Speakerboy T4A 15" 3-Way Big Bass Speaker High Power Loudspeaker for Home Stereo, Home Theater, DJs, Health Clubs
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Speakerboy T4A 15" 3-Way Big Bass Speaker High Power Loudspeaker for Home Stereo, Home Theater, DJs, Health Clubs
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Caution!
The Speakerboy T4A is is a high power speaker, designed for professional use only. It is capable of producing rock concert volume levels in the listening range. Serious injury to hearing and structural damage may occur if used indoors or inappropriately. No Joking.
Thanks for looking closer at this excellent loudspeaker the "T4A". My name is Todd Donald, A.K.A. "Speakerboy". For over twenty years I have designed and built high-end pro and home loudspeakers for fun, then I thought: "Hey why not offer these to everyone?" My product is great, hence the slogan is "Hearing is Believing!" My master cabinet builder and partner Dave and I setup shop in 2004 in a 3000 sq ft fabrication facility in Plainfield, IL.
TO understand the AMAZING T4A you must first understand my entire philosophy behind Speakerboy, was catering to a niche' crowd who wanted (or maybe did not know they needed), AUDIOPHILE GRADE SOUND AT HIGH SPL. see sound reproduction 101
ALL OF MY SPEAKERS ARE INTENDED TO BE AUDIOPHILE GRADE... What this means, is that they are designed and built to sound perfect WITHOUT anything except the amplifier, mixer or pre-amp, cables and playback source. This is a self contained speaker system which includes a passive full range crossover. Bi-Amping and/or using an external crossover is not recommended for audiophile quality full range sound reproduction, so you won't find a Speakerboy Powered Full Range Speaker, (unless I ask Dave, my cabinet builder to make a speaker cabinet that we can stuff an external amp in). Subs are different and I'll build powered subs. You can do almost whatever you want with subwoofers, because they operate within such a small frequency range anyway, so the amp is not an issue, provided it puts out clean powerful current. True audiophile full range speakers perhaps will never be bi-amped or externally crossed over, because it's virtually impossible to flatten the response or make a standard design which can be replicated.
If YOU are an audiophile, sound engineer, or speaker builder you already know what I'm referring to when I say "audiophile grade sound", BUT if YOU'RE not either one of these; imagine perfect sound coming at you at incredible volume. Your first question when selecting speakers should not be "What's The Price?". Awaken the Audiophile in you and SURPRISE THE AUDIOPHILE in the crowd at your next gig!
THE SPEAKERBOY T4A was designed to be a hybrid speaker crossing the boundaries of home audiophile sound into the realm of high powered pro sound for permanent installs and limited special mobile use for gigs that require a more dramatic musical flavor. A true audiophile who only listens at home, and doesn't think they'll be happy until they hear the holy grail of a true flat frequency response, may well be very surprised at the T4A. This speaker system has measured +/- 4 db 40Hz - 19,000Hz, in near field monitoring in a closed room. The T4A is lie a "mellow hammer". It does not have the shear volume and brute force of T5A, but the sound has a more rich, mellow character. Not a "bouncy" speaker, like DJ / PA systems, the T4A has very deep rich bass, dramatically reproducing many of the lower bass and sub-bass which you typically can only hear from a dedicated subwoofer. The T4A goes beyond deep bass however, with it's 15" high excursion woofer, which crosses over seamlessly with the unit's 4" Mid-Bass driver which is nestled in it's own internal sealed cabinet. The mid-bass puts out enough punch to round out the lower frequencies and makes male voices and deeper female vocals come alive. I can't think of any speaker which sounds more refreshing with artists like Randy Travis and Norah Jones The T4A is a speaker which even the most demanding critic will enjoy AT FULL VOLUME IN THE LISTENING AREA! These are unlike DJ speakers or PA speakers and should not be thought of in this category. The T4A is more like a MONSTER HOME SPEAKER, with the built in accessories to take them out for a night on the town and stretch their legs so to speak. It's a one of a kind in the home category though, because there are doubtfully any home speakers on the market which will reach a near flat response, dipping into the 20Hz range and extending perfectly through the upper teens. FYI: The +/- or "frequency response" is in relation to a perfect "Flat Response"... Most high-end popular home speakers today may have a decent response graph included in the manufacturer's literature, which indicates a smooth response, which was measured at 1 watt / 1 meter in a sealed acoustic chamber, but cannot be operated at high SPL in real world operation, and maintain that response, nor their smooth sound. The T4A can be played at very high volumes approaching 110 db within 25 feet and still keep it's composure. Inside or outside! When played outside, the T4A carries it smooth deep tones for a block or more. The only negative I can say with regards to using them outdoors, is that the giant, front firing flared bass port can limit their potential on a windy day. In this arena the T5A, with it's tight bass driver and smaller, down-firing port is a better solution.
