The JBL EON 210P is a portable self-powered speaker system with a detachable powered mixer. The two speakers each have a 10-inch woofer and a 1.5-inch compression driver mounted to a 100-degree H by 60-degree V horn. One speaker has the mixer attached to its back, while the other has a handy storage compartment containing two 15-foot speaker cables and a power cable. The entire setup weighs only 33 pounds and is easily carried by one person. The EON 210P (list price $1,249) was designed primarily for speech and music playback in smaller venues, and it appears well-equipped for this task.
The mixer has four mic/line inputs and an additional stereo input with 1/4-inch, RCA and 1/8-inch inputs. The four mic/line inputs have a mic/line switch to pad the input level for line input, a bass and treble control, an effects send and a volume control. The bass and treble knobs are much like the knobs on your home stereo, they add sparkle in the high end and bass on the low end. You don't get a “real” EQ here, but the EON 210P was designed for music playback and speech, so the hope is that you won't really need it. On the stereo input you simply get a level control with no EQ control or effects send.
In the master section of the console you will find an Effects section. You get four basic effects to choose from, and a master effects level. Also in the Master section is a phantom power switch for the four mic inputs. There is a five-segment LED meter as well as a master volume knob for overall level control. You will also find a Monitor section with 1/4-inch outputs, RCA outputs, a volume control and a headphone jack. This is very useful for recording, adding additional stage monitors or listening in headphones.
Put to the test
In use, these little speakers sound great. I played some of my favorite reference tracks through them and was pleasantly surprised by what I heard. You get a very full sound out of the EON 210P with plenty of clarity. I even pulled up Smaart to see what they look like on an analyzer and it confirmed what my ear was telling me. These speakers have a relatively linear response from around 80 Hz all the way up to 15,000 Hz. There is also a slight dip around 1.5-2k, which is quite welcome and pleasant. For music playback, these speakers hit the nail on the head.
After listening to some music I plugged in a mic to see how speech sounded and, again, was pleased. You get plenty of clarity for getting your message heard. However, this is one place where the lack of a real EQ could pose a problem, especially with feed- back. The bass control allows control of the low frequencies, but if you have a feedback issue in the mid/low-mid range, you could be in trouble. It would be nice if the bass knob were more of a low-mid knob. Overall, though, the 210P did perform well with speech, just be aware that the EQ is limited.
My overall impression of the EON 210P is that it is a great system for music playback and speech—especially for the price. It really sounds great and is super easy to use. There are no gain knobs, fancy EQs, mute buttons or aux sends, which makes it easy for people with little or no audio experience to operate it. If you can operate your car stereo, you can operate the EON 210P. This lack of features also means that you probably don't want to try to do much of a production with this setup.
