Point Source PA Speakers

Full-range point source loudspeakers, the workhorse format for venues, portable rigs and installs where one well-placed cabinet covers the room. The category is anchored by Martin Audio’s Blackline X active and Blackline passive ranges, CDD-Live and THH cabinets and the FlexPoint series, alongside NEXO install and touring cabinets, with RCF and Electro-Voice options and a deep accessories section.

Active against passive is the first fork. Active cabinets carry their own amplification and DSP, which suits dry hire and fast portable work where a mains lead and a signal cable is the whole install. Passive boxes keep the weight and the electronics in an amplifier rack, which suits fixed installs, flown positions and touring inventories where a failed amplifier channel is a swap rather than a cabinet coming off the wall.

After that, coverage pattern matters more than wattage. A trapezoidal box, a coaxial CDD design and a compact FlexPoint cabinet put energy in very different places, and the specification to compare is the dispersion angle against the shape of the room and the distance to the back row. A modest cabinet aimed properly will out-perform a louder one spraying energy into a reflective ceiling, which is the usual reason a room sounds harsh at the front and unintelligible at the back.

Buy the mounting hardware with the cabinet. Yokes, wall brackets and rain kits are model-specific and finish-specific, and whether a given box can hang where you intend is decided by the bracket rather than by the speaker. Fitting an install after the ceiling is closed up is the expensive version of this decision.

The active versus passive guide covers the first decision honestly, matching amplifiers and speakers covers driving the passive ones, and the small venue PA guide covers building a complete system. Subwoofers and amplification sit in the neighbouring PA categories.

Point Source Speaker FAQs

Active or passive cabinets? Active carries its own amplification and DSP, right for dry hire and fast portable work. Passive with system amplification scales better across multi-box rigs and installs. Trade-offs in active vs passive.

How much cabinet does my room need? Coverage first, SPL second: one well-placed box per side covers most venues to a few hundred capacity, sizing logic in the small venue PA guide.

When do I add subs? When the programme demands low end the tops cannot carry, see choosing and placing subwoofers.