It’s a little unusual for us to take the time to review a full line array system from a company since it does break away slightly from the consumer world. But sometimes you come across something you want to talk about, and it’s kind of hard to stop us once we get the itch. With that, we are going to take the time to introduce you to the BLG Audio BLA206A Active Line Array System.
This review has a dual purpose. It allows resellers and other speaker brands to learn about a potential company they may not have come across just yet. It also provides consumers with a name to look for via those resellers.
Established in 1996, BLG Audio, also known as Ningbo Rixing Electronics Co., Ltd., specializes in the design, development, and manufacturing of a wide array of OEM/ODM audio products. Their catalog includes professional-grade equipment such as speakers, amplifiers, and outdoor line arrays, alongside home and car audio solutions.
It operates on a business-to-business (B2B) model, selling its audio equipment to a network of companies, distributors, and retailers (supplying the commercial market). Those products are typically (then) marketed under different brand names (aka, rebranded) or sold directly through certified resellers. Although it doesn’t sell directly to individual consumers, you’ll still find its products globally because of this.
We ran into the company at CES 2025 in Las Vegas. It wasn’t planned, as one of our teams was simply walking through to reach their next interview. However, the display of speakers captured their attention since a few of them had a background in live production audio (there are actually a handful of people here who have a background in that industry). So naturally, they were drawn to the booth to ask questions, where they also received a live demo of what some of the speakers sounded like. This both got BLG into a little trouble with surrounding booths due to noise complaints (they get loud, as you’d expect) and tickled the interest of our team.
Since then, we got our hands on a full setup that we have been testing out for some time now. This setup includes several speakers and two subs that came to us via truck after it made a long journey across the sea to get to us.
Whew, for a moment there, I forgot I was writing a review and not a full novel. So maybe long story short–everything made it to us in one piece. We unpacked everything one by one and started setting everything up. After running a little signal and power to it all, we had sound. The same kind of sound our team had experienced at the show, raising smiles everywhere (and a few requests to turn it down).
This system is similar to what you’d find with companies like JBL, EV, DB Technologies, RCF, QSC, and so on. It can be built out in two different configurations, including ground stacking (either via a sub->stick->stack formation, or by stacking the speakers on top of the sub via their fly bar used as a stand), or it can be flown (via truss, motor, or dead-hang). Again, similar to the other line array options out there. The process is also just as easy as many of the other options.
The company has a rigging/hardware kit that is used for literally all configurations (both flown and ground). The fly bar is used both to hang the speakers and to stack the speakers. So you’d be using the bar every time.
It comes with shackles, an adapter for the pole configuration, some various bolts, some adapters, and extra parts (for when needed). Many of you out there will likely find yourself swapping out the shackles for something a little more familiar in name, which is common for some international solutions, but beyond that, everything is spot on when it comes to design and quality of materials.
The pole that you find with this series is quite similar to some of those before-mentioned names, as it makes use of the pressure bolt and safety pin approach for choosing your desired height and keeping things secure.
It attaches via threads (screws/rotates in) to the subs, providing a nice, solid feel. Much better than some of these companies that offer light-weight poles that simply drop/slide right into place and typically have some give (wiggle). The pole is also noticeably hefty when it comes to both durability and weight. This makes our overall opinion of it quite positive, as you should never cut corners when it comes to stability and safety.
As mentioned, the rigging/hardware kit comes with an adapter for the pole. This slides onto the top of the poles and tightens into place using the knob on the side. This adapter allows you to attach the fly bar to it so that the speakers can be stacked on top of that. Pretty straightforward and similar to designs found with certain other companies/series, like the JBL SRX series.
The BLA206ABS speakers offer a familiar cabinet design and feature two 6.5” woofers with 2” neodymium voice coils, and one 1.4” neodymium voice coil in the center for those higher frequencies (tweeter). It’s small in size, allowing you to stick or hang quite a few of them while also maintaining a relatively small footprint. The mesh and all important rigging points are metal, while the body is designed using ABS (durable plastic). Thanks to its ABS design, the overall weight of the speaker is quite acceptable. Each speaker weighs around 20lbs.
These speakers have a coverage pattern of 100 degrees side to side and 15 degrees top to bottom. Providing plenty of coverage for their size. This is considering that a typical line array speaker will offer around 90-120 degrees of coverage side to side.
