Hi-fi vs Pro-audio classification

T

twoengine

Active Member
The hi-fi vs pro-audio gear seems to be in two completely different classifications. The speakers and amplification gear are different. I'm not sure exactly how it's different though. I posted a while back about my first experience with an electronic crossover. It's an Behringer CX-2310. One poster replied by stating that it's designed for pro-audio and should only be used as such.

Therefore, does pro-audio gear have different specs or something that doesn't lend themselves well to anything audio other than pro-audio?

So, I'm curious, what is it about pro-audio that doesn't make it a good match with so called regular hi-fi equipment? In other words, why shouldn't you mix pro-audio gear with hi-fi gear?

Thanks in advance.
 
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I'm not sure exactly what is considered "Pro Audio". Are we talking about large scale sound reinforcement with PA-type speakers, high-wattage amps, wide dispersion loud speakers, or studio recording, movie and album editing...? Both are performed by professionals, but use vastly different tools to get the job done. Home audio is more intimate and has a more controllable environment.
 
This is another case where generalizations end up being extremely unhelpful. There is pro gear out there that does have compromises as a result of it's intended application, but there is also pro gear out there that is just as good for any "hi-fi" application as any gear that is sold for that purpose.

The bottom line is that you really need to judge each piece of gear based on it's own merits. You can't judge gear based on generalizations that may or may not actually apply to that piece of gear.
 
A lot of great, high-end headphones are marketed as pro-audio gear and can in fact serve the same purpose. A mixing engineer and an enthusiast both want accurate playback right? The same goes for speakers/monitors.
 
You have to be careful not to put too much weight on this classification. A lot of it is either marketing or good old-fashioned snobbery. Most people who say pro gear has no place in the home haven’t actually listened to it in a home setup. A lot of times, something marketed as pro will sound just as good as the audiophile gear, it’ll just look more aggressive (some would say uglier), be built tougher, weigh less, and have a much smaller profit mark up.

Some practical items that I can think of that come up with “pro” amps like the Crown XLS series: fans and input voltage. All have built in fans. This is great because it keeps them cool even when they’re being pushed hard for hours at a time. Not a problem because that’s what they’re designed to do. However, audiophiles think “fan” and run for the hills. They don’t want to hear a fan whirring along, messing up the sound of the music. But those that have used these know that you can’t hear the fan so it’s not an issue. Now onto input voltage. This is usually 1.4 volts in the pro world. So the the original line of Crown XLS amps (1000, 1500, 2000, and 2500 models) ran on 1.4 volts into the XLR inputs. So if you were running a home balanced setup with XLRs you were getting full rated power out of the amp. But everyone else who ran RCAs (more common in the home audio world) were running at .775 volts and therefore the amp wouldn’t make full power. Depending on your setup, you might not get enough volume out of the amp, even though it was rated for huge power. I personally never had a problem with it though. I always got plenty of power for my needs, even using the RCAs.

Eventually Crown caught on and found out that audiophiles were buying their pro amps and using them at home, so they made some design changes to their new line. First they made the face look more subdued and added an option to turn off the running lights, making it more appealing to the home market. In addition, they offered an input sensitivity option. Now you can change it to “high” sensitivity to get full power out of the RCA inputs. It still has the fan, but again, it’s inaudible with music playing, so no big deal.

So this is a good example of pro gear potentially having practical issues, but mostly being perfectly acceptable for anyone that cares more about sound than reputation.
 
All the pro Crown stuff I have owned was only good for low frequency drivers because they come off hard on top end drivers in all cases. When you have a room full of people who cares
 
Input (sensitivity) voltage with pro amps is virtually always a non-issue. It's simply a misunderstanding, where information about one thing has been misapplied to something else.
 
