Our band purchased 4 of these to upgrade our system from standard mains with horns. What a difference. They are the clearest speakers I've ever heard. We do a few larger outdoor gigs and am looking forward to how these are going to perform. They are well engineered and the dsp is spot on. Highly recommend.

These tops deliver at every event. Indoor venue, outdoor venue, big and small spaces. Music, vocals, instruments. /speeches, the clarity of the CDL12Ps is terrific. Constsntly receive compliments on how good theses sound. They're a little heavy to setup by yourself, but it's no problem at all with two people. Really impressed with the value.

I purchased 4 units of these great speakers based on reviews, specs, and price. Upon testing, I immediately fell in love with the quality of the sound since Im used to High End speakers (RCF, FBT, DB TECH) for my Live and DJ business. The spread, the smoothness, the clarity, the loudness, and of course the price is awesome.

The only negative which impacted to fully love these speakers:

1) There is no input sensitivity control. It has only a master volume. You can easily overload the input signal even if the source (mixer output) is set to ZERO (standard). I have to constantly monitor the limit signal while mixing and forced to bring down my source (mixer) which is not optimal.

2) In the absence of input sensitivity control, this unit easily limits even at 120 low cut from my crossover. I thought I got a bad batch while confering with Sweetwater consultants. And I thought I am the only one experiencing this "early limiting" but I found out in youtube that others are also having the same issue.

3) Comparing to CDL12 (with DANTE), these boxes are challenging to link physically. In the absence of foot receptacles (present on CDL12), it would take time to align the holes for the locking pins. There are even instances that the locking pins wont completely go through. I have to mark which boxes will work together. These are best suited for fixed install but a hassle for mobile service.

I decided not to return these boxes since I really love the sound quality and cant find an alternative in this price range. Rather reserving them for an upcoming fixed install project. Of course, you get what you pay. And frankly, I hate not to fully love these speakers.

By the way, thanks to my awesome sales adviser Jeff Bohan. Thanks also to sweetwater consultants for working with me trying to resolve my technical issues.

I expected these to be good, but not this good! I've only used them for outdoor events so far. The consistency in the sound from side-stage to the back of the amphitheater to the dance floor is outstanding. And they are loud, too! I'm pairing them with Mackie 18" subs... four CDL12P speakers with four Mackie SRM1850 1600W 18 inch Powered Subwoofers. I have to crank the subs up and dial back the CDL12Ps a bit for balance, but what balance! I'm leaving this review only because I respect my Sweetwater Sales Engineer. If I had my way, no one but me would know about these speakers... they are magic and I want them all to myself!!

Initial unboxing; very impressed with the build quality, sound quality, headroom and coverage. Looking forward to breaking them in and really seeing what they're capable of. I'll update in the near future and plan on adding another pair to the lineup if they do what I think they will! Too early for 5 stars, but it's not far off….

I bought two of these speakers, and I didn't think they would be heard so well and so loud and so clear, but now I know they are very good speakers, Presonus, your product is impressive, I give it 5 stars
Thanks LUKE , you are the best sales Engineer

Did alot of research on these Speakers- Big help from Bart 'The sound couple' you tube.
They kick ass- Did a show for 800 people out doors- 100' away sounded great. One Speaker each side.
Glad I have then for my shows.

I don't know how to properly describe these, but the vocals really come through very well, unlike any point source. I have done several multi-day music events now with 6 of these high up on 12' stands. And every band has mentioned how awesome they sounded. Yes I can fill a park with these, and I can get them very consistent volume between the back of the park to the front. And I typically run 3 18" subs and turn on the high pass, because the 12's in the cabinet will limit a lot so they are not worth using for the lower frequencies. But the subs make up for their short comings. I have used the full range of them for doing just vocals and a vocal with guitar type of event and they were plenty. But a full band not enough. But when you are mixing a full band and there's a lot going on, at least with my 48 HF drivers going, the vocals don't get lost in the mix!!(not only that, they stand out) And that I love!! If I were doing more bigger events with a bigger area then, yes maybe I'd rather have some KLA arrays. But, they are absolutely amazing and my favorite speakers so far!

