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SL 18sAI Reviews?

Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2016 4:21 pm
by john_kaufman
Not a whole lot of review info out there on the 18sAI's that I can find...

I read a review on Sweetwater suggesting that when paired up with 328ai's they become overwhelmed as loudness increases - any truth to that? Also, I updated my 328's with the firmware that added the ~10db, is there a firmware update that does the same for the 18sAI's?

I love my 328's but am looking for a little emotional push before plunking down for a pair, any owner input is appreciated.

Re: SL 18sAI Reviews?

Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2016 6:09 am
by Karyn
I use 328s atop a pair of 18ses.

Whether I take the 18's to a gig or not depends on the gig.

Theatre rehearsals, Presentations, mostly vocal, maybe a bit of "background" music.. "quiet" discos, "simple" live band reinforcement (vocal only) --- 328 only.

Larger venues, or louder bands / discos --- add in the 18s with HPF enabled in 328s, very clear well balanced sound.

Rock bands and thumping bass discos --- turn off the HPF to add little bass boost around 90 Hz + or - a few, then use your GEQs to tailor the precise amount of bass you want...

Not sure what they mean by "overwhelmed as loudness increases", they match the 328s really well. If they're being overdriven before the 328s "max out" then you either need more (large venue) or your frequency balance is all wrong.

Re: SL 18sAI Reviews?

Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2016 9:47 pm
by john_kaufman
Fair enough; the "overwhelmed" question came from a review I read on Sweetwater. I'm coming from K12's and really like the 328's - the clarity is surreal. No one local to me has a set of 18sai's to test drive so I guess I'm just a little skittish on pulling the trigger. Thanks for the reply.

Re: SL 18sAI Reviews?

Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2016 1:48 am
by Karyn
In a small venue the 328s work very very well on their own. As you say, scarily clear and clean for the volume you get out of them. But as venue size increases there is no getting around the laws of physics and they simply can't put out enough low frequency energy on their own.
I definitely recommend the 18sAI to match them.

Re: SL 18sAI Reviews?

Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2016 7:13 am
by matthewgorman
I have used the 18's quite a few times, matched with either the 312's or 315's. Indoor shows they perform well. I have had a few somewhat larger (for me) outdoor shows where I needed more overall from the system, but it's pretty rare where they can't handle what I need them to.

Re: SL 18sAI Reviews?

Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2016 8:53 am
by john_kaufman
Fair reviews, thanks again. I went ahead and ordered the 18's from Sweetwater since they're doing one of their 3 year finance deals right now. I've got a few larger outdoor gigs booked for next year already, sounds like maybe a set of 315's would be a good add to the set to give me some delay stack options.