Let's face it: the final link between your music and the audience's ears is your speaker system. Speakers are the acoustical machines that ultimately determine how the music will sound. You can skimp on CD players, as they all sound nearly the same these days-you're just paying for features and reliability. Even a budget mixer will not muck up your sound too badly. Certainly most modern amplifiers from reputable companies will provide clean power. This leaves us at the place where I feel you should allocate a good portion of your sound system budget. A good set of speakers should serve you well for many years. Once you have committed (you know how I hate commitment), you'll be reminded of the sound quality every time you fire up the system.

Testimonial
As a multiple DJ system operator, and a writer for "The Beat", I have owned or tested just about every brand of speaker on the market. Ten years ago I purchased a pair of high-quality speakers from a major name company. I estimate that I've played extremely loud music through those speakers on at last 1000 jobs, including abusing them with a 12-piece band. While other speakers have come and gone from my arsenal, these battered speakers still stand ready fro action in my garage. Although I have beaten on the mercilessly, they still sound great. The moral of the story: you'll never be disappointed when you spend a few extra bucks on real speakers.

Bigger, better, faster
Many old technologies endure and mature. Take for example, the great American V-8 powered car would produce one hundred fifty horsepower, and on a good day deliver 12 miles to the gallon. Jump ahead forty years and add the refinements of an electronic ignition, computer control, and modern alloys. Today's 8-cylinder motor can deliver three hundred fifty horsepower at almost double the gas mileage.

Similar comparisons can be made with speakers. Some things have not changed very much: the wooden box still contains a 15-inch woofer and some form of high fidelity driver. Subtle yet potentially amazing improvements bring an old design into the 21st century; things like titanium compression drivers and high-tech crossovers. Such state-of-the-art components, especially a technology called Time-Alignment, are what set Bag End's Ta5000-C speakers apart.

The Box is thinking
The UPS person was straining a little as she dropped these speakers off yesterday. They weigh 70 pounds each, but considering their full size (28" x 22.5" x 18.5"), this is quite reasonable. The cabinets are professionally finished in the ever-popular black carpet covering, with a nice metal grille, beefy handles and nice matching corners. The enclosures are made of plywood, not the get-wet-and-crumble particle board that seems to be a cheap and popular way out. The boxes are loaded with a 15" woofer and a titanium diaphragm high-frequency transducer.

The speakers are designed to deliver all appropriate frequencies to the listener's ears at the same time. More than just physically lining up the loudspeaker components, Bag End's Time-Align® system involves driver placement, driver delay parameters. Additional time correction is processed through a special crossover, the specs of which were calculated with a time alignment generator built by a way-smart guy named Ron Wickersham.

Does it really make a difference? Simply put, yes. When Time-Alignment is executed correctly, it sends the full spectrum of sound to the listener at the same time it was intended. Quickly passing transients, like the heavy beats in dance music, sound crisp as the speaker reproduces them, rather than slurred or sluggish. This assures that the music will be extremely detailed and provides very high fidelity sound, even at extreme levels. In other words Time-Align® provide optimum "punch".

Plugging in...
Connecting the TA5000-C to my Crown CE2000 was a breeze. Connectors on the speakers include dual banana-style, 1/4" and Speakon. The Speakon connectors also facilitate biamping the drivers. This simply means you can use separate amp channels and an external crossover to power the speakers. Power ratings are 200 Watts continuous, and 800 Watts peak. I am sure these are conservative ratings, based on my experience with other Bag End products. The speakers are physically well balanced and sit nicely atop tripods. Their overall look is very clean and professional, guaranteeing that your friends will become jealous of your setup.

...and cranking up
With a variety of songs in my CD player, and 400 Watts per channel at my disposal, it was time to really get it on. The first track was a whiney Maria Carey song. At twenty percent power I actually liked what I heard. The sound was creamy smooth, with warm and accurate detail. The speakers sounded terrific in stereo, creating an open and full sound environment. It was then time for everyone's favorite: processed dance music with a social agenda. As it turns out, these full-sized, rigid boxes give the woofer plenty of room to generate ample amounts of of solid low tones. Perfect for the punchy dance music I continued to jam, moving the faders north. When there were about 350 Watts being fed into the speakers, the boxes were really starting to sing. They had incredible output, without a hint of distortion.

The bottom line
From tight bass to brilliant highs, the speakers were very impressive, overall. With premium components and solid construction, the TA5000-C Time-Align® system is very efficient and would certainly sound great even with a small amplifier. I used and abused the speaker (I don't own them, so what do I care) at several jobs, and they worked well in all situations. With this system's ability to reproduce low frequencies so well, you might need a sub at only your biggest gigs. Like the old war-horses in my garage, you could live with and love these speakers for a very long time. And just to put you more at ease, Bag End confidently backs up their TA5000-Cs with a 6-year warranty. As for customer support after the investment, I called Bag End and got a real person within two rings. These are serious speakers for serious professionals. The TA5000-C Time-Align® system will help you keep sound quality in line with the completely professional image that you strive to present as a Mobile DJ and entrepreneur. Until next time, jam on.

TA5000-C specs and additional information