StageScape™ M20 is the world’s first smart mixing system — an integrated live sound solution that uses touchscreen-based visual mixing to explode the traditional mixer/outboard gear paradigm. StageScape M20d uses a combination of input jack sensing, a visual mixing environment and professionally crafted sound tools to prepare, process and route signals automatically. The StageScape M20d can guide you through optimally setting signal levels, EQ, dynamics, effects, monitor routing and more, to get your mix quickly sounding great. Instead of a complex surface of knobs and faders, StageScape M20d uses a touchscreen with a graphic representation of your stage — just touch an image to access total control of the channel. Dialing in a sound is as simple as moving your finger around the touch screen. If you’re a professional or A/V installer, the advanced tweak mode allows you to go right in and add 5kHz or change compression ratios. With premium mic pres, world-class DSP and premium sound quality, StageScape M20d will satisfy even the most experienced ears. It’s the only smart mixing system designed to keep you in the creative zone.

Mixing Sound and the Left-Brain/Right-Brain Conundrum

Mixers have remained essentially the same for decades. What began as a rack-mounted mic pre was eventually oriented vertically into a channel strip and became the basis of every mixer since the '60s. Even in the last decade as mixers went “digital,” the format and approach stayed the same: rows and rows of channel strips often resulting in redundant hardware, and a need for a lot of technical understanding to get a great result.

As musicians, when we mix live sound, we generally do the minimum — meaning we just bring up a level and maybe add some EQ. Some players study engineering, learn the “lingo” and become experts in that skill. For the rest of us, there’s a lot of unknown territory involved in getting a good sound live.

We musicians spend so much time writing and recording, yet sadly leave much to chance during performance. The truth is that it's critical to sound great live if you want to be taken seriously. It's a challenge just to get things to work, not to mention dealing with all of the complexities in getting a good sound. Making music is a right-brain activity, yet we are constantly getting pulled into left-brain tasks like problem solving, analyzing and decoding:

What’s wrong with that sound? Do I boost a frequency to make it right, or cut one? Which frequency? I wish I could get my acoustic guitar to sound better in this room… I wish I could get the vocal to sound more like the recording…

The StageScape M20d mixer and StageSource loudspeakers offer a different approach.

StageScape M20d was designed to bypass the complication of getting good live sound. Instead of keeping track of channel strips, StageScape puts the landscape of the stage in front of you using a graphical representation of, that’s right… a stage. The M20d lets you think in musical terms like “light” and “dark” to dial in sounds. And instead of bringing along racks of outboard gear and making it all work together, everything is integrated within StageScape — even recording to a USB drive or a computer.

The clash between right-brain artistry and left-brain analytics often derails the creative flow. StageScape was designed to avoid the left-brain/right-brain duality by removing layers of non-creative tasks between you and your live mix.

Instead of facing the complexity of multiple knobs and faders, StageScape M20d provides you with a graphic of your stage, complete with all the instruments, monitors and mics for your performance. Connect a mic, and a mic stand appears on the stage. Just touch that image to access channel parameters. Move your finger around the touchscreen to change multiple parameters at the same time — what used to be a dozen individual parameter adjustments using multiple knobs now becomes one finger. Instead of getting caught up decoding settings, StageScape frees you to do what’s most important: perform.

Musicians often buy a PA speaker only to find out that it can only do one thing well: amplify the output of a mixer. But as you start adding other musicians to the band or you move from electric to acoustic sets, you find out you need more gear, or you end up compromising your sound. Line 6 StageSource™ L3t is designed to be a lifesaver for the performing musician by providing an integrated professional live sound solution for a variety of common scenarios.

And if you use the StageScape mixer with StageSource loudspeakers, it gets even better.

Using proprietary digital networking called L6 LINK™, the mixer and loudspeakers integrate into a smart system. The M20d will recognize which loudspeakers are being used as monitors and send them monitor feeds. Loudspeakers will automatically self-configure, pan stereo signals, adjust Smart Speaker modes and perform system-wide optimization.

Both StageScape and StageSource products were designed to be a smarter, faster way for musicians to get great live sound and help them stay in the creative zone focused on the music. Whether you play small acoustic shows or have a full band, playing live will never be the same.

A loudspeaker in cross section as seen from the side. The voice coil is a moving part attached to the apex of the cone below the domed dust cap; it does not touch the magnet structure in which it is very precisely seated. In the most common form of blown speaker, the voice coil is damaged such that it does rub or scrape against the magnet structure.

