Toa FB-120B User manual

58 | svconline.com DECEMBER 2005
REVIEW
Small speaker duo combines high
quality and big sound.
TOA Electronics continues to deliver quality
products of all stripes. Even if the company
isn’t on your short list of speaker manufactur-
ers in terms of name recognition, you’ll want to
be aware of its new HX-5/FB-120 combination.
This high-quality package consists of a sub-
woofer, the FB-120 ($692), and a full-bandwidth
modular speaker package, the HX-5 ($494), in
which four trapezoidal enclosures are combined
into a single unit. Together, these two present
a truly handsome package from an aesthetic
standpoint, but they deliver the goods from an
aural perspective as well. I got to take the rig
for a spin, and I was more than pleased. Let’s
dig into what I found.
Let’s look at the HX-5 first, since it repre-
sents the truly innovative half of the package.
I pulled the thing out of the box, and the first
thing that came to mind was “line array.” In
the strictest sense of the word, it is indeed a
simple line array, to the extent that it employs
four identical enclosures arrayed in a vertical
pattern with the goal of controlled directivity.
It’s not as sophisticated as a large-scale touring
system, yet it nicely accomplishes the goal. TOA
refers to it as a variable dispersion speaker, and
that is the perfect description. And, frankly, if a
full-tilt line array is what you need, TOA makes
them as well.
Since the four enclosures are intended for
use only as an integrated unit (and due to wiring,
can literally be used only that way), there’s really
no point in describing the individual cabinets,
other than to say that they are trapezoidal and
made of polypropylene. Each enclosure features
a center-positioned 5in. cone-type LF driver, and
three vertically arrayed, balanced-dome-type HF
drivers. In the four-enclosure arrangement, the
LF drivers stack one above another, and simi-
larly, you wind up with 12 HF drivers in a vertical
John McJunkin
TOA
HX-5B/FB-120B

DECEMBER 2005 svconline.com | 59
PRODUCT SUMMARY
Company: TOA Electronics
www.toaelectronics.com
Product: HX-5B/FB-120B
Pros: SPL is surprising, considering the
size of the boxes.
Cons: The subwoofer is definitely neces-
sary for most music applications.
Applications: Ideal for auditoriums, hous-
es of worship, and gymnasiums.
Price: $494 (HX-5B); $692 (FB-120B)
S P E C I F I CAT I O N S
HX-5B
Power Handling Capacity:
Continuous pink noise—200W,
continuous program—600W
Impedance: 8Ω
Sensitivity: 96dB (60-degree
mode), 97dB (45-degree mode),
99dB (15-degree mode)
Frequency Response: 70Hz-85Hz
low frequency to 20kHz contingent
upon mode
Crossover Frequency: 4kHz
Directivity Angle: Horizontal—100
degrees (more than 2kHz),
Vertical—60 degrees (more than
800Hz), 45 degrees (more than
1.2kHz), 30 degrees (more than
1.6kHz), 15 degrees (more than
3.2kHz)
Dimensions:
16”x21.5”x13.5” (WxHxD)
Weight: 35lbs.
FB-120B
Power Handling Capacity:
Continuous pink noise—200W,
continuous program—600W
Impedance: 8Ω
Sensitivity: 90dB (1W/m) free
sound field, 96dB (1W/m) 1/2 free
sound field
Frequency Response:
40Hz-1.2kHz (+/-10dB)
Dimensions:
16”x16”x17.75” (WxHxD)
Weight: 33lbs.
line. Mind you, the package as a whole can be
used in either orientation, depending upon the
dispersion pattern you want. I’m guessing that
in most applications, they’ll be used vertically.
The unit accepts input via Speakon NL4MP or
M4 screw terminals. The speakers are crossed
over internally and passively at 4kHz, and over-
load protection circuitry is employed to help
avoid damage to the drivers. One other thing,
these units are available in black or white, and
in weather-resistant versions.
Each four-enclosure unit has a mounting
plate in the rear, the orientation of which you
can rotate to meet your installation needs.