I have owned these cabinets for over 18 months now and I'm here to tell you that these cabinets are absolutely outstanding.
If you are a DJ and have a small gig in a bar or a room of 100 people or so, ONE of these cabinets can fill the room with a full range sound that is ample for most applications. I've done events in larger ballrooms (around 250 guests) with ONE 12p cabinet and a dual 18 sub cabinet. I've used them for large outdoor events for PA. We flew an array of FOUR 12P cabinets of over 5000 to cover hundreds of square feet and it worked absolutely flawlessly. These cabinets sound very clean, the coverage is absolutely unbelievable and the gain before feedback is fantastic. Spoken word, and coverage is this speaker's super powers.
Some footnotes about these speakers... Burn-in is very important with these. Out of the box, the bass is very restricted, around 30 hours of burn-in and they come alive! The other thing to watch for is the "Clip/Limit Lights" The red "CLIP" light is indicating that the input signal is clipping; this does not mean that the amplifier is clipping... The yellow "LIMIT" light is indicating that the amplifier is limiting the output to protect the speakers. I recommend setting the signal level by turning down the volume down and bringing up the input signal until you see the red light, then back off the signal a bit. Once the signal level has been set, bring up the volume until the yellow limit light starts to light, then back it off one number. This should give you a good clip/limit calibration.

I have owned these cabinets for over 18 months now and I'm here to tell you that these cabinets are absolutely outstanding.
If you are a DJ and have a small gig in a bar or a room of 100 people or so, ONE of these cabinets can fill the room with a full range sound that is ample for most applications. I've done events in larger ballrooms (around 250 guests) with ONE 12p cabinet and a dual 18 sub cabinet. I've used them for large outdoor events for PA. We flew an array of FOUR 12P cabinets of over 5000 to cover hundreds of square feet and it worked absolutely flawlessly. These cabinets sound very clean, the coverage is absolutely unbelievable and the gain before feedback is fantastic. Spoken word, and coverage is this speaker's super powers.
Some footnotes about these speakers... Burn-in is very important with these. Out of the box, the bass is very restricted, around 30 hours of burn-in and they come alive! The other thing to watch for is the "Clip/Limit Lights" The red "CLIP" light is indicating that the input signal is clipping; this does not mean that the amplifier is clipping... The yellow "LIMIT" light is indicating that the amplifier is limiting the output to protect the speakers. I recommend setting the signal level by turning down the volume down and bringing up the input signal until you see the red light, then back off the signal a bit. Once the signal level has been set, bring up the volume until the yellow limit light starts to light, then back it off one number. This should give you a good clip/limit calibration.

Hello!! I have been a Sweetwater customer for more than 4 years, I run a sound company and djs in Puerto Rico, we acquired these speakers looking to fill the space for live sound, but we got the disappointment of the year! The speakers went to peak zone at low volume, I do not recommend them for djs or sound.

After 20 years, we finally went to these speakers at the recommendation of our Sweetwater rep. Live theater where vocals are super important, from speaking to full out singing. The clarity and range of these speakers, the wide coverage fit our room perfectly, and we stacked 3 in an array for front-to-back coverage. Tuning was easy and barely needed. There is a Mode setting where you program them based on how many speakers you have in an array...not sure what it does, but it takes about 2 seconds to do that. Aiming, tilting, and rigging is very very easy...the workmanship of the rigging grid and the interlock system is the best I've seen.

Just bought 4 of these and moved my 315AI's into the studio only. Ran a metal show with them the CDL12's and my ULT18's. Comments from audience. "Florida is starting to sound good" ...... "Thanks man you are the best, we haven't sounded this good in a while" ...... cops showed up to sound meter..... he tried to measure close but I made him stand in the correct spot... 55 ft away from source 95/100db A/C ( I turned it down for a while...LOL...) He went away! Then back up for the mosh! Next gig with some Nashville dudes, acoustic duo at a pool house! Great speakers clear and wide coverage! Thanks Bob Furlong once again for all of your advice and help!