When it comes to looks, they look nice with rounded corners all around. This includes a nice mesh face with rounded edges (top and bottom) as well. Everything falls into your typical color scheme as well, which includes mostly black all over, with the exception of logos and pins, which carry their own accent colors.
The BLG logo on top of the speaker is large, but always out of sight. The logo across the front of the speaker is small and non-intrusive. Both are silver in color. As for the pins, they are silver with red tops, which is common (usually pins will carry a blue or red design to them for most companies).
Turning the speaker around to the back side, you find all of your connectivity. This includes data, signal, and power. Like most modern speakers, these come with the ability to network them all together and control some of their settings via a laptop/computer.
You can daisy-chain the speakers for the Ethernet connections since there are no load restrictions there outside of distance, which would likely be similar to most networks, thus you don’t want to run any one cable too much further than around 300ft (just to be safe).
Signal (XLR) and power (PowerCon) can be daisy-chained as well, using proper signal flow and load-balancing. The class-D amps within these speakers offer an RMS rating of 350W (and a max power of 700W). So you are looking at around 3A per speaker/cabinet on a commercial outlet (120v), assuming you are really pushing these, else you’ll likely fall under that if you aren’t pushing them hard.
You can control the sensitivity of your input via a familiar dial on the back, moving between 0dB and +10dB. There is also a “Setup” button, which allows you to pick between HF compensation for each cabinet. The one you choose will depend on where it exists within the flown array or if it is ground-stacked, pointing straight out.
The company provides basic diagrams on the back of the speaker to show what each mode represents. There is also a simple diagram to show the proper use of the hardware on the back for setting your angles, which also points out the angle of each hole (in case you scratch these measurements off the back bracket over time).
Each speaker comes with a manual (which we will discuss a little later), along with a PowerCon jumper, a short XLR jumper, and a short Ethernet jumper. No PowerCon to Edison cable is provided with the speakers, so the company clearly builds these out with the idea that everyone is going to buy into the subs as well. Otherwise, you’ll have to purchase your own PowerCon to Edison cables if you don’t. In fact, it is all based on this since none of these cables are home runs.
It would have been nice to also get a PowerCon to Edison cable with the speakers, as this would allow you to use the speakers in every possible configuration, right out of the box. Including separating all of them to be used for things like frontfills, sidefills, delays, and other needs. So if you ever have to do that, you will be buying into several PowerCon to Edison cables. Either way, you should have those in your inventory just in case.
The BLA206SUB15 Sub definitely has a familiar look to it. The design of this sub looks nearly identical to most options out there within its size (or close to it). This includes all of the previously mentioned example brands. It features a combination of metal and plywood in its design, and the logo on the front is also non-intrusive.
There are two handles on each side, allowing you to easily carry it with both hands and two people (safety is everything). These subs are quite a bit heavier than the speakers, running around 82lbs each, so you want to lift and move them around with care.
They feature the familiar rigging points via each front corner for when it comes to stacking or flying these subs. The same push-pin design is used for everything. The top of the sub features the threaded hole for the pole for ground-stacking (using the pole).
It comes without the round rubberized feet attached at the bottom. So it is up to you if you want to install them or not. They are included with the subs, along with the proper screws. They simply screw right into place along the bottom of the sub.
Turning the sub around to its back side, you’ll find a similar arrangement of ports on the back. Including data (Ethernet), signal (XLR), and power (PowerCon). Each has an in and an out so that you can daisy-chain as needed. There is also the same dial for sensitivity.
In addition, there is a low-pass dial so that you can control where the frequencies cut off (like most active subs). It allows you to select between 90Hz and 150Hz. It isn’t 100% obvious where the dial is landing when it comes to Hz unless you are all the one way or the other. However, this can be fine-tuned via the network, which we will get to in a moment.
The RMS power rating of each sub (Class-D amp) is 1000W (2000W Max). So you are looking at around 8.4A per sub when plugged into a commercial outlet (120v).
Unlike the speakers, the subs come with nearly everything. Or at least, a little more complete kit of accessories. This includes another simple manual (again, we’ll get into that shortly), the before-mentioned feet with screws, a longer PowerCon jumper, a long PowerCon to Edison cable, a long Ethernet cable, and a long XLR cable.