Suspension brackets are included to enable ei-
ther vertical or horizontal suspension of the unit.
Rigging frames are also available for a line-array-
style setup. Additionally, an adapter is available
for speaker-on-a-stick applications. The most
important aspect of the HX-5’s hardware is the
ability to adjust the dispersion angle. The rela-
tive angle between each of the enclosures is
adjustable from 15 to 60 degrees in 15-degree
increments. For most applications, the angles
will all be set the same, but it is indeed possible
to achieve asymmetrical dispersion angles if you
care to do so. Moreover, hardware is available to
combine multiple HX-5 units. For instance, two
of the units can be set for a 30-degree disper-
sion angle, and when combined, 60 degrees of
dispersion is achieved, but with greater output
at lower frequencies. Due to the unit’s light
weight (35lbs.) you can array as many as four
HX-5s. Obviously, more units mean more energy
dispersion, and the array drastically reduces
comb filtering and interference effects.
The FB-120 subwoofer is just about as sim-
ple as a subwoofer gets, just an unpretentious
box that would be a perfect cube if it weren’t
quite so deep. It contains a 12in. LF driver, and
the enclosure is wood with a black painted fin-
ish and a punched steel plate grille. Speakon
NL4MP or M4 screw terminals get your signal
into the box. Two ports are built unobtrusively
into two corners of the cabinet. Otherwise, no
folded horn arrangements—just a plain vanilla
box. Once again, the HX-5 half of this combina-
tion is the sophisticated part of the package!
I have to admit that I was a little skeptical
about the potential SPL that these little boxes
were capable of producing. I had little doubt that
the quality of the audio would be great—I just
couldn’t quite wrap my mind around the possibil-
ity that these would be “ideal for auditoriums,
houses of worship, and gymnasiums,” as TOA’s
brochure proclaims. Then I turned them on.
Wow. Not only is the quality of the audio truly
excellent, but also the quantity of audio is more
than impressive. The long-throw LF driver in the
subwoofer box moves a huge amount of air and
is very impressive, but the SPL created by the
HX-5 is truly surprising, considering the size of
the package. TOA does not publish a maximum
SPL rating for either of these speakers, but it is
very solid, more than adequate for the applica-
tions touted by the company’s brochure. To be
sure, I would probably want a pair of the HX-5s
and a subwoofer on either side in a large-room
stereo application like a gymnasium, but that
combination would certainly pack the neces-
sary punch. For that matter, a subwoofer is not
even necessary if speech and/or light music are
the only program material. For a higher-energy
(read: higher SPL) conference or seminar, the
subs would be pretty much necessary.
As to the quality of the audio, my ear is
very pleased. I make no claims that I have the
technical capability to measure the spectral or
polar dispersion of these speakers better than
TOA (and they provide extensive and detailed
graphical information about the dispersion
of these speakers in virtually every possible
configuration), but I used SIA Smaart and de-
termined that the representations made by TOA
are honest. The dispersion is nicely controlled
by the line-array arrangement, which solves a
lot of problems in highly reverberant spaces.
These speakers are perfect for such applica-
tions. One other thing, and this is an important
point: There was no audible distortion, even
at significantly high SPLs. That was one thing
that really astonished me—the absolute clar-
ity of the signal. Very impressive. And, at low
SPLs, all of the signal was there, from top to
bottom. With a horizontal coverage pattern 100
degrees wide, the HX-5s can cover a broad area.
A 70V transformer is available, but it’s hard
to imagine many common applications where
these speakers would be used in a distributed
audio network.
Bottom line, TOA delivers a truly excellent
package here, with high-quality audio at a more
than sufficiently high SPL. These speakers are
perfect for both fixed installs and mobile use,
even by a DJ with no audio training. Color me
impressed!
John McJunkin is the principal of Avalon Studio Service
in Phoenix and consults for both studios and live sound
applications.
Not only is the quality of the audio truly excellent, but
also the quantity of audio is more than impressive.