Behringer Eurolive B412DSP and B415DSP

The B412DSP and B415DSP have a few extras under the bonnet in the form of automatic equalisation, a signal gate, auto switch-off/on, adjustable filter, contour settings, two-band EQ on the control panel, and all the necessary protection and optimisation circuitry. The protection features on powered speakers tend to be taken for granted these days, but are nevertheless a key faciity, as is the internal optimisation and matching of all the components. The all-in-one-box approach, without the need for any external processing, means fewer items to transport, very quick setup times and very efficient system performance. All of which makes a powerful case for going down this particular road for many applications.

The moulded plastic enclosures are very well finished and there are no cheap-looking rough edges. The box itself is a fairly substantial moulding and didn't make any cracking or creaking sounds when I thumped it around on a carpeted, but hard floor. One side of the enclosure is designed to provide a 45-degree monitor angle when the unit is laid on its side. It's very stable in this position and would take a deliberate and hefty push or kick to roll it over. The LF driver is protected by a fitted metal grille, which sits neatly inside the round speaker recess. This grille is convex overall, following the curved shape of the front panel, but has a large horizontal depression running across its width to add rigidity and provide a defence against being pushed inwards. It certainly felt strong and unbending when I pushed at it, so I laid the speaker on its back and climbed aboard. It held my (sadly, not inconsiderable) weight without giving a millimetre or flexing at all, and should offer a really good level of protection to the speaker within. It's an impressive and highly practical little piece of design, and I must say I wouldn't fancy trying this test on any of my own current speakers!

Because the B412DSP and B415DSP have built-in signal processing, setting up is very simple; all that's needed is a mains lead (standard IEC type) and an audio input. The control panel is integrated with the amp module, which sits in a large recess on the rear panel. Most of the space is occupied by a very large heat sink with vertical fins (there is no cooling fan), and below this are all the connectors and controls. None of the controls or heat sink fins protrudes beyond the edges of the mounting recess, so everything is protected up to a point.

Looking at the control panel itself, most of what's on offer is plainly visible. Each of the two balanced XLR inputs has its own input level control and clip warning LED, and the mixed signal from these inputs not only drives the internal amp sections, but is also looped out on a balanced XLR connector so that additional speakers can be daisy-chained. In theory, you can connect as many additional speakers as you like, but the impedance presented to the source (mixer, whatever) will be reduced as more are connected, and this needs to be considered. It's a pity that the XLR input sockets aren't the XLR/jack combination types and that there are no unbalanced phono inputs. As the B412DSP/B415DSP can handle anything from microphone to line signals, and has a simple onboard mixer and EQ, it would just add a useful extra bit of flexibility if unbalanced sources such as personal music players, instruments or even unbalanced mics could be plugged straight in.

The two-band EQ is of more potential benefit when using the B412DSP/B415DSP without any other gear upstream, but it is a nice feature to have; the HF and LF frequencies are fixed at 12kHz and 100Hz, and 15dB of cut or boost is available to each band. A feature I really do like is the variable low-cut filter. This lets you set the cut-off frequency from Off to 160Hz for a 24dB-per-octave filter, which is used either for reducing unwanted LF content when the speakers are being used full-range, or can be used when using subwoofers that don't have built-in high-pass filters. Another little point to note here is that the frequency ranges of the LF EQ control and the high-pass filter overlap, so you have to be careful when using them both together to make sure you're not using one of these circuits to compensate for the other.

There's additional sound shaping in the form of a contour facility, which offers a choice of either Speech or Music settings. This is, again, particularly appropriate for stand-alone use, and changes the frequency response to better suit the chosen material. The Music setting results in a more rounded sound with more punch in the low mid-range, whereas Speech seems not unexpectedly to favour the top end.

The final rear panel control (apart from the power switch) is a button labelled Timed Turnoff, which automatically shuts down the speaker after a continuous period of three minutes with no input signal detected. The power itself isn't switched, as the power supply is still humming, but there's nothing at all from the output, and as soon as an input is received everything springs back into action with no fuss, pops or noticeable delay. This feature would be extremely useful if the speakers were installed above head height or in a difficult-to-reach location, and as it seems to act reliably, quickly and gently, I reckon I'd tend to leave this switch enabled all the time. When the B412DSP/B415DSP is powered up or down, there is no noticeable switch-on/off thump, and the loudest sound I heard when cycling the power was the protection relays clicking in and out.

With a pair of either B412DSPs or B415DSPs on the floor, there's a more than respectable amount of thump in the low end, and I did think that the B415DSPs in particular might make very good drum monitors. There's a little bit of boominess in the low mid-range, and as far as I could see through the vents there isn't any wadding inside the boxes (something I would feel inclined to experiment with if I owned any of these speakers).

For a road test, I took the B412DSPs along to a local club gig with a new band called Hair Of The Dog, whose set includes a good selection of rocky tunes, played with a lot of punch. I used a single active subwoofer to handle the kick and bass, with the Behringers taking care of mainly vocals and running from the sub's high-pass output. The first 'user comment' I received was when Paul, the bass player, lifted one of the speakers out of the van (I think it was, "F**k me, that's heavy"), but after that I can say that the band and the listeners were more than happy with the sound. And Gav, the engineer for the night, said he particularly liked the crisp, clear high end, which had no trouble getting the four-part vocals above the kicking rhythm section, guitar and keyboard. (I gather Gav was well impressed with the B412DSPs, but I don't remember him actually carrying one...) Lifting a B412DSP onto a stand was easy enough, but not something I would try alone. The clamp screw is large and easy to reach. It isn't captive, but when it's screwed 'out' so that it isn't fouling the pole, it still has another 17 turns before it will fall out of its thread (I know this because I counted them — it's a matter of importance to me, having lost a number of these from my speakers over the years).

I'm puzzled by the weight of these speakers. At a time when most new portable products seem to be getting lighter without sacrificing power or sound quality, I would need a lot of persuading to start lugging 30kg, 12-inch speakers around, even if they are powerful and intelligent. On the plus side, they do sound good, offering good usable sound quality with heaps of top-end clarity and a kicking low end. The integrated processing keeps everything sounding clean and well balanced at different volume levels, and the timed on/off function is a nice touch and very useful feature.

At the time of writing, the street price seems to be in the region of £600 for a pair of the B412DSPs, which makes them worth checking out at close range. There's a good little clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUAVqX4hYnI that you may care to take a look at, and if you want more information than I've been able to cover here, you can download the user guide at Behringer's web site. On this subject, the user manual supplied with the speakers is clear and comprehensive enough, and offers application advice, which some will find useful. But you also get additional versions in 12 other languages, which is a lot of unnecessary paper potentially going straight into the recycling bin.

So, if you find yourself on the trail of a reasonably priced portable powered speaker, you'd do worse than to check out the Behringer Eurolive B412DSP and B415DSP. They're powerful and good-looking units, they perform very well at this price point, and they have a few extra interesting features that might well be to your liking.  0