When it comes ot the “longer” cables, they aren’t anything special. The PowerCon to Edison cable can be used to start power at the sub, while the jumper can be used to jump up the pole and to the first speaker. Or, you can use the PowerCon to Edison cable to run straight to your first speaker if you aren’t using the sub (ie, speaker[s]on a tripod setup). The Ethernet can be used as needed to jump to the speakers, as well as the XLR cable.
You’ll still be tapping into additional cables to run signal, data, and power to the speakers/subs. This is common with most speakers out there. So everything seems to check in.
When it comes to what you are capable of doing with the network capabilities of these speakers, this is where we also get to talk about the manuals that come with everything. These manuals only talk about this and nothing else. So you won’t get any help when it comes to rigging. This is going to require a combination of experience (with other models, companies, etc) and some guesswork. This is a bit strange, as usually there is plenty to read or watch when it comes to buying into new speakers from any company. So if these get rebranded by another company, hopefully they take the extra effort to document “everything” and not just the network capabilities.
That was one of the few cons we ran into when testing everything out. Thankfully, we had plenty of combined experience, which made setting these speakers up more than obvious, regardless of the configuration we chose. Which was all ground-stacked in our fully-tested physical assessments since our trusswork in the studio is static (non-moving) and we don’t have any spare chain motors to make use of at this time. We did build one stack as if it were to be flown (without flying it), and everything came together quite nicely.
Anyhow, when it comes to the network capabilities of these speakers, you’ll find that the basic framework of what you’d expect to find with any software was present. You have to download the application from a special link that the company provides within the manuals. You then install this onto a computer and connect it to the same network as everything else.
From there, you scan for connected devices and begin adjusting them. You can add them to groups so that you can adjust multiple speakers at the same time, and you can control various attributes of each speaker. This includes mutes, HPF, EQ, limiters, delay settings, low-pass, and more. Some of these can be used so that you can dial in the system for a static setup (ie, you have line-level music being run to everything that never changes, and no other inputs or mics are used) so that no console is required. However, most users will make use of a console, so only some of these settings will be necessary. Unless you find that setting individual EQs for every single speaker in your array is needed, then you can balance things between console and network settings.
Personally, during our tests, we ran everything from a Yamaha QL1 console and found that we didn’t need to adjust anything using the network settings. It all just depends on your setup and daily needs. So, thanks to the modern capabilities of these speakers, you have a lot of options for dialing them into almost any usage scenario.
Performance
Great for small to mid-size venues, these offer plenty of volume and plenty of configurability. Allowing you to use them in nearly any setup, both in the air and on the ground.
The speakers are a bit bright when it comes to the higher frequencies, so you’ll want to dial in your EQ using whatever sound console you are making use of, or via the network settings for installations where you don’t need a console. With a good EQ, these speakers can sound absolutely fantastic and can throw plenty far. They won’t compare to something like L’Accoustics or Martin, but that’s what you get in two completely different price classes. For what they are, they sound great.
As for the subs, they can hit hard, and your low-pass settings can help determine how they hit and where. Like most subs in their class (and even above), this is easy to dial in and get the results you need. The overall range, when it comes to the frequency spread, sounds good for the price point. Offering you plenty of “oomph” for your environment. The audible result is similar to some of the brands mentioned before (ie, JBL, QSC, EV, etc).
With subs and speakers combined, this turns out to be a fantastic system that hits hard and is capable of a surprising range of sound. Once you have dialed in your EQs, you’ll even experience a noticeable body in your sound despite the speakers being on the smaller end of things (size-wise).
Final Thoughts/Points
We are starting to slow down to the end here, so it’s time to focus on anything else we don’t like as much. Nothing is perfect, so there is always something you are going to run into that makes you squirm or wince. Thankfully, there really isn’t much to complain about here. We have already mentioned the lack of information when it comes to manuals. Again, though, this is B2B for whitelabel manufacturing. So ultimately, it is the companies buying these speakers to rebrand them that get hit with the responsibility to cover this. However, since these can still be found directly through resellers, it was worth pointing out, and affected the score a little.
The only other thing we could point our finger at and wince at was the adapter that combines the fly bar to the pole for ground-stacking using the sub. Everything sounds and looks like it makes sense when you think about it. Take the image above, for example. That looks like a completely normal way to adapt things into a ground stack formation.
