amp

[jfk]

What amp size would i get away with for karaoke ?

[UltraBeat Entertainment]

What speakers will you be using with it?

Need more information really.

[Jays karaoke]

Depends on a few things realyy. size of functions you want to gig at, what you will be runnung through it etc.

[jfk]

400 watt speakers i'll be using not too good on tech side of it

[UltraBeat Entertainment]

Is that at 8ohm's? also 400w is that RMS or Peak (as i would have thought). they may seem stupid questions but its critical to get the right amp for your speakers.

[501damian501]

a little bit of information from me, get a bigger amp then your speakers can take so then your not running your amp at 100%,so if you get a bigger amp u can run it at lets say 85% then it would be less heat and less chance of clipping and a long list of things, allways match the ohms and allways look at the rms values, you cant go far miss with it then,hope this helps, reguards damian

[HaiFai]

I was going to type something along the lines of the following and remembered the sticky thread in tech help by Excaliber.so if cut and pasted here hope it helps.
1: Speakers twice rating of amp so that you can't blow the speakers up. Except if you get an amp that really is too small, you'll overdrive it, and something somewhere will go bang, cos all the red lights are on like traffic lights.

2: Both equal. It must make sense, musn't it? If everything is the same rating, it matches. Hard to fault this logic.

3: Amp twice speaker rating. Theory is that since there is a fundamental inequality in the ratings of amps and speakers, this is the most balanced set up. and as long as you keep the amp signal down, it will run for ever at threequarter throttle, feeding a beautiful clean signal to your speakers, which in turn will sound lovely, and last forever.

[UltraBeat Entertainment]

I was going to type something along the lines of the following and remembered the sticky thread in tech help by Excaliber.so if cut and pasted here hope it helps.
1: Speakers twice rating of amp so that you can't blow the speakers up. Except if you get an amp that really is too small, you'll overdrive it, and something somewhere will go bang, cos all the red lights are on like traffic lights.

2: Both equal. It must make sense, musn't it? If everything is the same rating, it matches. Hard to fault this logic.

3: Amp twice speaker rating. Theory is that since there is a fundamental inequality in the ratings of amps and speakers, this is the most balanced set up. and as long as you keep the amp signal down, it will run for ever at threequarter throttle, feeding a beautiful clean signal to your speakers, which in turn will sound lovely, and last forever.

Is that really any help at all?

It doesnt help the poor lad choose which amp to get:p

[jfk]

just bought a pro sound 800 not prof kit but i felt it went with the kit i have

thanks for all advice even though a lot went over my head.

[nigelwright7557]

just bought a pro sound 800 not prof kit but i felt it went with the kit i have

thanks for all advice even though a lot went over my head.


I run a 1000WRMS in to the same power speakers.
This seems to be loud enough certainly for any average pub, club or public hall.

It wouldnt be any good for large band venues or very large public halls.
Then you would be looking at 10,000WRMS upwards and banks of speakers.

What ever you do dont buy a cheap amp off ebay, they just dont output the power they say they do. Go for a good make.

Dont forget that twice the wattage is not not twice as loud.
You need 10 times more power to be twice as loud.
This is because the ear is logarithmic.

[Tom]

Dont forget that twice the wattage is not not twice as loud.
You need 10 times more power to be twice as loud.
This is because the ear is logarithmic.

Really???:confused:

I thought it would be twice as loud.

Somthing like this

50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, 12800 ect ect

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I thought the efficiency was more important then the power?

This is interesting:

Perceptions of Increases in Decibel Level
Imperceptible Change 1dB
Barely Perceptible Change 3dB
Clearly Noticeable Change 5dB
About Twice as Loud 10dB
About Four Times as Loud 20dB

[Richard Veal]

Indeed it is - always look for the DB figure w/mtr of a speaker, wattage is not really a good indication. Which is generally why i keep quite in speaker debates - Also might be wrong here - but i recall something about 3db increase being twice as loud in pessure terms - will check my facts before i say more

[nigelwright7557]

Really???:confused:

I thought it would be twice as loud.

Somthing like this

50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, 12800 ect ect

No the ear is logarithmic.

100, 1000, 10000 etc factor of 10 each time is twice as loud.

Thats why my 1000W amp is only twice as loud as my 100W amp.