Back in the days of tubes, pro amps usually were rack mountable. Out puts were designed to be balanced to drive 600 ohm loads and 25 volt 70.7 and possibly 120 or 210 volt distribution lines. When SS came along it was very important that professional amps be able to run 24 hours a day 365 days a year as had the tube stuff. Some where in the 70's the high fi builders decided to get away from this as a necessary parameter. Also hifi amps went to high current designs as speaker manufacturers of home equipment didn't seem to keep impedance paramters under control. While professionals understood they had to deliver great sound efficently while maintaining control of speakers parameters to insure long term operation. Hifi manufacturers chose other parameters as being more important and as transformers were a no no at the time the needs to drive distributed lines was not needed. Balanced inputs and out puts were deleted also for economic reasons. Only when designers realized balanced configurations would allow increased signal to noise and lower distortion did the performance gains justify the return to balanced inputs and designs to home systems. Someone out there, the Japanese, I suspect , decided rack mounting would be great for complex home systems, so professional mounting moved into the home in mass. As for sound I have to agree most pro amps don't do well with HF's, but them thats not exclusively a Pro problem Lets face it when used in large venues HF's are absorbed greatly over longer listing distances by Air which can help mask pro amps compromises. Weight and efficiency is very important in portable sound systems. Get the most out with the least demand on the AC mains means lower operational costs. Not having to transport amps that weigh a lot and take up space is important, too. Where in homes we can better tolerate larger heavier pieces less efficient designs. So Pro amps went one direction, with low weight, small size with high efficiency, where home amps tend to be less efficient, larger, heavier, used for intermittent use for a very narrow load requirements requiring high current driving less efficient speakers. Lets face it if all our speakers were over 104 db efficient with 1 watt, why would we ever need more than those famous 10 watts Paul Klipsch use to speak of? A few companies still try to tp bridge the gap between home and Pro. Yamaha and Bryston come to mind. But as Yamaha designs two completely different lines to cover the two Bryston seems to feyness its way to bridge the two demands. Mac use to cross the divide with their designs but when the 7000 series came along, the emphasis was centered more to the home. It was a sad day when the 2600 was discontinued.
 
The specs between pro & home can be different and mixing the two can cause some compatibility issues.

I'm using a consumer preamp, "pro" active crossover (EV-DX38) and "pro" crown amps (K2's)

I've got most of the bugs ironed out but I still have some issues going from RCA outputs to XLR inputs and being able to drive my active hard enough.

The amps however, are convection cooled so I don't suffer any fan noise.
 
This hobby started with people bringing pro gear home. There are people who prefer Western Electric motion picture theater amplifiers and speakers over any home gear at any cost.
 
I know with the amps, THD is usually a bit higher tax home gear at 0.5%. Noticeable by ear, probably not.

I will say this, pro stuff is cheap wattage.
 
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twoengine said:
So, I'm curious, what is it about pro-audio that doesn't make it a good match with so called regular hi-fi equipment?
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Different priorities. Pro gear must be efficient, powerful, able to drive large bins of speakers (implying very low impedance) and increasingly, able to perform onboard crossover and remote control duties.

High fidelity amps, on the other hand are designed to provide the highest audio quality.

The very best high fidelity amplifiers are far more transparent than pro amps designed for commercial duty. Would you rather drive a high powered pickup or a Ferrari?
 
I spin two turntables (Techics SP-15 and SP-25) that are considered pro broadcast gear, yet they have very good specs and are built like tanks.

If I was to generalize, I'd say some pro gear doesn't have the nuance and subtlety of good home audio gear. Speakers designed to reach the back row of an auditorium seldom do well articulating the sound a bow makes when drawn across strings..
 
DougMac said:
If I was to generalize, I'd say some pro gear doesn't have the nuance and subtlety of good home audio gear. Speakers designed to reach the back row of an auditorium seldom do well articulating the sound a bow makes when drawn across strings..
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I could agree with that. My stack of JBL SR4732As and SR4719Xs isn't as refined as my Thiels. On the other hand my QSC amps are not embarassed by either of my "higher end" amps.
 
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