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JTR Growler vs. EAW LA400: Review [message #304883]

Fri, 21 March 2008 14:14

Phil Lewandowski
Messages: 237
Registered: March 2007
Location: Cleveland, OH

Has No Life

Hey Everyone!

Since I had recently gotten a hold of a 2008 version of JTR's Growler, I have had a lot of requests to compare it to the EAW LA400 that I have owned for a while now. This has been for several reasons including that they are both 12" horn-loaded designs. They are both portable subs and decently smaller sized. It would be a good thing to note, right now, though that the Growler is almost exaclty half the cubic size of the LA400, so that Growler is in fact a very good amount smaller in size and weights 27 lbs. lighter. (I was actually able to load the Growler into my Suburban, decently easy, when loading out by myself. Something that I don't plan to keep doing as I want to save my back!)

As a note the specific Growler I have is the 2008 model, with plastic corners removed, and 4 casters installed. I am comparing a single to single of each.

First I will copy part of an e-mail that I wrote to Jeff, because he was interested in how my gig went with the sub and comparing it to the LA400:

"It went excellent, especially the sound of it all! It was in a smallish-medium size ballroom, and I would have to say that I was impressed because this was the first time I heard the Growler outside of the controlled environment of the sub shootout and my "shop" (ie: my house!). Given, I was impressed by the room's fairly warm acoustics too.

When I had it centered in front of the stage it made me laugh how awkward it almost looked because I was used to the larger size of the LA400. It looked really mini! Actually when loading it up, my dad who just helped me load it up in the truck was impressed by its size and said it was very manageable compared to the LA400. I powered it off of a RMX1850 bridged which worked very nicely, crossed at 86hz, Butterworth 24 db/octave. I also had it reversed polarity to the tops which has worked very well. I didn't get a chance to work with any delay times but I didn't want to get to much into that because since the tops where not right on top of it.

I didn't even push it that much during the night and I noticed as a single it was already able to keep up with the tops better than the LA400 could. It was also noticeably warmer and smoother sound. I think that much of this is attributed to its smooth response, and its smoothness was also noted at the Maryland sub "party". I again seemed to be able to notice that little extra lower frequencies that I didn't think I would be able to tell from the LA400. I think that the Growler is a decent amount more efficient than the LA400 in that 40-50hz range and it really showed. I was able to get the punch out of it I wanted and now I am just excited to purchase that friend for it and really get them pounding!! Having no plastic corners seemed to help it stay in place very nicely. That best part is 2 of them will equal the same volume as the single LA400! In all, I like the LA400 a lot, but for my size I would rather take 4 Growlers than 2 LA400's that will barely fit in the truck!

After the night, a guy from a medium sized local sound company came up to me. (He was running a distributed system for the auctioneer that was there earlier.) As I was loading out, he asked if I had built that horn loaded sub. I had told him I hadn't and told him about your company and how the Growler is a popular sub on PSW. He seemed impressed and something about it must have struck him, that impressed him, which made me impressed because I had never had anyone come up to me about any of my gear before, like that."

In all, I am excited to take the LA400 outside when it gets nicer up here in Cleveland, and be able to measure it, because I really have been curious where EAW got the 107db sensitivity from.

The thing that really impresses me is how Jeff designed a horn-loaded sub that was that small and still achieves a -3 point of ~42hz, accurate reproduction, and a 130db real-world musical SPL point!

Here is a break down of what I thought:

Sound: I would have to say that the Growler does win this one. It has a smoother sound than the LA400, though the LA400 doesn't lose by much! The Growler also seems to just have that slightly more content and "oomph" behind it for lack of a better word.

Output: Right now the Growler is the winner in this category. The reason for this is that for the 1.5 years I owned the LA400 there were many times I was pushing it I would have to have the peaks go into clipping on the amp to keep it where I needed it. I did not come even close to this problem with the Growler. I will have to listen to the Growler in different environments though coming up, which is why I there is a good chance I may be updating this review in the coming months. The other thing I noted it that there is a noticeable more output in the 40hz-50hz in the Growler.

Size vs. Output: Obvious winner now is the Growler. Just is very impressive in how it is able to achieve the level it does at its small size.

To conclude, I am very excited to be able to carry 4 of these around someday because I am sure they will be able to put out some decent low end for the type of shows I do! All this being said the Growler and LA400 are both very nice subs. I think it really shows that the LA400 needs that partner as many have noted, and the Growler is able to perform decently as a single. I do like the LA400, I do believe that the Growler is just a 1/2 step above it and what makes it even better is the 1/2 size of it to the LA400, so that a small sound company owner like me can carry around 4 in a small truck!

Thanks Much Jeff for a great product and support and thank to Evan for hosting the shootout and making my decision that much easier!

Take Care!
Phil Lewandowski

[Updated on: Fri, 21 March 2008 14:15]

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