Here's a really informative article on speakers we found on the Fender website. We hope these gems of information help you overcome unforeseen obstacles in your musical journey. For More Helpful Tips click on the TECH TIPS link in the Categories menu on the left side of the screen. Stay Focused and Keep Rockin!

In the home and automotive audio world, “blown speakers” are fairly common. Many use the term in a sort of generically non-technical way to describe speakers that aren’t working right or aren’t working at all. An unfortunate inconvenience, mostly.

For musicians, though—especially working musicians—blown speakers in a guitar amp (or bass amp or PA system) are far more than an inconvenience; they can be a major problem that threatens a gig or a session. It happens in music equipment far less often than it does in home and automotive audio, fortunately, but it does happen and it raises several questions: What does the term “blown speaker” actually mean? What does a blown speaker sound like and how do you know if you have one? What blows a speaker? And what should you do if you have a blown speaker?

Let’s take these one at a time.

What does the term “blown speaker” actually mean?

A “blown speaker” is one that doesn’t work right or doesn’t work at all. It’s an umbrella phrase that encompasses several problems that could cause a speaker to sound unpleasant or go silent, but suffice it to say that a blown speaker makes either bad sound or no sound.

What does a blown speaker sound like, and how do I know if I have one?

Oh, you’ll know. The most common aural indication of a blown speaker is an unpleasant buzzing or scratching sound, by itself or roughly at the pitch of the note the speaker is attempting to reproduce. Or there could be no sound at all.

What has gone wrong in a blown speaker?

Could be several things. Usually, the speaker’s voice coil has been damaged such that it rubs against the walls of the magnet structure in which it is seated—that’s what causes the buzzing or scratching sound.

Let us explain some basic speaker anatomy here. The voice coil consists of wire coiled around a cylinder (called a former); this assembly is attached to the apex of the loudspeaker cone (see photo) and is a delicate moving part that is neatly seated in a narrow circular gap in the speaker’s magnet structure without actually touching it (see diagram). Speaker anatomy is a very exact science—the voice coil fits in that narrow gap with only 0.010” to 0.020” clearance on either side, moving in and out as the signal dictates and thus providing the electromagnetic force that moves the speaker cone in and out, thus reproducing the desired sound. Other speaker parts such as the cone, frame (or basket), surround and spider (see diagram) work together to hold the voice coil in the correct orientation while allowing it the required freedom of movement.

An upended loudspeaker assembly on which the voice coil (red), former (green), spider (yellow), cone (dark gray) and surround (light gray) are clearly visible.

Voice coil damage can be thermal or mechanical. In thermal damage, so much electrical power is dissipated in the voice coil in the form of heat that, if the temperature gets too high, one of two bad things happens. One, the adhesive that binds the wire coils to the former fails and the wire literally comes off of it. Two, the wire insulation fails, short-circuiting the coils and interrupting the circuit so that no signal reaches the cone (resulting in silence). In mechanical damage, the speaker cone itself or its support structures (such as the spider, the surround or the basket) have been bent, broken, torn or otherwise damaged such that the voice coil rubs against the inner or outer magnet structure walls.

What blows a speaker?

Blasting it with too much power for too long.

It’s worth noting here that in properly matched combinations, speakers are designed to handle whatever their amps can dish out at extremely high levels and for far longer periods than would ever likely be encountered in everyday use. Amp manufacturers use intensely rigorous testing procedures to ensure this level of quality and compatibility, making blown instrument amp speakers a highly improbable occurrence. Nonetheless, it is in the nature of any technology to experience occasional problems, and speakers do blow once in a great while despite the best efforts of the amplification industry to ensure otherwise. It’s improbable but not impossible.

What if it’s just a tweeter that’s blown—how would I know and what should I do?

Setting aside the interesting question of why most electric guitar amps don’t have tweeters, it’s easy to tell if your bass amp or PA rig has a blown tweeter because they either work or they don’t (there’s no buzzing or scratching as with coned speakers), which should be obvious on close listening. Fortunately, tweeters are comparatively simple devices that are repaired or replaced relatively inexpensively.

What are my options if I have a blown speaker?

Repair or, more likely, replacement. More expensive component loudspeakers that are sold individually, such as those by JBL and Electro-Voice, can often be repaired and re-coned (re-coning a speaker means not just replacing the speaker cone, but replacing all the moving parts that constitute the speaker cone assembly; this includes the voice coil).

Often enough, however, when considering the cost of repairing a blown speaker, you might find that you’re better off simply replacing it.

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