Yamaha DBR10 700-Watt Powered Speaker

Product Information

If you are a solo acoustic or duo act, don't even hesitate. These speakers sound every bit as good as the DXR and K series in that environment and for substantially less money. In a band situation remember that these are 10" speakers, so for smaller bands and smaller venues it will handle it quite nicely, but don't expect these things to cover a huge club... they were not designed for that. I had been planning to get the DXR10s but took a chance on the DBRs -- which are 1/3 cheaper. Although I think the DXRs would be a bit more versatile and capable of filling a larger room with sound, for my purposes I'm glad I saved the money. (I could've saved a little more by skipping the sub and going with a pair of DXR15s, but then I would've lost grab-and-go versatility.) As mains, the church I was using them at had only one complaint—they looked too small. I had to grill them to get them to admit they sounded full and big and they finally admitted it. This was in a 200 seat ballroom and they had plenty of headroom for the typical guitar/keyboard duo. Keys sounded huge through them too. I was running four—two on the floor in stereo and two as mains with an Allen & Heath QU-SB digital board and an iPad.

Compared these with DXR8's, DXR10's, K8's, and K10's in both playing music through them and using them live with both band situations and solo acoustic environments. They are every bit the speaker that I compared them too. Are there slight nuances that are different? Of course... every speaker has its own characteristic. That being said the new DBR series speakers will provide you the same sonic experience as DXR series Yamaha's and the K series QSC's with a little less power and plastic rather than metal exteriors. (in other words, they will scratch easier) Yamaha use their own custom bass driver, comprising a two–inch voice coil and a 10–inch cone. This sits beneath a one–inch, horn–loaded compression driver, and both the tweeter and the woofer are protected by a perforated steel grille. A DSP is used to handle the crossover (an FIR filter) and speaker management functions, and the crossover frequency is 2.1kHz.

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First off I've been running my Line6 HD500X through an old school Pioneer Head Unit that Pushes Twin Akia Speakers which has a total power of 500W. The Yamaha Speakers take the sound and brings clarity with the FRFR, I set the gain to 0db on the speaker and OH the glorious stereo guitar effect sounds I've been missing when I pair two of the DBR10's together. The DBR10's have the option to be pole mounted(Which I would suggest doing) or as floor monitors. You don’t want to be running your speaker at full capacity. Having some extra headroom allows you to not place too much strain on the speaker. This will help prevent you from blowing your speakers.

I got these speakers for small acoustic live gigs. I use them with a ZED 10FX mixer. We used this mixer and these speakers for a trio (guitar, autoharp, violin) to play recently at an outdoor wedding with 170 guests and the sound was fantastic. I had the DBR10s on stands with levels set to 3 of 10 (markings above unity gain) and D-Contour set to OFF. I tried them with D-Contour set to FOH/MAIN (bass boost to compensate for spkrs being on stands) and again with it set to OFF – everyone listening out there in pre-wedding tests preferred OFF due to a flatter sound for the Martin HD28 guitar (was a bit too much bass energy otherwise), and I preferred it to minimize signal overload (green SIGNAL light on the DBR10) which occurred playing the bass notes on my guitar. Still had plenty of bass with it OFF. My only real complaint was I'd like to see the handle modified so that it's not just a slot but something you can grip like a handle. If you have strong fingers this isn't a problem but I'm older (64) and it's not as easy for me. Yeah, that's a wussie complaint but heh, fingers aren't as strong as they used to be.I"d been playing acoustic guitar through a small acoustic combo amp, mostly doing solo "special music gigs." I"m generally not playing longer gigs, just a few songs for special events. I"d been happy for the most part with my small amp. Considering everything, it"s quite capable, especially when playing solo to a captive audience. I"ve had more than one occasion however when I turned down requests to play in a larger church or with a small ensemble. In those situations, the amp is less than adequate. I could be heard throughout the church when playing for a quiet crowd, but it just wouldn"t fill the room sufficiently. I should also make clear that I am not a fan of "DI-ing out." I"ve played in churches in particular for years. I"ve been burned on too many occasions to be comfortable with that. The horn coverage angle is specified as 90 degrees horizontal by 60 degrees vertical. The main body of the cabinet is moulded and includes a sensibly placed top handle, as well as the expected 35mm pole mount in the base. Yamaha tell us that the DBR series of speakers, of which the DBR10 is the smallest, benefits from the transducer, amplifier and DSP technologies developed for Yamaha’s more upmarket DSR and DXR ranges. If you need something larger than this one, then there are 12–inch and 15–inch models in the range. The DBR10 has a frequency response of 55Hz to 20kHz.

INPUT1: Combo x1, INPUT2: Combo x 1 + RCA pin x 2 (Unbalanced), OUTPUT: XLR3-32 x 1 (CH1 Parallel Through or CH1+CH2 Mix) If you need to plug a mic directly into the speaker, it needs to be of the type that doesn’t require phantom power, and the sensitivity may also be a little lower than you’d be used to with a mixer, but it will get you by for announcements or musical applications where effects are not required. It’s always better to have this facility than not as it could get you out of trouble if somebody pours beer into your mixing desk halfway through a gig!Volume in decibels decreases by 6 decibels for every doubling of distance. The further away your audience is from the speaker the more volume you’ll need.