However, the point where the fly bar slides into the adapter and gets pinned together using two push-pins (as seen above) has play in it (space). This causes the fly bar to wobble side to side. It isn’t going to ruin your audio, but it does look funny if anyone is paying attention, as your speakers will sit slightly tilted. This is odd since the pole threads so firmly into the sub, creating a nice, dependable joining of two parts. Then you toss on the adapter and fly bar, and that perfect love story of firmly-fitting parts comes to an end. A little dramatic, sure, but we have high expectations for gear to look just as great as it sounds.
Thankfully, we had an easy fix for this. This doesn’t justify anything, but it at least solves the problem that is there. So to solve the wobble between the adapter and the fly bar, we simply slid a penny into the side that it seems to want to lean toward/into. This sealed the gap and created support that kept everything flush and straight. We then packed three speakers onto the fly bar/pole and gently pushed on things here or there to see if the trick would fail (which it did not).
This means you’ll want to keep a stash of pennies with your gear for easy use during setup. Or at least something similar to a penny (like a washer of equal thickness). It just happened that one of us had a penny in our pocket and said, “Here, try this!”. This is part of being in the live production industry (the ability to quickly MacGuyver any situation that might pop up with whatever you have available to you).
Our Conclusion
Which leads us to the conclusion! For their size, these speakers are capable of putting out a lot of sound. By that, I mean that we barely made use of them inside the studio before we hit levels that limited us from going any higher due to obvious safety concerns. Great for small to mid-size rooms/venues, these would be great for both microphone-equipped presentations and musical performances, all the like.
We could easily see these being used for conventions/conferences, in rooms as large as mini general sessions. As well as musical venues as large as a bar, a lounge, or a restaurant. This includes small to mid-size DJ performances. Or, something as simple as a backyard party/concert.
The speakers need some tweaking when it comes to EQ to help balance things out for a nice, smooth response. But this is common with most speakers out there.
The wobble when ground-mounted (between the bracket adapter for pole and fly bar), and the lack of rigging diagrams/instructions within the manuals, were the only cons we could point out. There are some basic instructions on the back of each speaker when it comes to setting angles, but that is all. So it does require some guesswork mixed with practical knowledge of working with similar arrays from other companies to get going.
But once you do get going, you’ll likely be incredibly happy with how they sound.
| Our Rating | Average Price* Contact BLG for price quotes |
*Average price is based on the time this article was published
Video:
Additional Images:
Specifications:
- BLA206ABS-NEO (Speaker)
- System type: Dual 6.5” Line Array Module
- Power Rating RMS: 350W
- Power Rating MAX: 700W
- Frequency response +/-3dB: 70Hz – 20KHz
- Frequency response -10dB: 65Hz – 20KHz
- Coverage Pattern ( HxV): 100deg x 15deg
- Maximum SPL: 123dB / 129dB (Peak)
- LF Driver: 2×6.5” Woofer, 2” VC, Neodynium
- HF Driver: 1.4” VC, High temperature, Neodynium
- Amplifier type: D-Class with DSP, RS485
- Input connectors: XLR 20K ohm Balanced
- Output connectors: XLR Balanced
- Cooling system: Passive radiator
- Functions: DSP setup, Low cut, RS-485 Network
- Power Voltage: 100-240V AC 50/60 Hz
- Enclosure: ABS
- Dimensions(WxDxH): 553x345x215mm
- Net Weight(kg): 9.35
- Qty per container 20’/40’/40’HC: 420/875/1020
- BLA206SUB15 (Sub)
- System type: 15” Line Array Module
- Power Rating RMS: 1000W
- Power Rating MAX: 2000W
- Frequency response +/-3dB: 45Hz-100Hz
- Frequency response -10dB: 40Hz-100Hz
- Maximum SPL: 127dB / 133dB (Peak)
- LF Driver: 15” Woofer, 4” VC
- Amplifier type: D-Class with DSP, RS485
- Input connectors: XLR 20K ohm Balanced
- Output connectors: XLR Balanced
- Cooling system: Passive radiator
- Functions: DSP setup, Low pass, RS-485 Network
- Power Voltage: 100-240V AC 50/60 Hz
- Enclosure: 18mm plywood
- Dimensions(WxDxH): 550x560x500mm
- Net Weight(kg): 37
- Qty per container 20’/40’/40’HC: 135/280/325
Co-Authors: James H.
Are you a manufacturer or distributor that would like us to test something out for review? Contact us and we can let you know where to send the product and we will try it out.
