Speakerboy T5A 15" 3-Way DJ Speaker High Power Loudspeaker for Disc Jockeys
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Speakerboy T5A 15" 3-Way DJ Speaker High Power Loudspeaker for Disc Jockeys, Bands, Home Theaters, Churches
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Caution!
The Speakerboy T5A 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 dynamite loudspeaker the "T5A". 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 T5A 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 T5A was designed to be a hybrid speaker crossing the boundaries of audiophile sound into the realm of high powered commercial sound for professional installs and mobile use. I'll be completely honest with you... A true audiophile who only listens at home, and won't be satisfied until their system can measure +/- 0 db 20Hz - 20,000Hz, may not have a use for the T5A, but a DJ or someone who enjoys great sound really super loud will love them. I'm not satisfied until my speaker designs reach +/- 8 db 40 - 18000 scale... during real world testing, AT FULL VOLUME IN THE LISTENING AREA! The reality is, that I am being modest about the frequency response, because 40-18,000 Hz is a huge sound spectrum encompassing all the frequencies an adult human can hear. Most DJ speakers and PA speakers (and most home speakers), don't come anywhere close to this. Some of the popular and more expensive DJ speakers on the market will only reach a spectrum dipping into the 50Hz range and perhaps the upper end in the mid-teens. FYI: The +/- or "frequency response" is in relation to a perfect "Flat Response"... Most popular DJ speakers today might have a mediocre graph included in the manufacturer's literature, which looks impressive and makes good marketing hype, but if they are actually measured in real world operation, like a banquet hall or club, instead of a sound booth they will often indicate readings that are so far off the graph they can't even be recorded, resulting in something which resembles more of an EKG than a decent frequency response graph.
As for the T5A specifications, I'd love to provide you with detailed specs for the technical junkies out there, and could boast about the 125+ potential spl and the +/- 6 db graph I plotted in my fabrication / testing facility, but truly this will not help you. 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 NFL Football Player Wearing His Tuxedo to The SuperBowl!
The T5A is a Handsome Speaker! Since I wanted all the future marketing material to show off the cool 13 layer Baltic Birch Cabinets, all I did was put a sealer on them, for the promo picture you see above. This is what they look like "naked". Actually the T5A bare, naked and in the buff looks cool in a sort of retro-modern sense, probably perfect for a home theater or church setting, but I can put any finish on them you like... I simply have them painted, or coated with texture, or I can stain them, etc. Either way, you'll probably never see another high power speaker look as good as this, unless I build it!
Subwoofer Optional.
The reason I say "Subwoofer Optional", is because if you want to use a subwoofer with these you can, but it's not necessary. Unlike most "PA Style" speakers, I designed the T5A to produce chest pounding bass. It's fairly deep and definitely loud, without being muddy or boomy. I feel that they produce plenty of bass for a large home theater, a church, chapel, health club, bar, live music, or most indoor areas. 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 some extra bottom end.
"WOW these things are friggin' LOUD..."
That's what people who have heard this speaker design, have told me about my T5A. I tell them they were designed to be loud... Like a drag racer designs a car to run at wide open throttle, I build speakers to run at wide open volume. 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 professional grade high power speakers designed to run for hours on end, day after day, year after year at demanding volumes with all sorts of music.
My FR2500 Mackie Amplifier which works great with these Loudspeakers!
"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, but since I sold my pair of 800 watt / 8 ohm amps when I liquidated Speakerboy, I now run them with a Mackie FR2500 amp that produces 575 watts per channel in stereo at 8 ohms and they sound fine. The Mackie 2500 is rated at 2500W @ 4 Ohms bridged mono which means that it has plenty of current to provide to the T5A's hungry drivers. They'll 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 97 DB per watt. Obviously the more clean power you can provide, the louder they get. During design and testing of the R&D T5A, the maximum SPL measurements I have recorded are in excess of 120 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 T5A's and simulate the playback characteristics in a medium size banquet hall. With the doors open or closed, the pair of T5A's absolutely fills this space with clean, powerful sound (which was heard outside as well), while maintaining +/- 6 db over the listening range, with zero distortion, clipping, ringing, or blaring at full throttle volume at 800 watts RMS each speaker, which is quite impressionable. I sampled every genre of music from instrumental to hip-hop for a better idea of what these speakers were capable of. Try that with store bought speakers and you'll blow them to bits!
"The sound is gorgeous, I've never heard this song sound so clear!"
