Competitor products.
Sorry, but the "Bring Other Sound Equipment" company has no competition except maybe cats in heat while being thrown into a chipper.
I was involved in a test with their products since I pissed off someone who was a BOSE rep. Let's put it this way, he doesn't rep for them anymore because he was able to see the light and hear what true audio should sound like. When you sit down in a treated room and then bring out high-end measuring equipment and really do a fair shoot-out, BOSE sat in a class all of its own: the trash heap. When you also have to have a BOSE engineer in the room to make their stuff work and he's having issues and is complaining about his OWN product, what does that say?
If you throw up 20 sets of speakers ranging from nearfields, mid-fields, mains, MI gear and high-end main-PA type gear and only the ONE brand has this particular issue, trust me, it is that ONE BRAND that has the issue. "Oh, see, you overlooked that....". Uh, no I didn't. Let's look at the waveform: hmm, it's coherent. Let's re-record that wave-form after passing through your speaker, and we'll see a massive diffence. Let's do the same through these Genelecs.... OK, different but not a far stretch.
I don't have issue with proprietary technologies. My KV2 Audio gear falls into that category because it uses all custom drivers(no off the shelf parts) and all custom amplification. It's a tight turn-key system. By comparison, using SerraAva's example of McCauley, they are mostly a passive speaker company, meaning you can use whatever brand of amplification you want to with it. I could go on and on about strengths and weaknesses with both ideologies.
But, when you have to INSERT a big of gear into an EQ or tape loop and then run your entire system through that bcause the frequency response curve of the speakers is so jacked-up that the company has to require another box to screw it up even deeper, that should be a word of warning right there.
1: EQ is not a UNIVERSAL standard. What works in 1 environment won't work in ALL environments. I see too many "smileys" for an EQ curve, and frankly, it sucks. I RTA'd and analyzed my in-laws system, only to have some jerk-off guest re-do the happy face, after which I promptly busted his face and threw his butt out the door. I set the room as flat as I could based on their 12-band consumer EQ and their room, and as a result, intelligibility was increased tremendously. Take that gear into another room or set up the room differently(they had a really stupid set up to begin with) and it has to be redone from the ground up.
People have preferences with monitors. I hate Yamaha NS-10's, they just kill me, but many people have those complaints. Despite that, these have been a go-to speaker for years because if it sounds good on there, it sounds good practically anywhere. I'll never own a pair, and I hate them with a passion, but they are a good tool. Genelecs, I find to me are too bright and exaggerated in the upper end. Odd thing is that ALL THX certified movies are mixed and mastered on Genelec speakers, and Genelec has flat out refused to hand over money to Lucas to get the THX certification. Fact: All nearfields, mids and mains at Lucas's various facilities(from a friend who visited 2 years ago) were all Genelecs. What does that tell you?
I prefer KRK for my near fields. I have the Rockit 5's Gen2's and the 10SubS sub(all active) and the KRK 6000's with a Rickenbacker PA300 amp. I find for long sessions, the smoothness of the KRK's let me work for a long time and provide me with translatable mixes.
I also have these EV Sentry 100A's, which sound OK at best.
I don't like most JBL mid-fields and mains, but I do like their nearfields. But, even so, the JBL's often require a tiny bit more tweaking than other brands.
Tannoys, love them, but don't own any. Woud like a set of big ones for mains.
Got to work with some Westlakes and Uries once. That was nice.
I was taken to an event with my father-in-law who said "can you make it sound like this", and I said "Despite all my skills, I don't think I could make things sound that bad". I have a reputation for superior sound, not "show up, throw it together and hope for the best".
As far as concert mains, I went into a casino with a very large Adamson system installed. Turned it on, hated it, the installer and operators did a bad job. I said "hell no" and ran my own KV2 Audio. I had the techs coming to me asking me questions as they said they hadn't had an event sound so good.
Let's take a more "inline" example:
ADJ and Ch***t both make some identical fixtures at least looking at the surface. What have I learned? Well, I have learned that while both are DECENT fixtures, I find the ADJ fixture lacks a few things like colors in the color wheel, or maybe gobos, and will often cost more than the competition(like, $20 or so). What have I found in application? I find that I regretted some of my competitor purchases. I'm flat out not as pleased as I should be. But here, we're talking about features and customer support, not construction.
Is Ch****t crap? No. But in my experiences, it's no longer an option for me to explore. Not because of my status here either. I had made that decision a while ago. I saw a band do one hell of a great show using Chauvet equipment, and the Chauvet gear did a great job, so no doubt it's good gear. My thoughts are, for myself "I liked what I saw, let me find the ADJ equivalent gear".
As long as ADJ is around, they will have competitors. I see a new company hitting the market with super inexpensive LED cans. There has to be a reason they are selling so cheap. For me, the last place I want to find that out is at a show. I don't have time for it. My 64 LED Pros have had a relatively easy life, and except for 1 that has blown 2 fuses(and so far none since), I've had no issues. Worth every penny paid.
I don't feel the need to edit posts, by either party. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I certainly got mine and I ain't afraid to speak up. I have it IN WRITING from BOSE that I can share my results in any way, shape or form, because I smoked them and they knew it.
Look at it this way: I am NOT paid for what I say. I have no financial motiviation to say what I say or do what I do. How many commercials can say that? Hmm, well, pretty much NONE.
So, let me say a few more things: I'm not trashing my Chauvet fixtures because they work. Going forward, because of ongoing customer satisfaction(as in I am the satisified customer), I will choose and use only ADJ products UNLESS I need an Elation product. ADJ and Elation aren't going to hand me over a paid endorsement contract, as I would refuse it anyways. I speak with my mouth, my fingers and my wallet. Best I would expect is "hey, here's a guy who uses are gear, check his stuff out".
