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Baze
31-08-2008, 11:53 AM
Hi All,

I have searched past threads on what you guys use, prefer and have reccomended in the speaker department.

I have decided to buy a pair of powered speakers. I would love to buy a set of Mackie SRM 450v2 speakers but they are quite a way out of my price range!!

I have come across a set of Warrior PSR12A 12 Inch Active Powered Speakers I know some of you really rate warrior speakers and for the price i think they are pretty good.

I would just like to know what you guys think of these speakers? Do you know of any other speakers that are on the market that would be better?

Realistically I have about £400 to spend but could stretch to about £500. Usually play in venues of around 150-200 people.

Your help, knowledge and experience would be greatly appreciated!!

nigelwright7557
31-08-2008, 06:51 PM
Hi All,

I have searched past threads on what you guys use, prefer and have reccomended in the speaker department.

I have decided to buy a pair of powered speakers. I would love to buy a set of Mackie SRM 450v2 speakers but they are quite a way out of my price range!!

I have come across a set of Warrior PSR12A 12 Inch Active Powered Speakers I know some of you really rate warrior speakers and for the price i think they are pretty good.

I would just like to know what you guys think of these speakers? Do you know of any other speakers that are on the market that would be better?

Realistically I have about £400 to spend but could stretch to about £500. Usually play in venues of around 150-200 people.

Your help, knowledge and experience would be greatly appreciated!!

If price is a problem how about building your own speakers ?

I built my own more due to servicing requirements than price. i.e. easy for me to replace.
I have a pair of 2 by 12 cabinets with Eminence 225 WRMS 12 inch full range drivers in them. This sounds good with a 1000 watt amp.

I also built a box with a 15 inch driver in and also a Fane Collossus 18 incher in an enclosure.

I build mine boxes out of chipboard but they can be a bit heavy so probably 18mm ply would be best.

CRAZY K
31-08-2008, 07:16 PM
Hi All,

I have searched past threads on what you guys use, prefer and have reccomended in the speaker department.

I have decided to buy a pair of powered speakers. I would love to buy a set of Mackie SRM 450v2 speakers but they are quite a way out of my price range!!

I have come across a set of Warrior PSR12A 12 Inch Active Powered Speakers I know some of you really rate warrior speakers and for the price i think they are pretty good.

I would just like to know what you guys think of these speakers? Do you know of any other speakers that are on the market that would be better?

Realistically I have about £400 to spend but could stretch to about £500. Usually play in venues of around 150-200 people.

Your help, knowledge and experience would be greatly appreciated!!

I would have thought the amount you need to spend to get a set up capable of covering 150- 200 people would be whatever it takes---not £400.

How do you arrive at that figure--:confused:

Gigs of that size must pay reasonably well ?

I cant imagine turning up in front of 200 people even for a Barn Dance with 12inch speakers--however efficient--I hope Excalibur doesnt see this;)

It will just underwhelm everyone including the people that booked it.

As a minimum you would need reinforcement from a powerful bass sub from a quality manufacturer like Mackie or DB if your considering 12 inch speakers--

If your taking this business seriously.

You wouldnt catch me turning up at any function with those numbers unless I had 15 inch tops and subs.

CRAZY K

Solitaire Events Ltd
31-08-2008, 07:19 PM
As a minimum you would need reinforcement from a powerful bass sub from a quality manufacturer like Mackie or DB if your considering 12 inch speakers--

If your taking this business seriously.

CRAZY K

I disagree.

Absolutely nothing to do with taking the business seriously and you won't necessarily need subs either.

Baze
31-08-2008, 07:32 PM
i have also looked at the 15" PSR15a active speakers and they are probably going to be the better option instead of the 12" ones. from what i have heard these speakers ar adequate on their own but eventually i will get a sub. do you think these speakers i good and value for money?

CRAZY K
31-08-2008, 07:37 PM
I disagree.

Absolutely nothing to do with taking the business seriously and you won't necessarily need subs either.

We disagree--thats fine:thumbs_up:

What would you recommend for £400 that would do the job covering 200 people without subs?

