EV ROADTEST | EVOLVE50 | IMAGINE DISCO
Name: Wayne Braybrook
Company: Imagine Disco
Date of Hire: 6th August
#EVTESTWIN
My Evolve 50 Roadtest
Firstly - thanks to Simply Sound & Lighting for allowing me the chance to try these out. I was going to purchase a pair of these when they first arrived in the UK last year but opted for another system at the time due to delays in them actually coming into the country.
So....what are they like?
I had a specific venue in mind for my test. It's a marquee I work in a lot, where big DXR15's work a treat, but Maui 28's struggle a little. The Evolve 50s were always going to be working for their keep in this particular venue, and the idea was to test them under pressure (I'm actually looking for the impossible "one size fits all" column PA).
The speakers themselves are very well built, the tops are super-lightweight without losing any of the build quality, and the whole system looks great. It's set up in under a minute (always a bonus) and very solid once put together.
Sound quality-wise: I had the EQ set to Club mode (the wedding had a lot of "heavier" type music and a lot of Afro-Caribbean/Reggae requests. I'm pleased to say the system held it's own (phew), although felt like there should have been more headroom volume-wise before the "Limit" warning appeared on the LCD (this is one of the downsides - if you ARE pushing them you have to view the LCD panel rather than seeing a nice obvious red LED so it's not necessarily easy to spot).
Thankfully, I didn't manage to clip them (it was the first of two limit notifications the system produces which I managed to hit....and I hate hitting any warnings). This was soon stopped by a quick tinker with the EQ via the Bluetooth app which I'd already installed on my iPhone.
The sound quality is awesome, crisp and clear, with the bass being very punchy. As already mentioned, it was the volume which was a little lacking. That said, in probably 90% of my venues, this system would be more than enough to cope.
So to my conclusion: A nice, lightweight system (possibly one of the better "stick" systems out there at the moment). Solidly built and good sound quality.
Would I purchase a set?
It's taken a lot of mulling over to answer this one.
Having said the Evolves is one of the better stick systems...they are in a marketplace with a lot of other very similar systems with similar build qualities, output and overall specifications.
Sadly I wouldn't at the current price point I'm afraid. There isn't enough to set them apart from the other column type PA systems at the moment to justify the additional £3-400 per side (plus bags and the additional shorter spacer if needed).
However, if the pricing was comparable with other systems of similar spec, then yes, I'd buy a set right now.
Would I like to win a set? You bet!
