Need Some Budget Active P.a, Need Help Guys Please.

[richard stringer 0]

Hi guys and and girls. I'm looking for building a budget active p.a system. One of the systems I was thinking about was the Wharfedale EVP-X12P 12" and 1" horn cabinets with Wharfedale EVP-X15PB 15" subwoofers, and the other system is the Peavey Pro-12P 12" and a 1" horn with the Peavey Pro Sub-P 15" subwoofer. If any of you guys have any other suggestions for decnt budget active p.a then please let me know.

[DJ Marky Marc 0]

what sort of work is this pa system going to be doing...

 

what are you connecting to the pa system..

 

what size venues are you playing in...

 

is size a problem eg. what type of transport do you have for it...

 

 

 

??????????

[richard stringer 0]

I'm gonna be using it in a village hall about 40ft wide by about 60 ft long. And i'm gonna be playing hardcore through the sound system. Hardcore as in rave music. Turntables will be connected to a dj mixer then to the sound system, nothing else like cd players etc...I'd rather have a lot more sound than I need as aposed to not enough.

[DJ Marky Marc 0]

Hardcore as in rave music.

 

Needs a Good system with a lot of bass end...

 

Turntables will be connected to a dj mixer then to the sound system

 

big sound system + turntables = lots of feed back......

 

you are going to have to isolate the decks some how or it will be a very quiet rave....

 

I'd rather have a lot more sound than I need as aposed to not enough.

 

Not going to happen with a Budget PA...

 

 

there are two things working against you here .. the fact that you dont have much money to spend and the fact that you want to play RAVE music at rave music voilume levels...

 

my advice is to hire in the sound system for these events untill you can afford to spend £5-6k on some nice large speakers and amps...

 

however if you want active speakers for dance music look at somthing like FBT MAxx, JBL PRX500 type setups..

 

minimum i would be using would be a pair of 18" subs of 500w RMS or more and tops 500 - 800w RMS

 

a lot of people here will say thats too much for a small venue, and yes it is for playing a dinner dance, but hard core rave is not dinner dance...

 

 

GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD>>> HIRE SOMTHING IN FOR THE FIRST GIG AT LEAST

[dh140770 0]

Needs a Good system with a lot of bass end...

big sound system + turntables = lots of feed back......

 

you are going to have to isolate the decks some how or it will be a very quiet rave....

 

Yep, and if it is a Village Hall with a old wooden floor it's going to be even worse.

Ideally get decks on something EXTREMELY solid, and ideally seperate in terms of floor area to where you are putting the speakers. This sounds crazy, but if they have a serving hatch can you setup the desk in the kitchen as that may be more isolated from the main dance floor.

 

Setup in plenty of time and experiment .. without upsetting the neighbours obviously!!!

 

[stoke53 0]

Personally i wouldnt go for active speakers if your gonna pound it with rave music not unless you can afford to splash out on something like the HK Actor system

A good budget system can be had using the behringer pro series with some decent amps.

 

alan

[cookiecat 0]

40'x60' venue.

I would say 1000w rms would be more than enough.

In a village hall the acoustics are going to be terrible anyway.IMHO if you get any louder it will just make matters worse.

Is there a sound limiter at the venue?

[Dukesy 0]

Hi Richard, welcome to the forum.

 

Just did a quick search on the net for new prices on the Wharfedale EVP-X12P and the Wharfedale EVP-X15PB speakers which yielded results of around £900.00 (give or take) for both.

 

If you want to throw-out a good, clean and rich sound (running active) on the night then I'm sure you could find a hire-system from a reputable supplier to handle the job inclusive of the amps and leads, etc with a little change! That's what my nephew did back in the early 90s along with his mates for a few years who managed to make a nice little earner on the side to invest in promoting event after event. After a while, the success allowed serious kit investment for the thousands attending.

 

Do you have a date set in mind?

There may be some forum members who are available and retainable to help you out if they just happen to own a system ideal for the task.