You know my recommendation--:D

CRAZY K

Solitaire Events Ltd
31-08-2008, 07:42 PM
We disagree--thats fine:thumbs_up:

What would you recommend for £400 that would do the job covering 200 people without subs?

You know my recommendation--:D

CRAZY K

You don't know the size of room and type of room and also are we talking about 200 people on a dance floor or 200 at the party?

200 people on the dance floor is going to need a fairly big system, whereas 200 at the party can easily be done with an efficient pair of full range cabs, veneue dependant.

Subs are for re-inforcement, for bass. They aren't going to make your voice carry further are they?

Excalibur
31-08-2008, 07:52 PM
If price is a problem how about building your own speakers ?

I built my own more due to servicing requirements than price. i.e. easy for me to replace.
I have a pair of 2 by 12 cabinets with Eminence 225 WRMS 12 inch full range drivers in them. This sounds good with a 1000 watt amp.

I also built a box with a 15 inch driver in and also a Fane Collossus 18 incher in an enclosure.

I build mine boxes out of chipboard but they can be a bit heavy so probably 18mm ply would be best.
Nigel, unless you are very knowledgeable in that area, and intend to build a very specialist item, I'd say that nowadays there is an abundance of good value speakers available without resorting to that.


I would have thought the amount you need to spend to get a set up capable of covering 150- 200 people would be whatever it takes---not £400.

I cant imagine turning up in front of 200 people even for a Barn Dance with 12inch speakers--however efficient--I hope Excalibur doesnt see this;)

It will just underwhelm everyone including the people that booked it.

As a minimum you would need reinforcement from a powerful bass sub from a quality manufacturer like Mackie or DB if your considering 12 inch speakers--

If your taking this business seriously.

You wouldnt catch me turning up at any function with those numbers unless I had 15 inch tops and subs.

CRAZY K

You called? :confused: :D


I disagree.

Absolutely nothing to do with taking the business seriously and you won't necessarily need subs either.

You're right Darren, but can it be done at that price? I'm not sure.
Crazy's preferred system( I wonder who makes it? );) ;) :D :D could be regarded as a default setting nowadays, and while not active, would certainly fit the bill.
Baze, you need to decide how often you will use the tops on their own. If the answer is regularly, go for 15" drivers. If rarely, then 12" is preferable.

Baze
31-08-2008, 07:59 PM
i think i will definatley go for the 15's. in your opinion are the warriors good speakers. the cheapest i have found is £449. for that money is there anything else on the market that is better??

Solitaire Events Ltd
31-08-2008, 08:02 PM
I and a few others use the PSR-8s which are a very nice sounding speaker. I assume the 15s would be the same. Doesn't Spirits High use them?

Excalibur
31-08-2008, 08:17 PM
i think i will definatley go for the 15's. in your opinion are the warriors good speakers. the cheapest i have found is £449. for that money is there anything else on the market that is better??

In case anyone gets confused, I have no personal experience of active speakers, other than carrying Twinspin's RCF's on Friday!:D :D I can neither recommend nor vilify any brand compared to any other. From what I have read, the Warriors get good reviews, and I'd be surprised if you could get more bang for your buck. I could recommend a passive setup of comparable spec, but no cost saving.

Tom
31-08-2008, 08:21 PM
Hi All,

I have decided to buy a pair of powered speakers. I would love to buy a set of Mackie SRM 450v2 speakers but they are quite a way out of my price range!!

I have come across a set of Warrior PSR12A 12 Inch Active Powered Speakers I know some of you really rate warrior speakers and for the price i think they are pretty good.



I have the SRM450 V2 and they are great speakers. I have a slight problem with one of them (led stopped working) but apart from that they are really good for 90% of gigs. The other 10% is where you would need extra bass from subs.

I won't be buying the mackie subs. 1, they are way over priced for what thay are and 2, i can build better subs for far cheaper.

So I will be building my own subs that are compact for dj'ing, yet powerfull to full a room.

Solitaire Events Ltd
31-08-2008, 08:23 PM
I won't be buying the mackie subs. 1, they are way over priced for what thay are and 2, i can build better subs for far cheaper.



I doubt that very much. Sorry, but years of R&D and you're just writing a company like Mackie off, saying you can make something better for cheaper?

