Electro-Voice Everse 8

With its powerful built‑in battery and water‑resistant cabinet, E‑V’s new compact PA will deliver the goods whatever the weather.

It is almost as thought the music industry looked into the future, saw the prospect of rolling power cuts due to energy shortages, and decided to build more equipment capable of running on batteries. Combining Electro‑Voice’s loudspeaker know‑how and Dynacord’s electronic expertise, the battery‑operable Everse 8 is a two‑way speaker, employing an eight‑inch woofer alongside a waveguide‑mounted, one‑inch, titanium‑dome tweeter, cooled using ferrofluid. Its moulded, ported polypropylene cabinet is available in either black or white and is shaped so as to allow it to be used horizontally as a floor monitor, vertically in a ‘kickback’ position, or as an upright pole‑mounted speaker. As the dispersion is symmetrical at 100 x 100 degrees, the performance is essentially the same in either landscape or portrait orientations. A carry handle is fitted to the top of the cabinet and there’s a standard pole‑mount socket in the base. Dynacord are responsible for the amplifier design and for the effects.

The housing, which has a powder‑coated steel grille, meets IP43 requirements for resistance to light rain and splashes. As shipped, a plastic cover protects the rear‑panel connection, and an optional slip cover is available for enhanced weather resistance. This speaker is ideally suited to portable use, with a weight of only 7.6kg and a compact size of 400 x 275 x 272mm.

In common with many recent portable PA speakers, the Everse 8 incorporates Bluetooth music streaming and digital signal processing. At its heart is Electro‑Voice’s QuickSmart DSP, which looks after all the usual housekeeping, protection and crossover (2.25kHz) duties, as well as providing a four‑channel mixer with effects, an automatic feedback suppressor (AFS), compression and ducking. Its battery pack provides over six hours’ running time at maximum level, and double that at more modest levels. Thoughtfully, there’s a 12V DC power port for running an RE3 or R300 wireless receiver, or any third‑party device that has the same power requirements. There’s also a USB‑C port for charging mobile devices. When no signal is present, a battery‑preserving power‑saving mode kicks in.

The Everse 8 can be controlled locally, or from the iOS/Android‑compatible QuickSmart app.

Appy Days

Remote control is possible over Bluetooth, using the Electro‑Voice QuickSmart mobile app for iOS and Android devices. Up to six speakers can be controlled via the app, and two Everse 8s can be paired for stereo playback over Bluetooth. All functions can also be accessed and edited using a single turn‑and‑push encoder that also doubles as a master volume control. A small LCD shows parameter values and battery status, and there’s an illuminated button over each input to select it for editing. If no buttons are lit, then the master settings are selected for editing. A safety limiter helps keep peak levels in check and when this is triggered a ‘LIMIT’ warning is shown on the display. The battery charges whenever the speaker is plugged into the mains, even with its power switch in the off position. As the battery is a lithium‑ion type, it is not necessary to allow it to fully discharge before recharging it as was the case with the older NiCad batteries.

The built‑in mixer can accommodate two mic/line inputs, with input 1 capable of providing phantom power and input 2 switchable to high‑impedance mode. A stereo input can be accessed via either mini‑jack or Bluetooth, and the mix output is presented on XLR. The Everse 8 also features a USB‑C port for charging, and a 12V DC output for use with wireless systems, or any other 12V gear.By way of specifications, this surprisingly compact speaker can produce a maximum SPL of 121dB at one metre and it operates over the 50Hz‑20kHz range (‑10dB), or 65Hz‑18kHz (‑3dB). Its amplifier pack is rated at 200 Watts peak. No other details are provided for the amplifiers or power supplies, though given the size and weight of the speaker, it seems likely that it uses a switch‑mode power supply and a Class‑D amplifier pack. The battery capacity is 91 Watt‑hours.

The mixer features two combi XLR/jack inputs for mic‑ or line‑level signals with the option of 48 Volt phantom power on input 1 and high‑impedance instrument signals on input 2. A 3.5mm mini‑jack accepts stereo signals from an external source, and there’s a balanced mix output on XLR. Effects provision is very practical, with 30 preset effects, the most useful for live use being the delays or reverbs, the quality of which are excellent, and there are also a few chorus, chorus/echo and doubling effects. A jack socket allows connection to an optional footswitch, for turning the effects on or off.