If you dont believe me google it.

[Boogie Boy]

1,000 watts is only twice as loud as 100 watts if all other things are equal (i.e. same speakers, amps both have exact same response curves, wiring identical etc).

I'd go against the advice given about having speakers that are lower rating than the amp and running the amp at say three-quarter power for some VERY GOOD reasons. With Karaoke you need lots of headroom in order for the singers to be heard above the music tracks. Firstly, singers are unpredictable in their use of microphones and will probably be very quiet one moment and really shouting the next. Secondly, this may overload your microphone inputs causing clipping distortion and thirdly, this distortion ruins speakers (they don't take kindly to square waves) and would possibly blow them up unless the speakers have enough headroom to handle it (because by implication, a distorted,clipped signal is going to be some 10dBs or more above normal operating levels; that is instead of throwing out say 400 watts, you're suddenly hit with a situation where possibly 800 watts of distorted sound is being fed to your speakers).

[501damian501]

thats why you use your mixer to balance the music to the singing lol, in all my time ive never had a problem as you have mention

[Boogie Boy]

thats why you use your mixer to balance the music to the singing lol, in all my time ive never had a problem as you have mention

Maybe you have enough common sense to work this way, or maybe you've been lucky, but you are leaving more factors to chance by doing so, IMO.
For example, do you know how many watts are being delivered when you have your amp's gain at whatever setting you have it on. In essence, no. The only time you have any reasonably sure way of knowing, is when it's set to #10. At that setting, the amp will deliver something near its rated output into any given load, given a defined input signal strength.

Have you never had singers who don't deliver a constant level (especially totally amateur ones who don't know the first thing about microphone technique and will generally have weak voices that need more gain)? Yeah, pigs might fly.

I, for one, have never seen the sense of using a power amp at a 50%/75%/85% setting and feeding that into speakers rated at less than the amps potential output. To me, it is complete nonsense.

[501damian501]

ok then carry on and call it nonsense but the whole of the 47 years my grandad has been doing karaoke, he has done it the same way have i, infact he taught me the ropes of karaoke, their is 3 djs in my family one being me, all together we probley have more experiance than you will ever have, so how can you call us nonsense ???

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

the whole of the 47 years my grandad has been doing karaoke, he has done it the same way have i, infact he taught me the ropes of karaoke, their is 3 djs in my family one being me, all together we probley have more experiance than you will ever have, so how can you call us nonsense ???

And my Dad's better than your Dad...:rolleyes:

Put your toys back in your pram please...:)

Karaoke hasn't been about for 47 years and neither has the equipment, so I'm not quite sure how you work that out? :confused:

[501damian501]

easly go look it up !!!!

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

easly go look it up !!!!

I have and it's been around for 20 years according to some articles and 30-35 years in others, originating in Kobe, Japan.

[501damian501]

i would stick to your "discos" not becoming an historian matey !!

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

i would stick to your "discos" not becoming an historian matey !!

And what is that supposed to mean exactly?

You posted that your family have been doing karaoke for 47 years. Karaoke in it's present form has only been about for between 20 - 35 years depending on who you talk to or what you read.

[501damian501]

yeah depending who you talk too, i will leave you with the digit of 35years, since you know best !!

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Go on then, tell us all about how your family did karaoke before it was actually invented then. I am genuinely interested.

What equipment was used? How did it work. Did you use songsheets? What kind of machine was used?

[501damian501]

like i said keep to your disco not history ok, since you know best !!

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

like i said keep to your disco not history ok, since you know best !!

Very childish. Why not just answer the question?

[soundtracker]

I'm guessing that Damian is in fact Japanese, which would account for English appearing to be his second language

[Totally Plucked]

just bought a pro sound 800 not prof kit but i felt it went with the kit i have

thanks for all advice even though a lot went over my head.

A rebadged Calsbro I believe :)

[Corabar Steve]

A resurected thread, post count building excercise?

[501damian501]

very pointless exercise you mean steve :D

[JAMdisco]

A resurected thread, post count building excercise?

Surely not, isn't that what the word association threads are for :D

[Corabar Steve]

very pointless exercise you mean steve :D
Like that post?

Surely not, isn't that what the word association threads are for :D
He's been doing it there too.