That is a very big statement.

Tom
31-08-2008, 08:46 PM
I doubt that very much. Sorry, but years of R&D and you're just writing a company like Mackie off, saying you can make something better for cheaper?

That is a very big statement.


Without going off topic I have done some research and to get really low bass notes you need a large cab. Mackie and most other companies build compact subs/speakers. This is good for the mobile DJ as x amount of us have to use cars or trailers.

Lets say I want to go down to 30hz, If I was to use the Mackie 1801z subs I would need a 2+ to get down to the 30hz as a constant level. At just under £700 each, things can start to get quite expnsive.

The Mackie 1801z at -3db, the lowest they go would be 45hz. It also states that at -10db it can go as 35hz but -10bd is quiter than -3db. So the louder you turn it up, the more you loose the low end. Now I know this is ok for disco's but as the cab is a bandpass design the throw of the cab is not that far.

I have a DB sub 15 and was great at the time of doing it as most of the venues I was doing were small. Now I am getting booking for 100+ in large halls. The Bandpass design is not good for distance. If anything you either want front loaded or horn loaded.



Anyway, im going way off topic as usuall. :(

Solitaire Events Ltd
31-08-2008, 08:50 PM
Without going off topic I have done some research and to get really low bass notes you need a large cab. Mackie and most other companies build compact subs/speakers. This is good for the mobile DJ as x amount of us have to use cars or trailers.

Lets say I want to go down to 30hz, If I was to use the Mackie 1801z subs I would need a 2+ to get down to the 30hz as a constant level. At just under £700 each, things can start to get quite expnsive.

The Mackie 1801z at -3db, the lowest they go would be 45hz. It also states that at -10db it can go as 35hz but -10bd is quiter than -3db. So the louder you turn it up, the more you loose the low end. Now I know this is ok for disco's but as the cab is a bandpass design the throw of the cab is not that far.

I have a DB sub 15 and was great at the time of doing it as most of the venues I was doing were small. Now I am getting booking for 100+ in large halls. The Bandpass design is not good for distance. If anything you either want front loaded or horn loaded.



Anyway, im going way off topic as usuall. :(


But making a speaker that goes lower doesn't make it better, does it? That is my point with your statement.

You could make the biggest cabs in the world, but it doesn't follow that they would actually sound any good and to say that the Mackie subs are expensive is simply not true and to say you can make something cheaper and better doesn't really ring true to me either.

Andy Westcott
31-08-2008, 08:55 PM
I doubt that very much. Sorry, but years of R&D and you're just writing a company like Mackie off, saying you can make something better for cheaper?

Yes, you can, and the reason is that big companies such as Mackie need to produce a product to sell to the majority, and the majority want portability and small size at a reasonable cost - their product is dictated by the needs of the masses, and not everyone wants a speaker system capable of reproducing 30Hz at -3dB, although I'm one of those who do - which is why I build my own as no-one sells what I want - at least not at a price I could afford.

If you want just a basic 'sub' with an average performance then it would probably be better to buy a ready-made cabinet.

Solitaire Events Ltd
31-08-2008, 08:59 PM
I still don't understand why and how that having a cab that goes lower and louder is better though That was my point.

Tom
31-08-2008, 09:04 PM
I still don't understand why and how that having a cab that goes lower and louder is better though That was my point.

The way I see it is a lot of todays music, mostly r'n'b has a lot of very low end bass. Having a larger cab m,eans you can get those lower notes without having to turn the volume to to ear bleeding levels to hear it.

I do a lot of kids and teen partys who ask for this music all the time. For me this wold make my show better but if you wqere doing a lot of weddings ect, you wouldn't really need these big cabs unless you were in a large marque where you need the extra volume to project the sound.

A1DL
31-08-2008, 09:19 PM
I have a DB sub 15 and was great at the time of doing it as most of the venues I was doing were small. Now I am getting booking for 100+ in large halls. The Bandpass design is not good for distance. If anything you either want front loaded or horn loaded.


Tom

A sealed rear chamber bandpass cabinet will provide much further throw than a reflex box.

