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The Anchor Audio Beacon is an interesting product. On paper, it looks like it might be the perfect portable PA system for situations where you don't need a lot of inputs. It is thoughtfully designed and has quite a few features that would make it ideal in the right environments. I've not seen a system quite like the Beacon, so let's break it down and see what it is.
TRULY SELF-CONTAINED
The system condenses down to a rugged ABS plastic box the size of an airline-approved roller bag. In fact, it even has roller bag-style wheels and a pull out handle. Moving a small PA system around has never been this easy. It's quite a bit heavier than
you might expect at just over 50 pounds. That weight is due to two built-in, user-replaceable batteries that will power the system for 6-8 hours. Once you arrive at the gig, two flip latches release the top lid. A molded handle makes it easy to pull the upper speaker out of the lower box. In a bit of clever engineering, you flip the upper speaker upside down and the handle now fits in the hole where the tower speaker once fit. The same flip latches secure the handle—now base of the speaker—and the speaker unfolds to become a column speaker about 42 inches tall. And that's pretty much it. The back of the base, which doubles as the low-frequency cabinet of the system, holds the inputs and outputs, as well as level controls.
Every Beacon has the same set of analog inputs available. There are two mic inputs with separate level controls. The mic inputs are combo jacks, but these are mic level-only inputs with a significant roll off below 250 Hz. Above those is a stereo line level channel with both dual ¼-inch TS, a single ¼-inch TRS and a single 3.5 mm stereo jacks. This shared input also has its own level control. There are also two optional inputs available. The Beacon I received had both the optional MP3 player and two UHF wireless mic receivers built in. The MP3 player is simple to use, and takes both USB and SD card sources. It has basic navigation to select albums and tracks, and can repeat or not. While not comprehensive, hours of background music would be a breeze to set up. I didn't receive any transmitters with the system, so I can't tell you how well the wireless mics work. Each Beacon can hold one or two receivers. There are 16 selectable frequencies for each mic, along with individual level controls. An integrated padded pouch on the side will hold wired or wireless mics and a few cables and adapters. There are a few other niceties that might come in handy. A USB port allows for charging your phone or tablet. Anchor also included its "Voice Over" button, which acts as a ducker, lowering the level of the line inputs or MP3 playback when a mic input is active. This would be a great feature for banquets or other events where you want background music, but need to be able to talk once in a while.
This is a background music and speaking mic reinforement system. I can see it used for lectures, dinners, weddings, classes, corporate gatherings, and maybe even outdoor recreation events.
SPEAKING OF SPEAKERS
As I mentioned, the Beacon is a column-style speaker—though Anchor refers to it as a "Line Array Tower." In the upper, mid-high section, you will find eight 4-inch speakers. The base contains the bass, so to speak, with three 8-inch drivers. A proprietary Class-D amplifier of unspecified power drives all 11 speakers. Coverage is not listed in the specs, but my testing suggests the horizontal coverage is about 120 degrees with vertical being somewhere in the 30-degree to 45-degree range.
In its promotional material, Anchor suggests that the Beacon is effective for crowds up to 2,500+ people, and that the sound disperses evenly throughout the sound field. I couldn't assemble a test crowd of 2,500 for this review, but I did set the system up on the downstage center lip of our stage. While our room seats 1,100, we could easily hold twice that standing (if there were no seats, of course). I put on some music and walked the room, and found the coverage was indeed reasonably even.
HOW DOES IT SOUND?
That depends on what you're expecting. If you plan to use this as a replacement for a pair of full-range powered speakers and subs, you're likely to be disappointed. But if you use it for what I believe it was intended for, it's really quite good.
This is a background music and speaking mic reinforcement system. I can see it used for lectures, dinners, weddings, classes, corporate gatherings, and maybe even outdoor recreation events. With a wired mic plugged in, the clarity is very good, coverage is broad, and it's loud enough so everyone in a reasonable area can hear well. And for background music, it's good enough. I listened to the system in two passes: once for background music while I was re-setting our stage, and then in a more critical pass with my Smaart rig. I formed some impressions in the first setting that were confirmed in the second. Anchor clearly tailored the frequency response for voice. On axis about 5 feet away, frequency response is reasonably flat with a presence peak between 2-3 KHz, and a sharp dip centered at 5 KHz. It recovers a bit by 8KHz and rolls off sharply after that. At the low end, 125 Hz is pretty much the lower limit, with a 9 dB per octave roll off. Music tends to sound a little bit like a table radio. The bass and treble controls do a little to warm it up, but not that much. Turning the bass up all the way extends the LF by about half an octave, which looks good in Smaart, but sounds a bit muddy. As you move throughout the horizontal coverage, frequency response remains even up until about 60 degrees off axis. Phase gets a bit weird, and you can hear the anomalies as you move through the field. I suspect most people wouldn't notice this, however. Line array theory states that the array has to be 4x the wavelength of the frequency you want to control. For that, the Beacon is a great case study. The pattern rolls off from about 1.5 KHz (.7' wavelength) off-axis; below that, it's essentially omnidirectional.
IN CONCLUSION
As I said, the Beacon is an interesting product. For simple speech and background music events, it's the handiest system out there. While it doesn't produce concert-quality sound, it's OK for playback. Speech is good, and the battery power could be a lifesaver. It is a bit pricey, however, starting at $2,050 MAP for the basic model and extending past $3,000 MAP for the full system with MP3 player and dual wireless mics. Then again, one person could easily wheel this into a room and have music and a mic running in under 30 seconds. Like anything, whether this is a good buy or not depends on your needs and expectations.
