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Behringer 3031A vs Yamaha HS8 vs ? Speakers

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BarryG

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Behringer 3031A vs Yamaha HS8 vs ? Speakers

PostTue Aug 25, 2015 3:39 pm

I'm trying to decide between these two speakers, or looking for other suggestions to replace ailing Event bas v2s, for two purposes: first, as one of the speaker pairs for my Hauptwerk setup; second, as speakers for my Yamaha S90ES keyboard/synth used principally as my piano.

I know there are a lot of Behringer owners on the forum, and the 2031As are also a possibility since I don't really know how much "better" the higher priced model might be. Hoping someone might have experience with both the 3031A/2031As AND the HS8s or else can help me understand the differences from their specs.

My setup is in a living room so don't need tremendous amount of output power. Mainly want something that handles piano range cleanly, and the swell ranks for organs.

Will appreciate your wisdom!

Barry Gerken
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magnaton

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Re: Behringer 3031A vs Yamaha HS8 vs ? Speakers

PostWed Aug 26, 2015 8:47 am

I know there are a lot of Behringer owners on the forum, and the 2031As are also a possibility since I don't really know how much "better" the higher priced model might be.


I just added a pair of Behringer 2031a monitors to my HW rig. The clarity is amazing compared to my HiFi full range speakers. I'm still using both sets however. I think the 2031a is favored here as they are a good fit of sounding better than cheaper brands or even competing brands at their price point. I notice they can handle a sustained organ tone without issue and offer a powerful bi-amped design. With more expensive monitors you start to get into diminishing returns with regards to HW.

One thing I'm impressed about is this design has been around for awhile as Behringer doesn't change it or the specs every 18 months like other brands to help generate a marketing buzz (i.e. M-Audio). So if you are like me and planning to slowly add additional pairs to build a multi-channel HW setup, I'd feel comfortable knowing I can order these identical models at a later date. Oh yea, I picked up my pair on Craigslist in mint condition at a great deal.

Not to muddy the waters, another HW friend turned me on to the Monprice website. They have a pair of 8" studio monitors with close specs to the Behringer 2031a, just not as powerful. They ran a one day sale on these in June and he picked up a pair for just under $200 (plus free shipping)! He is very pleased with the way they sound. They offer a matching powered sub-woofer as well.

http://www.monoprice.com/Category?c_id=115&cp_id=11504


Danny B.
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BarryG

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Re: Behringer 3031A vs Yamaha HS8 vs ? Speakers

PostThu Aug 27, 2015 8:29 am

Thanks, Danny. Another endorsement for Behringer. Hadn't thought about the design longevity issue, but not having spare parts available for my "old" speakers is the reason I'm looking for new ones. I'm still using some 1970's era speakers that have great sound (though I did have to replace the foam surrounds).

Barry
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magnaton

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Re: Behringer 3031A vs Yamaha HS8 vs ? Speakers

PostThu Aug 27, 2015 12:35 pm

Yes me as well. My HiFi speakers are from the 1980s, Cervwin-Vega model D7 with frequency range of 25Hz to 20Khz. I bought these new and for their age I had too replaced the foam surrounds on the 12" woofers. I did that about 9 years ago. After doing so they didn't seem to sound as warm. Must have needed a break in period? They sound fine now.

Speaking of Cervin-Vega, I'll put in a shameless plug for them. In addition to the D7s a fellow Hauptwerkian (who I don't think contributes to this forum) uses the CV models AT-15 and AT-12. The number denotes the size of the woofer. Both designs (AT and D series models) incorporate 2 distributed mid-range speakers. My friend swears by them as making excellent organ speakers. He has a midi-fied 3 manual Allen and is going with the traditional design of a pair for the Great, pair for the Swell, pair for the Choir. Another advantage to these speakers is that they can be had via Ebay or Craiglists fairly cheap.

BTW, I have my Behringers running through a small 4 channel Mackie mixer so I can easily dial in the volume to match/blend with the CVs. Since the Behringers are a new addition, having the mixer allows me to quickly mute them to check the balance. In turn I can mute the CVs via a remote. Of course when I upgrade to the mutli-channel HW version this will change.

Danny B.
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jkinkennon

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Re: Behringer 3031A vs Yamaha HS8 vs ? Speakers

PostSun Sep 13, 2015 11:14 am

While I cannot compare the 3031a to the 2031a or to the HS8's I am pleased with my six new Behringer 3031a's. The Yamaha speakers were tempting but pricey. The 3031a's were $50 higher than the similar 2031a's which I thought was reasonable to get the kevlar woofer cones and ribbon tweeters.

I'm still experimenting with placement and with which routing algorithm to employ. These will make three front stereo pairs and I've needed to use the C/C# routing to avoid mishandling of samples with left and right components. Initial indications are that these separate ranks always end up with both the left and right components on the left albeit on different speakers.

For now I'm outputting twelve channels from HW plus a surround pair and a sub pair. I recombine adjacent front channels using Reaper so that C and C# go to the first pair, D and D# go to the second, E and F to the third with a repeated sequence for the rest of the octave. This separates all major and minor thirds with half the number of speakers.

I'm pleased with the sound so far. It's certainly clean, uncolored sound with better lows than I expected based on the specifications. It does seem like the highs are well dispersed without a critical sweet spot but I have no way of making a direct comparison with the 2031a conventional tweeters.

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