The marketing materials for Yamaha's DSR series loudspeakers make it abundantly clear that the speakers are very loud. The exact language they use is "output levels pushed to the highest sound pressure levels possible." To be sure, these materials go on to tout excellent fidelity, light weight, and affordable pricing, among other things, but Yamaha really wants you to know that these speakers are loud (up to 138 dB from their full range speakers, and 130 dB from their subwoofer). In my recollection, over the past 15-20 years, extreme high SPL has not been a priority-it seems that most manufacturers have focused on providing excellent reproduction fidelity, lighter weight, more portability, ease of use, and recently, more bells and whistles in terms of mixing and equalization. I don't recall seeing any manufacturers put this much focus on high SPL in ... in ... well, forever. And in my experience, the speakers that have been touted as providing high SPLs have usually done so at least somewhat at the expense of fidelity or by using gimmicks, and always with the speaker straining at the very edge of its physical capacities to live up to the published numbers. I guess you could say I have always been at least a little skeptical when I'm told that the speakers are loud.
Packing a punch
The DSR series includes the 112, with a 12-inch LF (low-frequency) driver, the 115 with a 15-inch LF driver, and the 215, with two 15-inch LF drivers. The 118W is an 18-inch subwoofer intended for use with any of the above. All three of the full-range speakers feature a two-inch titanium diaphragm compression driver. The sub has an 800W amp, and the full-range speakers have 850W and 450W amps to drive the LF and HF drivers, respectively.
I was shipped a pair of 115s and a pair of 118Ws. I was concerned about the size and portability of these speakers based on my initial assessment of the shipping cartons, which were pretty darn large. The substantial polystyrene packing enclosures accounted for a big chunk of that space, and I was relieved to discover that the speakers contained within were of the size I expected. The subs were hefty and required two people to unbox. After pulling out the subs, I expected more mass from the 115s, but they were pleasantly lighter than I anticipated. Both types of speaker felt substantial and sturdy to me. Yamaha lists the enclosures as built from "LineX-coated wood". The fact that the subs are heavier does not bother me-getting the full-range speaker up to pole-mount it for "speaker on a stick" usage is what's important here, and a strong person can do it alone, but I'd still probably recommend having two people for that hoisting job. And indeed, this series features 35mm pole sockets (with the exception of the 215-that would not be safe).
The speakers' grilles are formed of 16-gauge matte black powder-coated perforated steel, and wrap nicely around the front face of the speaker. I like a really substantial grille to protect my drivers. The edges of the cabinet are nicely rounded, and there are two M10 rigging points on the top front of the full-range enclosures, if the speakers won't be going anywhere or if stacking or speaker-on-a-stick won't work for you. There's an additional application that I really like-the 112 is designed to work as a floor wedge monitor as well, with its 50-degree rear panel angle. The other convention that I like about the speakers' enclosures is the "deep pocket" recessed handles. They're located at the proper center of gravity, and the deep pocket made it easy for me to get my hands in there to pick up the speaker. Another unique feature that impressed me was the locking IEC power sockets. Locking plugs ship with the speakers, but if they're misplaced, regular IECs can be used to keep you in business for the moment.
The speakers' rear panels are simple and straightforward-in the case of the full-range boxes, there are XLR and ¼-inch TRS inputs and an XLR loop-through output, input gain level knob, and pushbutton switches to engage the speaker's HPF (high-pass filter) and "D-Contour" (dynamic contour) circuitry, toggle between line and mic input levels, and turn the speaker's front LED on and off. Four LEDs indicate power, protection, limiting, and peaking, respectively. The 118W subwoofers are very similar, only with two XLR inputs and outputs (so it can be used in a 2.1 satellite configuration)-the indicator LEDs are identical to those on the full-range speakers, and there are pushbuttons for toggling polarity and the front LED, along with an input gain knob. The internal amps are cooled passively with heat sink fins on the rear panel of the speaker. The D-Contour circuitry is a multi-band dynamics processor that accounts for loudness contours in real time, contingent upon the signal. I'll use multi-band compression in mastering or even mixing to accomplish greater loudness, and this circuit does the same thing. I did plenty of listening both with and without, and discovered it to be very effective. The HPF button engages a 120 Hz, 24 dB/octave filter that lets a subwoofer handle all the heavy lifting below 120 Hz, but allows one to leverage the LF driver in the full-range speaker to fill in lows and low mids too. The crossover point between the full-range LF and HF drivers is 1.7 kHz.
Enviable fidelity
Before I address the much-vaunted loudness of these speakers, let me speak first to the fidelity. It is good-very good. Yamaha does not skimp on drivers or amps, but in the DSR series, the high-resolution internal DSP and linear phase FIR crossover filters contribute substantially to the fidelity as well. I listened to a broad range of music (as well as pastor and other speaker voices) at a broad range of volume. These speakers truly deliver the goods in terms of fidelity. The HF dispersion pattern allows for nice control if you need to limit where it goes. I listened to the full-range and subs separately too, and while the full-range speakers deliver pretty solid low end (particularly the 115s I had), the addition of the 18-inch sub makes the earth move.
One minor concern arises if the speakers are to be used by untrained volunteers-the balance between subs and full range cabinets is achieved by adjusting the input gain knobs on the speakers, and it may not be simple business to a non-professional who doesn't have a handle on accomplishing a flat frequency response across the entire spectrum. For that matter, even pros might want to have a real-time analyzer of some kind handy to help make this happen. With everything set at "nominal" (mid-scale), the system seemed a little bass-heavy indoors, but once I took the system outside, having more than enough low end was very welcome.
So how did they sound when I cranked ‘em up? Simply beyond belief. I have a lot of experience with portable powered speakers, and I've used nearly every brand and model out there. I have never encountered speakers in this price range with anywhere near the SPL output that the Yamaha DSR delivers-not even close. This is true, ear-shattering, rip-your-face-off loudness. The 115/118W combo I evaluated was way beyond "way too much" for my church's little 100-seat sanctuary. This system would easily handle a 300-500 seat room, and with a little augmentation (maybe another pair of each speaker) it could deliver the necessary SPL for a 1,000-seat room. These things are just stupid loud-and it's worth noting that they can actually be dangerous. I did not see anything in Yamaha's documentation to remind people to use these speakers responsibly, and I'd like to see more of that. The two most impressive things about the SPL from these speakers is first-how light and compact the system is, and second-how little distortion accompanies the devastating SPL. Even at skull-splitting levels, the fidelity was astonishing. I should also note that I'm surprised at the SPL considering the price. I have never seen any system come even close.
Yamaha has pulled off a minor coup here-high fidelity, low cost, portable speakers that deliver outrageous SPL. If your church is moving into a larger space that needs some extra volume, if your current system is straining to fit the bill, or if you have portable needs for high quality and quantity, I strongly recommend that you check these out.
