Hi guys,
since many KPA users rely on Yamaha´s DXR series as active FRFR monitors, many potential buyers ask themselves whether to get the DXR12 or the DXR10. I got myself a pair of DXR12s for an unbeatable price 2 years ago and I have been using them in a studio and rehearsal room. However, I always asked myself if the DXR10s might have been the better choice. I never really had the opportunity to compare the 2 monitors directly before. However I met a KPA user from my own town who recently bought the DXR10 so this was a perfect opportunity for a little comparison. So we met at my studio and had another guitar player and potential KPA and DXR users come along with an “unbalanced” opinion.
We placed both DXRs next to each other on speaker stands inside my studio room and hooked both monitors up to my digital mixer so that switching monitors was quickly possible without interruption. I prepared some audio clips inside my DAW including some clean, crunch and high gain tones as well a complete mix sample and played those to both monitors. To get an impression of the sonic differences between both DXRs, I tried to capture the sound with a neutral LDC mic at a distance of 45 cm angled at the point between the woofer and the tweeter of each DXR. Of course this kind of “measurement” is not suitable for judging the overall sound, but we all agreed that it nicely represents the sonic differences between both monitors. In fact all three participants came roughly to the same conclusions so i would say it is a little more representative than just my own personal opinion.
So what were our findings and which one did we like better? This is really tougher than I thought. First, both systems sound very good and you probably won´t go wrong with either of them.
The DXR12 sounds fuller, more “open”, more “HIFI” sounding and a bit closer to my near field monitors. For guitar signals it has a tendency that the low end is a little bit over pronounced. This might pose a problem in a rehearsal or live situation. However the integrated high pass filter works very effective when set to “100 Hz”. We preferred the DXR12 on the full range mix, acoustic, and clean tones as well as the high gain metal and solo tones.
The DXR10 sounds more mid focused. It is less “HIFI” sounding but also less over pronounced in the low end. It will probably cut the mix a little better in band situations with more difficult sonic structures. However the DXR10 also has a tendency to sound a bit more “boxy” with more nasal mids. While it made the crunch and mid gain tones sound more interesting this might be a problem when using tones with very strong or characterful mids. Another advantage is that the DXR10 has less weight and smaller dimensions.
Using 2 Monitors
Many players consider getting two monitors for a stereo setup. I have been using my 2 DXR12s in the way that I place one of them in a traditional floor monitor position and the other on a speaker stand a little sideways from me, aiming at the rest of the band. This helps the other band members to hear you little bit better than by just using the angled floor position. While i really like my setup I always thought that there might still be room for improvement. As a result of our comparison “DXR10 vs. DXR12”, we all came to the conclusion that the answer might just be “DXR10 + DXR12!!!”. The combination of both monitors sounded extremely good. I am not big fan of superlatives but I would say that this has been the best guitar sound I have ever heard. Both monitors complement each other perfectly. Maybe this still needs more investigation with direct comparisons to 2 x DXR12 and 2 x DXR10 but I really think I am going to trade one of my DRX12s for DXR10 and use this combination.
Conclusion:
If getting only one monitor, I would go for the DXR12 for heavier music, full range music and clean/acoustic tones. For mid gain stuff and if size and weight matter much, go for the DXR10. If getting 2 monitors, seriously consider a mixed pair.