TASCAM VLA5 Powered Monitors

5.25 inch 2-way monitors. 90W active bi-amped design.

Overall User Ratings (based on 8 ratings)
  • Overall:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Sound:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Features:
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Ease of Use:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Quality:
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Value:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Manufacturer Support:
    3.5 out of 5 stars
  • The Wow Factor:
    4 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars
(8) (see rating details)
Submitted January 28, 2012 by Bill White in Gumeracha, AL

"Tascam VLA5 Powered Monitors great bang for the buck."

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
I'm very glad I bought these and if you read on you will know why. I took quite some time doing this review because the product deserves it.
Sound
Clean and clear with genuine, real, multi-noted bass. No cabinet vibration. Mids and highs clean and true if set up properly in an appropriate room. I have read poor reviews of these monitors, one claiming inadequate bass, another claiming harshness of mids and highs. My advice to these people is: the bass is clean and true, not emphasized. If you want empasized bass you have no idea of the intentions of a monitor. The mids and highs are clear. Anyone detecting harshness in these had better suspect their source material, mics and so on and perhaps make-over their listening room.
Features
LED light comes on when power is on but the units are switched at back. Why not an on/off switch at front complete with light? Switched 1.5dB lift or cut at 800 or 1500 Hz.. Adequate but a knob preferred. Switched 1.5 dB lift or cut at 3 or 8 kHz.. Adequate but a knob preferred. Volume control; not needed. Run them flat out and adjust volume from sound source. Control screw doesn't adjust output anyway, only input, so is superfluous.
Ease of Use
Set these up 6ft apart with the backs at least 40" and an identical distance individually from any wall, aimed in at 60 degrees and sit 6 ft in front of them with your ears at the tweeter/woofer divide level. They will give you a great sound stage and full frequency response; a true gauge of your recording. If you have an over reflective room you may have to cut the highs. I personally run mine flat but I have a purpose built studio with drapes, thick carpet and so on.
Quality
Heavy little fellers. No buzz from the cabinets. Very high quality drivers. I've had them for two years and use them every day. They have only been moved once, from the store to my studio.
Value
These are so good at this price that I feel like a white collar criminal.
Manufacturer Support
I haven't dealt with the company but a friend of mine had some 8" (VL-A8) monitors whose amps kept blowing and they tried to help but weren't very successful. The amps had a design fault and an old genius we know redesigned his for him.
The Wow Factor
They look okay, quite nice, in fact.

Musical Background:

Have been writing, recording and singing for 40 years. Have had songs on blues album of the year.

Musical Style:

Rock, jazz-funk, blues, grunge, punk.
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Submitted April 14, 2010 by a customer from hotmail.com

"bad value for money"

Overall: 2.5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Sound
bad bad bad
Features
gain control for HF and Lf. if you want to experiment with soundcontrol, ok for me. But YOU GONNA GET NOTHING MUCH OUT OF IT! only XLR input??
Value
fostex pm 0.4 sounds mutch better!!! Half the price!
The Wow Factor
i bought them for 100 euros second hand, so for 100 it's ok.

Musical Background:

recording engineer

Musical Style:

rock
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