About two and half years ago, in my quest to find replacements for the ubiqitious Behringer Truth series (I use 22 B2031A and 2 B3031A in a 32 channel configuration) I undertook an evaluation of the Deftech SM65s and the Golden Ear Aon 3s for my VTPO. This comparison also involved mainly the Behringer A500 and Lexicon DD-8 power amps.
Which was the better of the two loudspeakers depended on which power amp I used. I found that with both speakers the tremulants could be an issue which I put down to problems with the passive radiators used in both speakers.
From my notes at the time:
"While the Golden Ear Aon3 maybe the superior solution with the Behringer A500 amp, the superior solution with the Lexicon DD-8 is the DefTech SM65.
Using only two channels of the Lexicon DD-8, the Lexicon/DefTech SM65 combo is better overall than the Behringer/Golden Ear combo. The Lexicon with the Aon3 is too bright. Also the A500/Aeon 3 combo is brighter than the Lexicon/Deftech combo.
The Lexicon also likes the DefTech ProMonitor 200s better than it does the Walker Technical d'Apolitto 'choir' speakers. Impedance load sensitive?"
And..............
"Once the organ was recalibrated so that all channels were being driven as they should, overall, this caused the Lexicon to have to work harder. Hard being the operative word. The sound over its 8 channels became hard and glary. The Lexicon also lost its treble extension. So, not only did the sound become harder but duller. Awful.
And while the Lexicon can do the tremulants more authentically than any of the other amps and actives here (possibly due to the Lexicon's differential output), this can't come at the cost of an overall foul sound when driven hard.
So, I'm back to the best compromise amp, the Behringer A500, and so, the best speaker for that amp, out of the two here, is by a long margin, the Aon3. "
The loudspeaker is not the only element. The amplifier to be used is equally important. I considered my 'shootout' to be inconclusive relative to the overall cost and I did not replace the Behringers. But, that continues to be my intent. However, since the time of the comparison I've passified one pair of B2031As (their amp packs failed after 13 years use) with very high quality passive crossover components and drive that pair with an A500 amp. The outcome is noticeably superior to the std B2031A. I might 'passify' the remaining Behringer active Truths. But! I would prefer to use different multi channel amplifiers rather than 16 A500s. So, I continue to look!
My exercise also pointed out the advantages of active speakers. At the very least the amps and drivers are matched. Whether or not the outcome pleases the listener or suffers other problems.
Cheers,
Ian