Electro-Voice SX500
A 15-inch two-way that Electro-Voice advertised with the line "prepare to be blown away," rated for 400 watts and built in a lightweight polypropylene shell.
Overview
The SX500 is the big brother in Electro-Voice's SX portable PA line. It's a 15-inch, two-way system rated to handle 400 watts, built into a lightweight enclosure of polypropylene structural foam with molded-in handles and attachment points for mounting and suspending. The SX300 uses a 12-inch low-frequency driver. The SX500 uses the same molded constant-directivity horn approach, but puts a 15-inch woofer underneath it and goes from 300 to 400 watts of power handling.
EV positioned the two boxes plainly. The SX300 was the "high efficiency portable speaker system" with 300-watt long-term capability. The SX500 was described simply as having "a larger 15-inch woofer" and handling 400 watts. Both share the same idea: keep the box light, keep it tough, make it easy to move. The polypropylene foam cabinet with molded-in handles and attachment points gives it away. This speaker was meant to be carried to a gig, hung from a ceiling, or dropped on a tripod stand, not babied in a studio.
The horn loading is where the SX500 gets interesting. EV's literature describes a "unique HF and LF vented-horn system" delivering wide frequency response and impressive SPL. That pairs the 15-inch woofer with a vented-horn low-frequency section instead of a simple direct-radiator box. The System 2500 PA package paired two SX500s with the PSX2000 powered mixer, and EV leaned on exactly this: the 15-inch LF driver in a lightweight enclosure with the vented-horn HF and LF system, sold on coverage and output rather than subtlety.
That vented-horn approach is also why the SX500 turns up where it does. EV's own copy says it "makes an excellent loudspeaker for remote work." The tripod-stand compatibility and molded attachment points make it a natural for corporate AV, small club installs, and mobile DJ rigs where the box has to go up and come down every weekend.
The high-frequency side, according to Mix (January 1998, p.150), is a 1-inch throat driver with a titanium diaphragm. EV used the same recipe across the SX range. Titanium diaphragms are stiff and efficient, which suits a horn-loaded design that has to cover a room without a huge amplifier behind it, and a box that gets pushed hard night after night.
The marketing around the SX500 leaned on one piece of technology: Ring-Mode Decoupling, or RMD. EV's own advertising in EQ (October 1997, p.93) billed the SX500 as "a surprisingly portable 15-inch two-way with enormous sound, uncompromising fidelity and the magic of Ring-Mode Decoupling (RMD™)," and the same campaign ran again in EQ (January 1998, p.51) with the tagline "prepare to be blown away." That's advertising copy, not an independent verdict, but it shows what EV thought the selling point was. Per EV's own Mix (July 1998, p.45) copy, RMD was the "breakthrough technology developed for X-Array touring systems," brought down to a portable box for "unrivaled fidelity and performance."
The SX500 listed at $832.00 each in one distributor's price sheet, a figure that suggests it was a competitive product rather than a fixed-price flagship. Within the line, the SX300 listed at $798.00, the SX100 at $692.00, and the powered SX300a at $1,350.00. So the SX500 sat just above the SX300 in the passive lineup, a modest premium for the bigger woofer and the extra 100 watts of handling.
The SX500 also anchored EV's System 2500 portable PA package, which paired two SX500s with the PSX2000 stereo powered mixing console. The PSX2000 is a 14-channel mixer (10 mono mic/line plus 2 stereo) delivering better than 340 watts per channel into 8 ohms, with two built-in 18-bit stereo effects processors, 3- and 4-band EQ, a stereo graphic EQ, a patch bay with balanced ins and outs, and a locking metal cover. The System 2500 listed at $4,796.00. It was aimed at someone buying a complete portable rig, not a single speaker.
The SX500 is not, on the evidence available, a studio monitor or a hi-fi speaker. It's a tool. The polypropylene foam cabinet, molded handles, attachment points, tripod compatibility and vented-horn loading all point at portability and output rather than refinement. Owners who want a flat, clinical monitor should look elsewhere in the EV catalog. Owners who want a box that gets loud, survives the van, and hangs from a ceiling are the ones it was built for.
Collectors and working musicians note that the SX500's value today is as a working speaker rather than a collector's piece. It gets bought to be used, and the lightweight polypropylene cabinet that made it easy to move in 1997 makes it easy to move now. The 400-watt rating and 15-inch woofer mean it can still hold its own in small-to-mid rooms, and complete System 2500 rigs turn up for sale with the matching PSX2000 mixer. Buyers should expect the usual wear on molded cabinets and should check the HF driver, since a 1-inch titanium diaphragm in a horn-loaded box is the part most likely to have been pushed hard.
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