The selected effect can be added to channels 1 and 2, with independent send levels for each channel. The mixer’s three‑band EQ offers a +6/‑12dB range per band, and there are also application‑specific channel presets for Flat (no EQ), Voice, Acoustic Guitar and so on, which variously engage low‑cut filters and apply a suitable EQ curve. A main parametric EQ with eight bands can be set up to shape the overall sound. Mixer setups can be stored (there are five preset slots available), and as is increasingly common, there’s a master setting to tailor the sound for Music, Live, Speech or Club applications. Music is active by default, though Live looks to be flatter, especially at the low end. Less common is a further range of settings that take account of the speaker’s position, the options being Tripod, Monitor or Kickback. There’s also a setting for using a separate subwoofer, with a choice of high‑pass frequencies.

The feedback suppressor operates in the usual way, deploying a series of very narrow notch filters when feedback is detected. There are 12 filters, so a good tactic is to ring out the system by gradually increasing the gain to provoke feedback until around half the filters are in use, then leave the others free to counter feedback that might occur during performance. Ducking and compression are available on channels 1 and 2. In ducker mode, channel 1 or 2 is designated to control the overall level of the other inputs.

The quality of sound available from this compact speaker is impressive... For general guitar/voice amplification or music playback at moderate levels, a single Everse 8 will do the job very well.

In Use

The first thing I should say is that the quality of sound available from this compact speaker is impressive. If you want to handle a lot of low end, then using a pair with a sub would be a good idea, but for general guitar/voice amplification or music playback at moderate levels, a single Everse 8 will do the job very well. It would also make an effective stage monitor or extension speaker for a PA trying to cover oddly shaped venues. I’m not always a fan of two‑way box speakers, especially those with large woofers, but in this case the eight‑inch woofer gives good coverage of the important midrange. Solo artists and duos playing typical pub gigs could get by with just one or two Everse 8s on their own, and because of the battery option, there’s no reason to stop playing just because there’s a power cut. The speaker is also ideal for garden parties, busking and so on, all the more so because of its weather resistance!

My practical test was carried out at a gig in a pub’s covered courtyard, where it was used as one side of the PA handling mainly vocals but with additional feeds from a separate mixer comprising cajon, acoustic guitar and electric guitar. For test purposes I ran the speaker from battery rather than the mains, and it behaved just as well as when mains‑powered. Its anti‑feedback system also came in very useful to cut out offensive ringing and to claw back a few dB of extra level without compromising the overall sound. There was still plenty of charge left in the speaker at the end of the gig too.

Equally impressive is the quality of the effects, and though many of the longer reverbs wouldn’t see a lot of use outside an Enya covers band, it’s good to have the choice. If delay is your thing, then there’s plenty to choose from including a nice slapback‑style rockabilly delay, and a tap‑tempo delay that you can set from the app. If you are using an external mixer and don’t need the effects or feedback suppressor, you can simply turn them off in the master settings menu.

The QuickSmart App is clearly set out, with arrowed tabs to move between pages in Mixer Edit mode, allowing access to all available controls for Main, Effects and Channels as individual pages. Once a knob is selected, a rectangular outline appears around it and its value is changed using a wide slider at the right of the page, which is much easier than trying to operate a small virtual knob directly. The AFS and effects sections can also be turned on and off from the Effects page. In the Basic view, the master volume and a master three‑band EQ can be accessed along with the master EQ mode, speaker orientation and sub crossover frequency. Overall the app is very slick, and makes for easy control as long as you stay within Bluetooth range.

Overall the Everse 8 ticks all the boxes for a compact speaker that can also run from batteries. It is versatile, weather‑resistant, reasonably powerful and it offers good sound quality with a useful range of good quality effects, plus automatic feedback suppression, compression and ducking. The QuickSmart App is simple to use, clearly set out and provides deep access to all the speaker’s parameters.