As for the T4A specifications, I've measured approximately 110+ potential spl and the +/- 4 db graph I plotted in my fabrication / testing facility, truly surprised me. Sure it's neat to look at the data, but it means nothing unless the speakers sound great in operation right? I'd think it's better to simply state the obvious facts. If you know anything about sound systems or speakers, you'll soon realize what these are capable of! My Motto is: "Hearing is Believing!"
Like an Full Dressed Marine, Looking Good, but Always Ready for Action!
The T4A looks like a speaker that means business! The marketing photos for the T4A were unfortunately not representative of how good they look in person. The T4A looks sort of subdued industrial. More like a machine than a loudspeaker. With it's stout cabinet and massive face, it begs for power and room to breath. This is probably the perfect speaker for a serious home theater or restaurant, or health club setting. The finish can be either long fiber grayish blue poly-waterproof Suedetex flock, or a brilliant black short fiber poly flock. Additionally they can be covered in vinyl, either a variety of wood-grains or real wood veneer. The cabinets are MDF, for it's density and resistance to vibration, so paint, or coating with texture, is probably not a good idea.
Subwoofer Optional (or NOT REQUIRED)
The reason I say "Subwoofer Optional", is because if you want to use a subwoofer with these you can, but it's not necessary. Actually for smooth sound I wouldn't even recommend it. Rather than use a subwoofer with the T4A, what I suggest is "stacks", or multiple sets. Unlike a "PA Style" speaker, or even a baby bass home speaker (with dual 7's, or dual 8's, or even dual 10 inch woofers), The T4A produces very deep, smooth bass. It's fairly lively and definitely loud, but it's wide dispersion, near field design envelopes the listener, blanketing them in warm neutral bass. Never muddy or boomy, I feel that they produce more than enough bass and sub-bass for a large home theater, a restaurant, health club, bar, or most indoor areas. Running "stacks", (2 pairs placed on top of one another), will produce more overall efficiency and volume, but maintain their nearly perfect response. A subwoofer will boost the system efficiency if you plan on using them outdoors, or in extremely large venues like dance clubs where the music dictates a more "punchy" bottom end, but it will "color" the sound and it may sound too brassy at times.
"You won't know it's LOUD until you try to talk"
That's the reaction anyone who has heard this speaker design, has told me about my T4A. They sit or stand and relax with an ear-to-ear grin, with no idea the music was so loud... Like a nascar racer designs a car to run at wide open throttle, but be able to pace as well, I build speakers to run at wide open volume with the ability to play softly when needed. These are not sissy speakers like the ones you'll find at the store, rated at 1 watt at a distance of 1 meter. These are serious audiophile high power speakers designed to be played loud.
I run these Loudspeakers with 800 watts each!
"How Much Power Do these Things Handle?" Well, lets just say that I am a firm believer in maximizing "head-room". To get the most of any loudspeaker, your amplifier should be of high quality and capable of producing at least twice the RMS which your speakers are rated at. So in other words, these speakers are conservatively rated at 400 watts RMS, so you probably should have at least a true 800 watt per channel amp for each speaker, which is what I used while testing and designing them. They will run off of any amp (even as low as 80 or 100 watts), but they will get louder, sound better and last longer if you provide a more powerful source. Technically, this speaker design produces roughly 93 DB per watt. Obviously the more clean power you can provide, the louder they get. During design and testing of the R&D T4A, the maximum SPL measurements I have recorded are in excess of 110 dB at a distance of 25 feet inside the 3000 square foot facility to build and test Speakerboy Speakers. This fabrication facility, measured at roughly 75 ft x 40 ft with 15 foot ceilings provides me with ample room, to crank up the T4A's and simulate the playback characteristics in a medium size banquet hall. I was able to achieve 116 db, while running daisy chained stacks, (which is equal to having 4 ohm drivers which puts less of a load on the amp, enabling a high quality amplifier to supply 1600 +/- watts into each side. With the doors open or closed, the stack of T4A's absolutely fills this space with clean, powerful sound (which was heard outside and down the block as well), while maintaining +/- 4 db over the listening range, with zero distortion and clipping only present under the most extreme circumstances. There is no ringing, or blaring at full volume with 800 watts RMS each speaker, which makes for an almost surreal listening experience, akin to having headphones on. I sampled every genre of music from instrumental to hip-hop for a better idea of what these speakers were capable of.