Another comment I've heard on more than one occasion. I have designed the T5A as a near field speaker and to throw sound out at roughly a 45 degree pattern over a distance of fifty feet. This is where most of the listening is done at professional engagements, weddings and banquets, so why use a P.A. speaker designed for an auditorium at your gigs? The "Sweet Spot" of the T5A is in a range which is perfect for most banquet rooms, bars, churches, or mobile disc jockey dance areas. The reason for this, is that the sound pressure is evenly distributed from the cabinets, and past the listening area by a small distance. The components and materials used in the design and construction of these American Made Loudspeakers is world class, and costs me over $1000 in components and materials alone. The beauty of the sound comes from my special horn. It's a softly loaded deep-throat horn constructed of wood, (a method used many years ago, but which is too expensive for mass production today). The "bottom end" or bass and mid-bass are covered by a 15 inch Selenium pro-sound woofer, rated at 600 watts per channel. The cabinet is a bottom firing bass reflex port design, which can be set on the floor with it's rubber feet or mounted on a pole with the built in "top-hats". The secret to the bass, is that the cabinet is tuned to a frequency of roughly 46 Hz, which is the point between "rumble and punch". I designed the cabinet volume and port size to accommodate maximum use of this powerful driver, by creating proper "full volume" characteristic and therefore enabling the driver to pump out the cleanest sounding bass sound waves. The upper spectrum of frequencies is covered by a Morel 200 watt 1-1/4", semi horn silk tweeter and a Pyle 200 watt 5" cone midrange. Both of these drivers are balanced in the special wooden horn, so that they are slightly loaded, producing essentially an extremely large and capable compression driver. The difference is, that unlike most PA speakers which use a 1" or 2" compression driver, my design is like having a 6" compression driver coupled to an 18" horn! You have probably NEVER heard vocals or instruments sound so clear, airy or precise at high volume from anything other than the live source. The passive crossover is a customized piece which begins as an Eminence pro sound 3 way crossover, but which is modified specifically for the T5A.
"What Music Sounds Best on These Speakers?"
During my research and design testing phase of the T5A, 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 higher bass adjustments with more bouncy music was to primarily give it the full effect intended by the recording artists, without subwoofers. 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, it would be a toss-up because the T5A sounded great with all types. I suppose my heart went pitter-patter listening to my personal favorites like Creed, Diana Krall, Dean Martin, Norah Jones, Madonna, Nelly, The Boston Pops and Whitney Houston.
"What Kind of Connections Do These Speaker Have?"
What's your poison I say! My thing is clear flat sound... At super high volumes. Forever... This means you need a good foundation to work from. The T5A 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 T5A is a large speaker weighing approximately 80lbs, 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 stain them (any color), we can paint them, we can flock the outside any color with durable water-proof poly-fiber flock by Suedetex, or we can send them out to have them textured with virtually indestructible black bed liner material. Like 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. If you want custom paint, we'll send them to our preferred automotive PPG paint shop, and they'll make 'em shine any color you want! Need them to match your SUV? Your Corvette? No problem!
Todd Donald
Ready to Rock? Email us... We'll provide you with a quote and lead time.
T5A Starting at $1200 pair
T5A STD CONVENIENCE FEATURES
- 1-1/2" Pole Mount Top Hat
- Floor Standing Rubber Feet
- 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.
- Large Steel Carrying Handles
- Vibration Free Wide Mesh Grille
- Stackable Cabinet Corners
T5A STANDARD CABINET FEATURES
- 3/4" 13 Layer Baltic Birch Cabinets
- Locking Miter Cabinet Corners
- Glued & Clamped Box Construction
- Caulked Internal Seams
- Sanded & Sealed Exterior
- Deep Throat Wooden Horn
- Easy Removable Back Cover
- Audiophile Grade 14GA Wiring
- 3M Acoustic Baffling
T5A STD COMPONENT FEATURES
- Down-Firing 4" Bass Reflex Port
- 15" 600 Watt RMS Woofer
- 5" 200 Watt Midrange
- 1-1/4" 200 Watt Tweeter
- Custom 3-way Cross-Overs
T5A STD PERFORMANCE FEATURES
- 97 db per watt High Efficiency
- High Power Handling Capacity of 400+ Watt RMS @ 8 ohms, MAX SPL of 126-130 db @ 1 meter.
- Near Field Design (25 - 50 ft Focus), produces 102 - 112 db @ 400 watts in 25-50 ft Listening Range.
- 40Hz - 18,000Hz Response
- 8 hours / 800 Watt Tested Design
T5A ADD-ONS, OPTIONS & UPGRADES
- The T5A is expandable and scalable to meet your application or needs. We provide a variety of options to bring down purchase cost, properly match your sound system, increase ease of use, optimize the performance and market your DJ biz. Choose options now if you need them or later as your gigs grow!
T5A ADD-ON CONVENIENCE OPTIONS
- Aluminum Tripods (black or silver)
- Fly-Ware for hanging speakers
- Built-in Wheels Telescoping Handle
T5A CABINET EXTERIORS OPTIONS
- Black Textured "Truck Bed" Exterior
- 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
- Custom Designed Vinyl Wraps
- PPG Auto Paint (any color, even to match your vehicle).
- Custom Vinyl Logos on Tripods
- Chrome Grille & Hardware
- Paint-to-Match Grille & Hardware
T5A PERFORMANCE OPTIONS
- Heavy Duty 12 GA Speaker Cables
- Pre-Matched High Power Amplifiers
- Matching Powered Sub-Woofers
- Matching Passive Subwoofers
- "W.O.O."Upgrade Performance Options Available, incl. 600 Watt RMS or 800+ Watt Custom Cross-Over, increasing Power Handling and sound pressure level output to 135+ db @ 1 meter, resulting in 107-118 db Max SPL in 25-50 ft Listening Range.
T5A COST SAVINGS OPTIONS
- Available in Speaker KIT! Build speakers yourself and save money, plus have fun! Please inquire of details and cost savings.
Warning!
The Speakerboy T5A 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.
