Seeing as there are a lot of you looking at PA columns and mini arrays, here's a few thoughts on the HK Audio Lucas Nano 600. I know lots of DJ's etc who are very sceptical about this sort of kit so I've put a bit of effort in to try to provide a fairly objective assessment.

Took delivery this week and it's already been gigged twice - for a small wedding (90-100 guests) in a 15m x 15m room approx and a children's party in a large village hall (35 children plus mums and dads). It coped with both, no problem and with room to spare, so that was good news. From experience, I'd guess it's good for gigs up to 150 people.

Anyway, straight out of the box you notice how good the build quality is. It is very solid and although it's made of plastic with a steel front grille, it feels as though it could stand a few knocks. HK Audio have braced the insides of the subwoofer to avoid rattles and improve resonance and that probably helps make the unit so rigid. It is light (19kg) and can be picked up with one hand with ease. It has two carry handles and it is a doddle to carry about. It is also very small at just 35 cm wide, 49 cm high and 47 cm deep including the 2 satellites which stash in the back of the sub. You could easily transport the whole thing in a car on the front passenger seat.

All the controls are easy to use and clearly set out. Just connect up your inputs from mixer / laptop / MP3 Player / Mic / Phantom Mic / Guitar / Keyboard (jacks /XLR/phono) then connect the sub to the satellites and that's it. If you are thinking of buying one of these, the satellites connect to the sub using speakons. When I bought mine, some dealers were getting confused with the 300 series and were recommending jack leads rather than speakon leads. TIP: You'll need 2 speakon cables to run in stereo mode, 1 cable to run in mono mode with the satellites docked on top of each other on a pole or....no speakons if you dock the 2 satellites onto the connector built into the top of the sub. Sounds Live in Newcaste kindly provided a pair of speakons for free. It's already been said that HK don't include any speakon cables, a speaker pole with M20 thread for the sub or the mountings if you want to put the satellites onto a speaker pole / stand so there's a bit of extra cost here if you need them all. You do get a nylon cover though. TIP: the satellites have a 3/8 inch female thread in the bottom so you could use microphone stand with a 3/8 inch male thread to mount them. I made some sleeves with a 3/8 thread on top to sit over my speaker poles so I can just screw the satellites on. Works fine, cost nothing.

The most important thing has to be how they sound and on this forum, are they any good for DJ's. Yes, in fact I am amazed with the Nano. It's beyond me how HK Audio have managed to get so much noise from such a small package. The sub is a revelation. Very loud, very low bass from a 10 inch speaker? I can't see how it is possible. It has a front facing speaker and also has ports on the underside of the unit which move a massive amount of air but by rights, it shouldn't be able to do what it does and certainly not from a plastic cabinet. The satellites are quite clever too. They have a multi-cell diffuser sat in front of a very small speaker and again, they do more than you would think possible. If you look at the technical data it states the satellite dispersion as 90 degrees horizontal and +10/-45 degrees vertical. I'm guessing that sound is thrown forwards / downwards more than it is thrown upwards so more is directed at the audience. I reckon that the satellites have the output of a decent 12 inch speaker so something clever is going on inside both the sub and satellite. Whilst the sub and bass output is amazing and the satellites give a very bright feel to highs, the mids are slightly weaker but there is a very useful tone control knob to compensate for this. That said, it just means that the nano sounds slightly different to a 'normal' speaker cabinet. Not worse, just a bit different different. After a few minutes, you get to understand the sound and it is very pleasant to listen to - precise, without a hint of coarseness or distortion, even at the point where the large easy to see red limiter light comes on (at last, someone has put a nice big limiter light on the top of a sub where you can actually see it). It is one of many thoughtful features on the Nano.

Today, I played some vocal / acoustic music through the Nano and it sounded like a live performer in the room whereas the bass from UB40's Kingston Town shook the room. The Nano also handles live vocals pretty well so it is a bit of an all-rounder. In our house we have a simple test. Amongst other things, I always play Darude's Sandstorm through any new PA. It's my missuses favourite and a good test track. If she nods or smiles, then the heavy bass crashes at the beginning must sound dramatic and the electronic highs must rasp as they should. She is, after all, a listener and not an overly complicated DJ. If she looks nonplussed then it's trouble. Within the next day or so, I'll be answering questions about how much money have I wasted this time! With the Nano, she nodded and even took a passing interest in the tiny little PA system. A result!. This is exactly how my DB Technologies subs were consigned to history because that time, she shook her head. Thumbs down. She knows best.

I have been overly sceptical when it comes to ultra compact PA's and mini arrays and I now have to eat humble pie. The technical people have perfected them and these tiny lightweight systems finally seem to be able to compete with bigger, heavier traditional PA speakers. It's very hard to describe sound output in words but HK's claim of 130db in mono mode isn't far off the mark. That might not sound so spectacular because there are plenty of single 10-12 inch speakers that can achieve these SPL's. However, none of them can match the bass output of the nano and nor can you split the High frequency drivers in two and place them in a stereo layout to give a full array of sound across a venue. This is what sets the Nano apart from other systems. With all this new fangled technology, I'd estimate the tiny Nano's overall output at somewhere just below that of the current Lucas Performer or the older HK Lucas 1000. This is for less than half the cost, about half the weight and half the size. The beauty of this system is that you can run it as a single modular column array or you can split the satellites and use it as a stereo system (similar to a HK Lucas Impact etc) or you can connect up 2 units to make a twin sub / 2 tops arrangement. The latter would make a very capable PA system and the two units combined wouldn't occupy much more space than a standard 15 inch speaker. Finally, when it's not being gigged in connects up to the telly in my music room to make a kicking 2.1 sound system!

If you're after a very compact PA, give this serious consideration.