"Like Listening To Your Favorite Songs for The First Time All Over"
This comment I've heard on much more than one occasion. I have designed the T4A as a near field speaker with wide dispersion, over a pattern of 160 degrees over a distance of twenty five feet. This is where most of the listening is done in the home, at restaurants and health clubs as well as many smaller professional engagements of less than 100 people. Why use a P.A. speaker designed for an auditorium at your small gigs, or in your house if you're a hobby disc jockey? The "Sweet Spot" of the T4A is in a range which is perfect for the home, small banquet rooms, small bars and mobile disc jockey dance areas at smaller private parties. The sound pressure is widely distributed from the cabinets, and past the listening area by a small distance. The sound is nearly at an even SPL until you come around behind them. The components and materials used in the design and construction of these American Made Loudspeakers is world class. The cabinet is designed to be placed on the floor, on a floor stand, or mounted on a pole with the built in "top-hats". The secret to the T4A's tremendous low bass, is that the cabinet are tuned to a frequency of roughly 30 Hz, which is the point between "sub and rumble". The woofer is a private label 15" 300 watt RMS, soft suspension wide dispersion paper cone, with 3" aluminum coil and 8mm Xmax. I designed the cabinet volume and port size to accommodate maximum use of these big woofers, by creating proper "full volume" characteristic with enough internal cabinet air suspension to enable the driver to pump out maximum deep bass without distortion. The mid-bass frequencies are covered by a Morel 200 watt 4" mini woofer and the top end is covered by Morel's 1-1/4" semi horn silk tweeter. Both of these drivers are balanced in vertical time alignment, so that they are producing a very precise and controlled upper mid to high end. You have probably NEVER heard vocals or instruments sound so rich and mellow, yet precise at any volume. The passive crossover is a customized piece which begins as an Eminence pro sound 3 way crossover, but which is modified specifically for the T4A and it's older and smaller cousin the T3A, 12" 3-Way Studio Monitor.
"What Music Sounds Best on These Speakers?"
During my research and design testing phase of the T4A, the longest running time at full volume was recorded at 8 hours at full volume 800 watts RMS each speaker (testing a pair), playing random dance, hip hop, classic rock n roll, heavy metal, alternative, pop, easy listening and orchestral. They sounded excellent with all the genres, with slight adjustments from flat eq with milder music, to - 3 db bass for the hip hop, dance, disco and rock. The lower bass adjustments with more bouncy music was to primarily give it the ability to reach higher SPL, without sacrificing the effect intended by the recording artists. When playing instrumentals, vocals, orchestra and most pop, alternative and heavy metal, the bass was left flat for a clearer sound, without any boominess from the very low frequency and sub-harmonics of kettle drums, or rumbling male voices. If I had to choose which music sounded best onthe T4A, it would be nearly impossible because the T4A sounded great with all types. I especially liked the way easy listening, classical, orchestral, jazz, R&B and dance music sounded. Josh Brodin, John Mellancamp, Diana Ross and any other female performer. The T4A although not a hard hitting, chest pounding speaker like the T5A, (or even it's baby brother the T3A), it has a special flair for coping well with today's mega bass recordings that use synthesized bass, like Nelly, Madonna and other popular techno, house and dance music. I actually found myself turning UP the bass on some of these because the big 15" Speakerboy woofers were absolutely loving it!
"What Kind of Connections Do These Speaker Have?"
The T4A is equipped to handle whatever you have. They have 5-way gold plated binding posts (which provide the best connection possible for high power and clean sound). They also have 1/4" jacks for the traditional "guitar style" of cable, (good for easy hook-up, but not the greatest sound). They also have twin Speakon connectors for those who have invested in speaker cables which are easy to use and provide a positive lock. Speakons provide a good connection for mobile applications because it's less likely they'll come un-done if someone trips over a cable, but they don't offer the best sound quality and not all Speakon cables are created equally so one must be careful to make sure they have the correct ones to connect amp to speaker. As a speaker designer and audiophile nut, I recommend using a minimum 14 GA Copper braided cable with banana plugs. Personally I use an old school "Power Line" which used to be made by Monster and incorporates 8 GA / 2200 copper strand cables for a total ampacity that's so high it's no concern at all! The other benefit, is that the outer diameter of cable carries the majority of the current and therefore the larger the cable, the quicker the current is supplied. The woofer absorbs nearly 75% of the amplifier power, so more power, more quickly results in more bass and less distortion. Honestly though, in real world testing of my speakers, (which is sometimes done via live demos at real weddings and events, performed by real local DJs), I've had to use whatever the DJ had, or what I brought with. One of these demonstrations was done at wedding hall that was so big, I had to run out to a local store and purchase 100 feet of the biggest, longest speaker cable I could find in a hurry, and the speakers still sounded fine. If you've invested in cables already there's no need to buy new ones, provided the ones you have can carry the current required, usually 14GA and up.
