Active or Not... Help!

[starlight-party]

Hi,

Maybe some of you experts can help me a little here. I am upgrading my sound as I am carrying two sets of speakers, 1 amp and 1 mixer amp to my medium sized gigs (150ish), its a lot.

I am looking at buying some active speakers ideally around 1600watt for the pair. Now I won't lie here, but I am no expert and I know should know more than I do. (thank god for the internet)

Anyway, I am totally confused on what to buy. I don't have a massive budget around £500 at best. I have been looking on ebay and the prices are all over, I would love to be able to spend a grand or two, but at the moment thats not possible.

So can anyone point me in the right direction on some decent, powerful active speakers or seperate speakers / amp (I am assuming 1600watt should be powerful enough for larger parties upto 250 people), but I dont want to buy some and they are not very good. I have some 800watt ekho speakers, 8ohm, 15" and a ekho 1600watt amp, but my smaller skytec 300watt speakers running off a prosound (i know, but its been a brilliant bit of kit and not let me down) 1000watt mixer amp. Like I said I am totally lost with all the technical stuff they put on the sites.

thanks in advance

Gary
Starlight Party

[Sapphire Disco]

Would think these were just what you are looking for ?

http://www.forum.mobilediscodirector...Mackie-450-V2s

[starlight-party]

Hi,

Yes a little farto collect and to be honest, I dont want to spending nearly £500 on second hand speakers. Done it before and twice been burned..

[DazzyD]

The SRM450 v2s are over £900 new for two, and speakers don't depreciate that much, so at £500 for a pair this is pretty much a bargain. The only thing they're lacking is the guarantee/warranty but, if you've got yourself a decent engineer then that's less of a worry. Also, I used to travel to Staffordshire, and I've been to Derbyshire a few times, and it's quite a pleasant little journey. Not that far away, really, and it could be a worthwhile day out for you!!

To be fair, with a budget of only £500, you're not going to be getting top of the range actives new. You could get a pair of Alto Truesonics or some DB Cromo's but anything less than 15" versions then you'd be looking at factoring in bass bins to add some depth for the size of venues you're looking at. The SPLs for these speakers are what you'd expect of budget speakers. Oh, and they're only around 400w a side (usually 300w low and 100w high) so not even near the 1.6kw system you're looking at.

[starlight-party]

Cheers for that, I live in Newcastle upon Tyne, not Staffs unfortunalty. So would be a 5 hour round trip easy.

Looks like I will have to save up for some decent speakers then, if i am looking at closer to a grand for some. Its a nightmare lugging 4 speakers, a heavy mixer amp and another amp and still jumping into the orange and the sound is not that powerful. Unfortunatly my knowledge is poor when it comes to all the technical stuff when it comes to speakers, just dont want to end up spending cash on something thats not great and in the same light dont want to spend a fortune on something that is not going to be used in decent venues and I am not making the money back on them, if you know what I mean..

Some of the ones I am looking at are:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2x-SP1500A..._qi=RTM1178011

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KONIG-ACTI...item35c43c39e0

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KAM-RZ12A-...item4ac0bc0633

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ACTIVE-15-...item51a9b1b379

Like I said i am pretty clueless..

[hadyn]

well if i had to choose between the second hand mackies and the brand new truesonics for around £500
id go for the mackies even though i have one of the truesonics as a back up.
the mackies seem to be a tried and tested speaker that a lot of peeps swear by.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

The Mackies are great in my opinion. Grab them for £500.00 (we should all be on commission here!) and save some more money and get a couple of decent subs and you're laughing.
The Macks will be good enough on their own for the smaller to medium sized parties and if you get larger parties then you add the subs.

I did this. I bought some RCF subs (used them twice so far) but wow! do they make a difference.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Like I said i am pretty clueless..

I'm going to be blunt. Everyone has told you what a bargain the Mackies are and you still listed a pile of rubbish from Ebay. If you want advice, then take it from the professionals on here. A five hour trip for a bargain like that is more than worth it.

They won't be powerful enough for 250 people, but you can add a sub when you have the budget.

[ukpartydj]

The Mackies are great in my opinion. Grab them for £500.00 (we should all be on commission here!) and save some more money and get a couple of decent subs and you're laughing.
The Macks will be good enough on their own for the smaller to medium sized parties and if you get larger parties then you add the subs.

I did this. I bought some RCF subs (used them twice so far) but wow! do they make a difference.

Agreed, I buy all my speakers second hand ... mainly because I've heard that the original mackie V1's & RCF310a's (V1) used less cost optimised parts.
Warranty is good but the £300 saving would probably cover the repair bill if you're speakers did have a problem.

[starlight-party]

I live in Newcastle upon Tyne, not staffs. So a round trip to derbyshire would take around 5 hours, so thats a no no.

Seems like Mackies are the way forward, worried about the size though. I don't want to have to carry subs too. One of the reasons I am after some half decent active 800watt (each) speakers, so i can carry just the one lot and not have to carry 4 big speakers. I agree on the subs making a difference in a big venue.

Looks like I am going to have to save up for some better quality stuff, I really thought, maybe nievely tha £500 could get something half decent.

Anyone any idea what the ekho or qtx speakers are like?