I have 7 of these and are going to get 2 more. odd number is for center fill on large stages.

The sound from these is transparent.
Which means it is not coloring the sound. There is a little extra high on the speaker but not much.
Snare drums sound like you are standing next to them. I and my other sound engineer starting playing all types of music after we received them and could not believe the instrument parts we were hearing clearly that we had not before. Everything is crisp and clean and since it is all paper there is no issue like you have with compression horns. The 120 degrees horizontal coverage is sweet and we use the 15 degree vertical to set the SPL for the different quadrants by changing the amps output so you don't kill the people up front and the people in the back can hear the Band. Sax players, vocalist, drummers, guitar players and bass all like these speakers. I have also set 2 up for practice with 2 AIR18's with a 3 piece I joined for little week day gigs and because I am using my Roland kit for them. My vocalist said he never sounded so clear and did not have to push his voice and made it easier for him to sing. These are great. You will not be disappointed. Remember paper is king, paper is smooth.

I am going to agree with all the other five star reviews. If you are looking for a wide horizontal coverage speaker, you cannot go wrong with the CDL 12P. I also have the Presonus Studio Live 312AI coaxial point source loudspeakers. At a recent show, I had to cover a large outdoor space with the stage perpendicular to a wall of windows on a house. I used one 312AI with its narrower dispersion near the windows to reduce reflections, while I had two stacked CDL 12P speakers on the side of the stage away from the windows. It was very easy to compare the sound of the point source speaker with the CDL 12P speakers, just by moving from one side of the venue to the other. Although the 312AI speaker does sound great, there was a noticeable improvement in the smoothness of the upper midrange with the CDL 12P speakers. My specialty over the years has been acoustic music, and I had many repeat customers because of the clarity of my system. However, I have noticed an increase in compliments since I have been using the CDL 12P boxes. I have also found, as have others in their reviews, that I do not need to make many adjustments to the EQ when using these.

I am blown away at how good these sound. I also own the CDL12 non P. It is very difficult to tell the difference in the sound. These are plastic and lend themselves toward traveling better which is why I purchased them. They sound great.

These things are great! we have a pretty large sized auditorium for a small church (can seat around 450)
We contacted Persons and they did a room analysis for us and showed us how many speakers we need to fill the space and where they need to be mounted, really the whole experience was great! We are running a complete Presonus Ecosystem, (Board, inears, service recording, and tracks playback) These things give out so much sound, and sound incredible, I barely had to tune them, and compared to our last install (speakers filling specific zones of the room) these things fill the whole room, and do it seamlessly from back to front! basically 0 volume change from the back row to the front row, total consistency. If we ever build a main sanctuary at our church we will Definitley be upgrading to the CDL12's since they have the Dante functionality, but the CDL12P speakers CANT be beaten in their price range. it was between these and the QSCKLA series, and im glad we went this route.

I installed everything myself, and the mounting bracket and ease of mounting them all together is amazing. ONLY downside for me was they didn't come with Powercon to Powercon cables to link them to each other. That was my ONLY letdown. Do yourself a favor and get these if you're a small to mid size church or venue looking for an upgrade!

We have a large, wide room (100' deep x 150' wide) with 30' ceiling height. We deployed the CDL12Ps as our solution to update an outdated sound system. Basic goals: Even room coverage and we wanted left/right channels to allow some creativity in the room mix. We generally run in the low 90s (dBA) for worship. EASE model analysis led us toward two 5 speaker hangs as the main fronts (LT/RT) and we included two 4 speaker hangs to fill the sides. These fills were hung next to the main hangs and angled out to cover the sides of the room (no other fill speakers were required which we were pleased about). We utilized QSC KS212C subs to support low frequency needs (these are cardioid subs I have used before and really like how they perform and move energy forward). DSP was accomplished through a Q-SYS Core 110f. Tuning by the professional installation company was accomplished without much difficulty. These speakers are very consistent and really don't have a lot of EQ needs. The crossover between subs and mains was accomplished in the DSP and the lower frequencies is where most of the EQ/tuning effort was focussed. There wasn't a lot of tweaking necessary above 1k.

