L3 or L2?

[taylorbeats]

So, I'm toying with a few ideas on speakers etc.  The first goal would be a fairly nice sized PA, not too big since I think the bigger gigs are down the road.  Probably a max of 100-200 people, club, bar gigs, smaller weddings.  Bigger venues we may rent or go with in house sound.  Would Two L2's and one L3 sub be sufficient enough for 100-200 people?  I have an L2T already and pretty impressed, used it for stage monitor, hd500x+l2T, and as a keyboard-vocals amp, I've found no flaws aside from sending the first one back due to a buzzing/resonant fan issue.  Would the 2 l2's with a sub do the job?

[litesnsirens]

I think that set up should be fine.  Add a second L3s sub down the road and you'll be able to do bigger venues.  The difference between the L2t and the L3t is the second 10" speaker, which in the L3t, handles low end frequencies.  When you add the L3s sub, the crossover kicks in meaning that the second 10" (low frequency) speaker isn't doing a heck of a lot.  I have heard that it will add about 3 db in a certain frequency but is that worth the extra size weight and cost? 

[SiWatts69]

I've not yet run the L2's as tops with my subs.

 

BUT for versatility, I'd suggest going the L3T/M route for FOH anyway, with or without a sub. Specifically for the "without" scenario.

 

We all do a variety of gigs, small rooms, big rooms, massive rooms and the key to the stagesource rig is it's versatility. If, for example, you run out a big (ish) room, you run out 2x L2 tops and 1 or 2 L3s subs; chances are it's going to sound awesome. BUT for rooms where the subs are overkill, you have no (or very little) bottom end with the L2's. Fine in a small 50-75 person room where you don't need to augment your drums or bass through FOH, but those in-between (75-125 person) rooms often benefit from the extra punch the L3M/T's add to the mix. You've also got an additional 600W of power per L3M/T AND an extra 3-4db of headroom. This doesn't really matter when the subs are being run because, as litesnsirens has said, the crossover typically runs at 120Hz so the LF driver in the L3M/T is only doing a little, but without the subs, they take care of that lower end.

 

So, my guidance would be to consider how often you'd run without sub(s). 100 person venues and the subs can be overpowering, 200 people and you need one.

 

I run:

2x L3M as FOH tops

1 or 2x L3S subs if required

Up to 4x L2M/T as monitors

 

I did a (sub-less) PA job with another band a few weeks ago and took just the L2's, 2 as FOH and 2 as monitors and if I'm honest it sounded OK but it wasn't awesome. Did the same band a week later, same setup but took the L3M's for FOH and it was a whole different ball game.

[litesnsirens]

Good points, SiWatts69.  I've never considered not taking the subs for any gig of any size.  But that's more due to my particular setup.  My band runs no onstage amps and our drummer uses electronic drums (Roland TD-12), so even for the smaller gigs, the bass and drums sound better with the subs.   What I would consider for a particularly small gig is just running one side, so 1 L3t and one L3s.  This is the setup we use to rehearse in my basement.  The sound is still awesome even at lower volumes.  Again, the beauty of this system.  Using the L6 Link you can just plug in one L3t and one L3s and the system just configures itself.

 

Having said that if our drummer was using an acoustic kit and bass player playing through an amp, so it was just vocals and maybe guitar through the system, I could see going without subs for smaller gigs.  Easier load in and out for sure.