 

Perhaps you could tell us a little bit more about you in the Introduce yourself here section, where you are based and what types of work you enjoy and cater for. smile icon

[richard stringer 0]

I dont wanna hire a sound system cos it costs too much. i'd rather spend more and own a sound system that I can use any time I like and will have years. I am prepared to spend more but just wondered about cheap systems. I know all about resonance from the surfaces the decks will be on and acoustics because I use to run a recording studio. I'm definately going for active cabinets though. And behringer are absolutely poor quality, no offense. I've done parties in village halls before with my old sound system years ago, but sold it. I use to have 4 JBL MP-418 bass bins running off a QSC PLX-3002 amp so know jbl are brilliant, and I had Peavey Hi-Sys 4XT mid/high cabs with the grey grilles running off a QSC RMX-2450 amp so know peavey are damn good for the money. All that was in a little village hall and sounded brilliant.

 

Anyway, What about 4 Mackie SA-1532z active cabinets for mid/high and 4 RCF 4-PRO8001AS 18" subwoofers? Because i'm prepared to get high quality cabinets. I suppose if I open my wallet i've got about £5,500 to spend.

[Dream Catchers 0]

Need Some Budget Active P.a, Need Help Guys Please.

 

I suppose if I open my wallet i've got about £5,500 to spend.

 

That is some budget.

If you are willing to pay that sort of money I would have suggested naming the thread Need Some Quality Active P.a, Need Help Guys Please.

 

Jim

[Dukesy 0]

 

 

Thy look nice...

http://www.decks.co.uk/images/products/rcf/rcf%204pro8001as_2.jpg

 

But these seem nicer! tongue out icon

http://www.decks.co.uk/images/products/rcf/4pro%207001.jpg

 

Have you considered or checked out funktion one products?

 

 

[TonyB 0]

They sound very nice too

[DJ Marky Marc 0]

look at the new Active JBL 500 series cabs...

 

http://jblpro.com/products/portablesound/prx/

 

Some of these

 

http://jblpro.com/products/portablesound/prx/images/PRX525_Large.jpg

 

 

 

 

sitting on top of some of these..

 

http://jblpro.com/products/portablesound/prx/images/PRX518S_Large.jpg

Edited November 3, 2007 by DJ Marky Marc

[cookiecat 0]

I must be missing something.5 1/2 grand to spend for a one of in a village hall?

Hire fatboy slim and let him worry about the sound.

 

You have went from spending a few hundred to a few thousand!

 

 

 

Something fishy here.

Edited November 4, 2007 by cookiecat

[danger mouse 0]

I must be missing something.5 1/2 grand to spend for a one of in a village hall?

Hire fatboy slim and let him worry about the sound.

 

You have went from spending a few hundred to a few thousand!

Something fishy here.

must be selling the tickets at about £100 each , 100 people, 5 gigs later might break even! minus your time which was for free.

[Dukesy 0]

 

If the demand is going to be there for such beefy systems then great, good investment (and I can see what Richard means for the long term benefit of owning a system as opposed to hire but for small sized promotions, I stick 100% with my above comment smile icon ).

I'm not sure if aware that there will be changes to the law next year regarding noise (esp. in the workplace).

Local authorities will of course have a little more power/s. Under their remit inclusive of public houses, public hire venues and village halls. Sound limiters will have to conform to the imposed (reduced) settings, etc, etc.

Something to bear at the back of your mind before splashing out money on super systems?

 

 

 

 

 

[Dream Catchers 0]

I'm not sure if aware that there will be changes to the law next year regarding noise (esp. in the workplace).

 

It is the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 and can be found here.

The entertainment industry has until 2008 to comply.

 

Jim

Edited November 4, 2007 by JimBoylan

[richard stringer 0]

The only reason I asked about budget p.a is cos thats what I can afford easier, but I know quality p.a would be better. I'd have to saves for about a year to afford the quality p.a but I would do it if I knew it would be worth it by hundreds of people attending my parties. But I know budget p.a can kick out damn good volume cos I heard some Skytec p.a the other night. The reason you pay high prices for quality p.a is because the ound quality is better and the p.a lasts longer and is more hard wearing. The Skytec speakers kicked out some volume but obviously the sound quality was no way near as good as my old Peavey Hi-Sys 4xt cabs that I use to have.