SHIPPING INFO & PAYMENT INFO:
The T4A is a large speaker weighing approximately 110 lbs, so they cannot be shipped via UPS, FedEx, or DHL. I can ship these speakers via common freight carrier to a business address, for roughly $300 to most locations in the Continental US, or if you live locally you can pick them up. Payment can be made via major credit card through Google Checkout (I will email you an invoice and it takes approx 3 days for payment to clear). Or alternatively, if you are local, we can arrange pick-up delivery and cash payment (no checks, money orders, etc).
MANUFACTURING INFO AND LEAD TIME: This is important... Look - The honest truth is, that until Speakerboy finds more partners and investors, this is a small-time two person operation. I usually have a set of speakers ready to ship, or close to being ready to ship, but often I will need to build a set just for you. It's a simple process where I require 50% up front, (covers the components I need to put into your new speakers). In the several days I'm waiting for parts to arrive, my partner and master speaker cabinet builder Dave and I are busy cutting wood, making holes, routering edges, fitting, gluing, clamping, etc. Once we receive the components and hardware, we test fit everything to makes sure everything fits like it should. Then we finish the exteriors of the cabinets. The finish is the most time consuming and depends on what type of finish you want. The cost of the speakers will ultimately be determined by the finish as well. We can simply just seal them, we can flock the outside any color with durable water-proof poly-fiber flock by Suedetex, or we can use vinyl. We can put the phony wood grain covering like store-bought speakers have, or if you're into custom, we work with two decal guys that do wraps, logos, and other cool vinyl decals.
Todd Donald
Ready to Roll? Email us... We'll provide you with a quote and lead time.
Warning!
The Speakerboy T4A is is a high power speaker, designed for professional use only. It is capable of producing rock concert volume levels in the listening range. Use extreme care when operating near children or pets. No Joking.
T4A Starting at $800 pair
T4A STD CONVENIENCE FEATURES
- 1-1/2" Pole Mount Top Hat
- Recessed Multi-Connection with 5 Way Gold Plated Binding Posts, Banana Plug Connections, 1/4" Guitar Style Mono Jack, 2 Speakon Connectors for daisy chaining.
- Plastic Lifting Handles
- Vibration Free Wide Mesh Grille
- Stackable Cabinet Corners
T4A STANDARD CABINET FEATURES
- 5/8" High Density MDF Cabinets
- Locking Miter Cabinet Corners
- Glued & Clamped Box Construction
- Caulked Internal Seams
- Sealed Exterior
- Easy Removable Back Cover
- Audiophile Grade 14GA Wiring
- 3M Acoustic Baffling
T4A STD COMPONENT FEATURES
- Front-Firing Dual Flare Port
- 15" 300 Watt RMS Woofer
- 5" 200 Watt Midrange
- 1-1/4" 200 Watt Tweeter
- Custom 3-way Cross-Overs
T4A STD PERFORMANCE FEATURES
- 93 db per watt Efficiency
- High Power Handling Capacity of 400+ Watt RMS @ 8 ohms, MAX SPL of 110-112 db @ 1 meter.
- Near Field Design (25 ft Focus), produces 102 - 112 db @ 400 watts in 25 ft Listening Range.
- 30Hz - 19,000Hz Response
- 8 hours / 800 Watt Tested Design
T4A ADD-ON CONVENIENCE OPTIONS
- Aluminum Tripods (black or silver)
- Built-in Wheels Telescoping Handle
T4A CABINET EXTERIORS OPTIONS
- Waterproof Poly-Flock Exterior (black, white, blue, red or most any color).
- Wood grain Vinyl (walnut, maple, cherry, oak, dark, light, etc).
- Custom Vinyl Decals & Logos
