In the past ten years, amplified sound has become much simpler to use and has gained a significant upgrade in quality. The basis for this advancement in sound technology has been the introduction of self-powered speakers — or rather speakers that have amplifiers build directly into them. For several reasons this makes for a much better audio experience. First of all it becomes much easier when you just have to patch your audio output from your listening device or mixer directly into a speaker, and not to fuss with amp cables and speaker wires. Secondly, when a speaker and amplifier are built specifically for each other, then you have a much more efficient system, plus the power requirements for the speaker driver are matched perfectly to the amplifier output. All in all we get much cleaner and louder sound per watt than with traditional amp-speaker situations.
Up until recently, however, this set up has been quite costly, generally leading into the thousands if you wanted a good PA rig. Behringer recently added a pro-audio soundstage to their line up, and with it was born the Eurolive line of speakers. The B315D is a 550-watt 2-way speaker, with a 15” woofer and 1.75” titanium diaphragm compression driver. Simply put, this is one seriously loud speaker. The class-D amplification section hosts several inputs, including ¼” and XLR, as well as a 2-band EQ for final touches on live mixes. The speaker features a unique trapezoidal enclosure, which makes for easy floor monitoring or speaker stand configurations, however at somewhere near 60 lbs., this speaker is a bit much to lift easily onto a stand. Under low volumes this speaker doesn’t seem to deliver much response, but with a 15” woofer why would your play this thing quite to begin with?
Aided by some pumping bass tracks, and a good tweak of the volume knob, this monster can deliver all you need for a solid full-moon beach party, or the backyard event of the summer. If you have wanted to bring your sound to the next amplification level, but have felt intimidated by the complexity of live sound, then this solid investment is the way to go.