 

I was wondering, which yields the better sound quality, Peavey or Wharfedale? Because I was thinking I might be able to get some Peavey Hi-Sys 3xt mid/high cabs with some Peavey Hi-Sys 215 subs, running off a QSC RMX-2450 amp. Would that be better than the Wharfedale system I was on about?

[Revelationroadshow 0]

It is the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 and can be found here.

The entertainment industry has until 2008 to comply.

 

Jim

 

Now then, I had a little look at this. Do I take it that these regulations apply to us and those working for us and NOT the clients who we are working for? In which case, if you have no employees, how much of a problem do we see it being for us as individuals?

 

Out of interest, who's responsible for the staff at venues where we work?

 

Sorry if this hi-jacks the thread. Might be useful to start another on this subject if there's enough interest?

[Dream Catchers 0]

Now then, I had a little look at this. Do I take it that these regulations apply to us and those working for us and NOT the clients who we are working for? In which case, if you have no employees, how much of a problem do we see it being for us as individuals?

 

Out of interest, who's responsible for the staff at venues where we work?

 

Sorry if this hi-jacks the thread. Might be useful to start another on this subject if there's enough interest?

The venue management (landlords etc.) have got to protect their staff, if you employ a roadie for example you must protect them.

As for the guests or public (pubs, clubs) it is their free will to be subject to the noise. The reason this differs from the smoking ban is that you can protect staff from noise levels (with ear plugs etc) but you cannot protect them from inhaling smoke. (without gas masks LOL)

 

Jim

[DJ Marky Marc 0]

all that will change is that employers will hand out ear plugs to the glass collectors and the bar area of some venues will operate at a lower volume level..

 

has anyone taken a volume pressure reading from behind there sound system?

 

and will i have to have warning stickers on my headphones ??

[Danzy Jones 0]

Saw the Wharfedale Titan 12 Active at music live, and read the review in PM magazine...plastic speakers, weight is amazing and they go loud!

[doggyc69 0]

My own personal opinion is forget active and good for a decent quality amp and speakers for reliability and performance JBL, RCF speakers if your budget supports it the funkton one system is awesome as for amps there are a lot of good quality ones on the markets forget the budget types they lack the protection of soft on and off etc thermal cutout off fans etc.

As for earplugs carry them at most events and thinking of getting a custom set made

 

[richard stringer 0]

My own personal opinion is forget active and good for a decent quality amp and speakers for reliability and performance JBL, RCF speakers if your budget supports it the funkton one system is awesome as for amps there are a lot of good quality ones on the markets forget the budget types they lack the protection of soft on and off etc thermal cutout off fans etc.

As for earplugs carry them at most events and thinking of getting a custom set made

 

 

If I go with passive speakers then i'll be using Crown amplifiers. I just seen some Celestion QXi-153 cabinets for sale and was thinking about buying 4 of them and powering them on a Crown XTi-4000 amplifier which kicks out 1,200 watts rms per channel into 4 ohms. The Celestion speakers are 8 ohms each and have 15" bass drivers, 6" mid drivers and 1" compression drivers so the mid range should be a bit more open and clean. I know how much of a gap there is when using 2-way speakers which use a 15" bass/mid driver and a 1" compression driver.

[The Ogrady Roadshow 0]

i've been running with the wharfdale evps15s for about 2 years now brilliant!! did have a problem with a dry joint on the crossover but other than that sound!! we also have a pair of 18" mocoy bass bins but they never hardly come out. i've never had a problem and think they were about 375 quid bit over the odds a suppose but been a cracking speaker running with a cmark amp. its a good little setup the speakers are very paunchy on there own and never seem to not have enough power. even in bigger rooms.