The name Turbosound is a familiar one among touring companies, usually first associated with their stadium-class Flashlight speaker line. Turbosound’s business isn’t just high-end, long-throw speakers, however; its TCS contractor series speakers make Turbosound’s engineering available to smaller venues at a lower price point.
The large TCS family includes everything from compact five-inch, two-way speakers to large 18-inch subwoofers. In between are 12-inch, two-way trapezoidal cabinets for single or array rigging; a compact selfpowered subwoofer; and even 12-inch and 15-inch wedge-style monitors. Much of the TCS line is a direct hit for the sound requirements of mid- to large-sized churches.
We recently tested out the TCS-40 (list price $1,100 U.S.), one of three compact TCS speakers designed for under-balcony, front fill, and delay speaker applications. Such speakers are usually strategically placed to restore clarity and detail in areas missed by the main sound system. A low visual profile, high-quality sound in the critical mid-range band, and good power handling are prerequisites for speakers in this role.
Go Wide
At 32 inches wide by just under 12 inches tall, the TCS-40 has the squatty, short profile of a fill speaker. The speaker’s top angles down between front grill and back panel, making for a 15-degree tilt when flushmounted against the ceiling. Thanks to internal steel rigging points, the 42-pound TCS-40 has several mounting options. The cabinet may be hung by cables, held by a wall or ceiling bracket, flush-mounted (as mentioned above) or suspended beneath an array of TCS 12-inch, two-way cabinets. In the latter role, the TCS-40 provides “front fill” for the front row seats that are missed by the main speakers.
Behind its perforated metal grille sits a one-inch horn flanked by two eightinch drivers. Horizontal dispersion of the cabinet is a wide 100 degrees, while vertical dispersion is a much tighter 40 degrees. The TCS-40’s horn does not rotate to accommodate vertical mounting, so the cabinet’s dispersion becomes a not-so-useful 100 degrees vertical by 40 horizontal when wall-mounted.
The TCS-40 is a passive speaker with a built-in crossover at 3 kHz. The speaker’s crossover is asymmetrical, filtering the horn at a faster rate (18 dB/octave) than the woofers (12 dB/octave). Power handling goes up with this scheme, and the TCS-40 is rated at a generous 240 watts RMS, 480 watts program. With its very respectable sensitivity of 96 dB (one watt/one meter), this little cabinet will generate a peak sound pressure level (SPL) of 128 dB at full output power. That’s plenty of acoustic output for most venues — especially churches.
Out back, the TCS-40 features a Neutrik SpeakOn jack and bare-wire terminal strip with loop-in/loop-out terminals. These allow for easy connection of two or more TCS-40 speakers to the same amplifier channel.
Plug It In
Many factors influence how a speaker sounds, including driver selection, crossover design and construction of the cabinet. In the case of the TCS-40, all these combine to create a speaker with a crisp, detailed sound. The speaker could be described as having a “forward” mid-range response, with a tendency to emphasize vocals and midrange instruments.
The TCS-40 uses a bass-reflex (ported) enclosure, delivering bass reproduction down to about 75 Hz (-4 dB). The speaker clearly isn’t doing much in the lowest octaves, but it puts out just enough bass energy to keep from sounding thin. Bass guitar, synthesizers and kick drum will lose some fullness through the TCS-40, but it does a fine job reproducing most other instruments (guitars, for example).
At the other extreme, the TCS-40 puts in a good showing up to about 16 kHz, where most horn drivers roll off. Though it doesn’t quite hit the stated 20 kHz treble response, the speaker’s top end is far from lacking. In fact, the TCS-40’s strong output in the presence range (4 kHz – 10 kHz or so) gives the speaker a crisp, detailed sound. This clarity can sometime accentuate sibilance, and tends to drive the hi-hat and cymbals to the top of the mix.
In the low-mid and mid-range bands (from 200 Hz up to about 1 kHz), the TCS-40 has some audible humps and valleys in its frequency response. Smoothing out the speaker’s response with a parametric or 31-band EQ really improves its sound, though the TCS-40 will serve its purpose without EQ.
Which brings us back to the whole point: its purpose. The TCS-40 is not designed to lift overall SPL appreciably, add a ton of deep bass or deliver a ruler-flat response. This TCS-40’s main purpose is to be an inconspicuous problem-solver, delivering clarity and detail to areas that the main speakers can’t reach.
With its compact size, crisp sound and good power handling, the TCS-40 succeeds admirably in its intended application. The speaker is voiced for a strong midrange response, which is right where it can do the most good. Churches struggling to deliver consistent sound to every seat may need to look beyond their main speakers for a solution. Instead, they may want to think about how a small speaker—like the Turbosound TCS-40—could make a big difference.
Loren Alldrin is a regular contributor to Church Production Magazine.