C4-SUB is one of the best bandpass boxes around (15+ year old design and still current product line) and a pair of them is good for far greater numbers than 100!

Tony

flatliners
31-08-2008, 09:20 PM
look at the fortissimo 15" speakers and later you could get the subs
and thats 2k sound system for £831.68

Solitaire Events Ltd
31-08-2008, 09:22 PM
and thats 2k sound system for £831.68

And if you didn't use text again, your last post would still be on here. :mad:

Tom
31-08-2008, 09:25 PM
Tom

A sealed rear chamber bandpass cabinet will provide much further throw than a reflex box.

C4-SUB is one of the bast bandpass boxes around (15+ year old design and still current product line) and a pair of them is good for far greater numbers than 100!

Tony

I have never heard them so I can't really comment on them but by going the stats at -5db they only go as low as 50hz for s single cab. So you would need more of them to go even lower.

I can't find out how much they cost, just hire prices but I can tell they cost quite a bit. For the average mobile dj, this is to expensive.

A1DL
31-08-2008, 09:28 PM
The way I see it is a lot of todays music, mostly r'n'b has a lot of very low end bass. Having a larger cab m,eans you can get those lower notes without having to turn the volume to to ear bleeding levels to hear it.


A single Stasys 8 (twin 18" hornloaded) goes down to 48hz. The box weighs 108kg. A single Q-SUB (single 18" reflex) - half the size of the S8 and just under half the weight goes down to 40hz.

So does size really matter?

Tom
31-08-2008, 09:44 PM
A single Stasys 8 (twin 18" hornloaded) goes down to 48hz. The box weighs 108kg. A single Q-SUB (single 18" reflex) - half the size of the S8 and just under half the weight goes down to 40hz.

So does size really matter?


Depends on the design of the cab really. As you know you can have a great speaker in a not so good cab and it will sound...not sou good. But if you fit a not so good speaker in a well designed cab you can make the speaker sound so much better than whst it is.

Here is the X1 (http://www.speakerplans.com/index.php?id=x1). On paper this can goes down to 31hz but can do down to 30hz. This is a DIY cab that is not big or small. Yes this is a bandpass design, but because it a lot bigger than the other compact cabs by other speaker brands, it can cope with the lower bass.

Andy Westcott
01-09-2008, 12:17 AM
I still don't understand why and how that having a cab that goes lower and louder is better though That was my point.

It isn't better as such - it's just a different tool do a slightly different job. Is a 12mm drill 'better' than an 8mm one, for example?

As KMA has already said, a lot of the urban style material can have some really deep content - growling bass lines and bass sweeps down to 35Hz and below - you just won't hear this using a 12" full range cabinet.

I do a fair number of teenage events and therefore need (like, if I'm honest) a good deep bass response to contribute to the overall effect of the show, but for my sins that means humping 2 X 280 litre bass cabinets around with me. Not necessary for your typical mixed age event though.

So - regarding the original opening question, the speaker requirements depend on expectations and use - small speakers with an unimpressive bass response but easy to transport, ceiling-looseners which require two to carry, or somewhere in between the two extremes?

CRAZY K
01-09-2008, 02:23 PM
You don't know the size of room and type of room and also are we talking about 200 people on a dance floor or 200 at the party?

200 people on the dance floor is going to need a fairly big system, whereas 200 at the party can easily be done with an efficient pair of full range cabs, veneue dependant.

Subs are for re-inforcement, for bass. They aren't going to make your voice carry further are they?

If your in the market for up to 200 people attending/ dancing ( like I am) then you could easily end up in a very large Marquee like I did in fact last week needing a lot of sound for a Country Disco.

It must have been 100 feet long--you may say you dont need a lot of sound for the dancefloor--but the people at the back of the Marquee want to hear whats going on as well. Especially as thats where the bar was:beer1: :beer1:

And the Rodeo Bull competition;)

The bass bins are to reinforce the sound generally, but your vocals go through them as well---unless you have a high pitched voice:D

As I dont know what bookings might come through I would assume the worst case scenario and buy a system that could cope with the above.

If its a small venue booking--leave the subs behind--I do that as well.

Thats my recommendation when someone says its 150-200 people.

CRAZY K