they all sound quite good. If I owned a corporate rental house I'd consider getting a bunch just to throw around because they look slick and get loud, but I can't understand why NEXO didn't just make a simple horizontal Yoke for the thing! Their accessories get kind of infuriating. And the box being wired +2/-2 could be a little more obvious, and the amplifier controller software is kind of infuriating -- BUT if you just need some installed speakers, all of those things are relatively minor in the grand scheme once they are set and tuned and I'd agree that they are a good choice.


----------



## josh88 (Dec 13, 2018)

themuzicman said:


> If I owned a corporate rental house I'd consider getting a bunch just to throw around because they look slick and get loud



And that was the primary reason we had purchased them. They were to use as front fill for a corporate client on some of their larger regional events. That being said they did get used on a few of our other gigs but they were specifically bought to be part of a corporate package/in conjunction with some specifically designed racks that toured around supporting these events. 

But for such a small package I liked them.


----------



## macsound (Dec 13, 2018)

Good to know that there are theatres that use control 25s as delays. Sounds like a winner to me. 
Overall I'm not super concerned, just want to make sure that I don't shoot myself in the foot. Maybe I'll just buy a pair for myself and test them out one weekend. 

Is there anything else on the market like the UP4-XPs that's the same "bose cube" size but as pro as the meyer? That's why i was thinking the Control 52, because it's a single driver version of the CBT 50LA and those are crazy amazing.


----------



## rwhealey (Dec 14, 2018)

macsound said:


> Is there anything else on the market like the UP4-XPs that's the same "bose cube" size but as pro as the meyer? That's why i was thinking the Control 52, because it's a single driver version of the CBT 50LA and those are crazy amazing.



There are high end ones:
https://www.l-acoustics.com/en/product/5xt/
https://www.dbaudio.com/global/en/products/series/xs-series/4s/
https://www.fulcrum-acoustic.com/assets/pdf/Spec Sheets/Prod Spec, RX599 v4.pdf
https://www.adamsonsystems.com/en/product/point-series-2/pc-5

And some mid-range ones:
https://www.renkus-heinz.com/cx41
https://pro.bose.com/en_us/products...ty/rm_utility_105.html#v=rm_utility_105_black
https://www.danleysoundlabs.com/danley-nano/

I heard the Danley Nano at Infocomm and liked it - it could be a good choice.


----------



## Daniel Sepke (Dec 19, 2018)

Another option you could look at is the IF2205 from Yamaha. It's a passive model from their installation ranges. It has dimensions almost identical to the UPM. It adds a rotatable horn for flexible orientation options.


----------



## steine (Dec 19, 2018)

I have used Martin-Audios CDD5 in several musicals now for frontfill in smaller venues, and heard their CDD-live and MLA series as well.
Small, well sounding, and yet to have one fail.

https://martin-audio.com/live


----------



## MNicolai (Dec 19, 2018)

I usually lean toward the Innovox SL1.1-R's with the millwork kits. Generally inexpensive, low-profile, and you can make vocals sound great in them which is primarily what you want to have in front fills. If I have 6 across the lip, I'll put the center 2 on one channel, the middle-left and middle-right on a channel, and the outer 2 on a channel. Then time-align each pair accordingly in the DSP.


----------



## StradivariusBone (Aug 18, 2021)

How did the 25's work out? An elementary school my wife worked at had those mounted along the front wall in their "cafetorium" and I was always surprised at how good they sounded. I'm looking for front fills myself and it looks like they've updated the model a bit- https://jblpro.com/en/site_elements/jbl-professional-control-25-1l-spec-sheet


----------



## macsound (Aug 23, 2021)

They worked out well but ultimately became a trip hazard so we took them out.
Due to a bunch of factors, covid currently being one of them, the front row was removed so front fill became less of a need.

What I really like about the Control 25AVs is how much they don't sound like JBL. No harsh midrange but rather a very smooth transition up to the dome tweeter.

I haven't used the Control 25, I always get the Control 25AV because I believe it has a larger voice coil. I remember going through the motions of figuring out which was better when the 25-1 was released and it was all word of mouth as JBL's website isn't much help.


----------



## Dionysus (Sep 3, 2021)

rwhealey said:


> There are high end ones:
> https://www.l-acoustics.com/en/product/5xt/
> https://www.dbaudio.com/global/en/products/series/xs-series/4s/
> https://www.fulcrum-acoustic.com/assets/pdf/Spec Sheets/Prod Spec, RX599 v4.pdf
> ...


Some great suggestions. I've got 4 of the Fulcrum RX699 which are a bit bigger and they've been great speakers in my little space (have CX1295s and a US212 for mains).

Yeah there and plenty of great little speakers for use as fills and FX these days, it's AWESOME


----------