The results: Awesome, powerful, clear, clean, articulate sound in nearly every seat of this large space. We went from having multiple complaints on a regular basis to no complaints and people expressing positive comments and saying "thank you" for the sound system update. The CDL12P boxes are fantastic. I have also tested them in a stand alone setting for small gigs (speaker on a stand 1 LT / 1 RT) and they were very impressive with both sound and coverage evenness. For wide rooms these things are fantastic. The specs don't boast. They get 120 degrees wide. Also, when I have run these small events with traditional QSC K series speakers - I typically run pink noise and make adjustments. When I did that with the CDL12Ps just recently, I literally did not have to make a single EQ adjustment. All I had to do was dial in the crossover. It is fair to say I am a sound snob and expect quality sound. I was more than a little surprised I didn't need to EQ these boxes.

We purchased 3 of these for our church sanctuary. This building is over 100 years old, and designed more for an organ and choir, not a modern worship setting with any sort of sound system. But a trio of these accomplished the goal of a consistent and balanced sound throughout the room, so no matter where we sit, we are hearing the same thing! I am really impressed with the coverage and quality of the sound produced by these speakers!

This has to be one of the greatest speakers I have used! The super wide 120 degree pattern covers ever square inch. I even stopped having to use front fills because the coverage was so great. These are so clean sounding and I find I get less ear fatigue over the course of a show.

I have 4 units up on crank poles and with the integrated hardware, setup is so easy! I was on the fence to go with something "plastic" but honestly there nothing about this speaker that sounds plastic or even suggest that it is. The plastic is super thick and stout and has been handling touring like a champ! I mean if this only 5lbs lighter than the wood version they make, then you know this thing is built well. I can't tell you how many people come up to me after sound check just to ask "what are those speakers, they sound amazing".

I am used to using your normal top brands we all know but so far these have surpassed all those experiences and you can't deny the price point is amazing! You can pretty much get 2 for the price of 1 of the another brand speaker in that type of array speaker without sacrificing quality. It's just too tempting and I have ZERO regrets!

The CDL12P a game changer from Presonus. I run an event band business and need a system that offers lots of flexibility for different types of gigs.

The clarity that the CDL12P offers is equal to high end studio monitors, and due to that clarity, the vocals shine on top of the mix. The 120 degree coverage allows everyone to hear that high quality regardless of their position to the speaker.

Finally, the scalability gives us the flexibility to cover an event from 50 to 1000's of people, all while maintaining the high level of clarity and detail, along with the super wide coverage. These things sound incredible even on a cell phone video, and above all they are affordable for just about any sound reinforcement application.

Stop looking at reviews and order these and put them to work!! They will not disappoint.

I have six of these as the main speakers in my home theater along with four dual 15" subwoofers. They are the best loudspeakers that I have heard. My music loving family is truly amazed. Concert recordings sound fantastic. Look for info posted online by Don Keele (the original inventor). He calls them Constant Beamwidth Transducers (CBT) and this is a ground plane application (on the floor). On the floor, each pair acts like four cabinets, and the internal DSP is set for a four cabinet array. The top cabinets are shaded -3 dB.

I took a measurement of the center pair in the seating positions with SMAART V8 (top trace is coherence). There is no EQ applied. It's easy to adjust the flat factory response to your favorite house curve.

This speaker was a huge upgrade from the previous point source boxes my band was using. First of all, the sound is extremely clear and vocal clarity was much improved. Secondly the coverage is pretty amazing. Our old speakers were 90 degree boxes and these are 120 and it's a huge difference. We are going to add another set of CDL12P for bigger gigs in the near future.

I finally had a chance to use these as I just recently bought them. The sound is absolutely beautiful. Amazing,. This setup is everything they say it is. The quality of sound coming out of these are second to none. I will be investing in the PreSonus subwoofers to finish up this system and give me the big bottom bangs I love.