from bad to worse

[amplified]

Right so iv just got home from doing an 18th and i must say it went really well. So now your proberly wondering what went wrong.

well i'll tell you its my SPEAKERS. The thing is i'm only 18 and so cant afford a van or a trailer and havent got endless amounts of money for good speakers like some mackies. So when my cheap soundlab ones blew a year ago i got some QLX pro 350w rms (plastic cabs) they arnt the best speakers in the world but they are good quality for the price. Now last week at a leavers ball a tweater went and also a driver in a pair of smaller speaker i use.

so at this point i'm fed up and was thinking im going to sort my sound out once and for all so i went wild and got some class D 350w bass bins to replace my smaller speakers and i took my QLX in for repair. come friday when i came and picked it up it wasnt ready because the replacment compression driver hadnt been delevered But i took it anyway as i needed it for this 18th and i was just going to have to do with the sound being un-balenced. half way through this 18th the damaged qlx goes all togeather. but to be fair the other one did me proud and it wasnt that noticable and that was to me we was sobar and everyone else of there face.

so now i'm faced with a dilema. do i :
1. just get the one damaged QLX speaker repaired
2. replace both drivers in the QLX speakers with some quality eminence ones
3. sell the QLX for what i can get and get some new speakers for around £200-£250 (not my favourite as i will be struggling to afford it)

so there you go, hope i havent bored you with my troubles but it would be nice to get some advice and guidence. thanks

[spin mobile disco]

To be honest there is no right or wrong answer just opinions.
As someone who has been through a few different pairs of speakers in my time my best advise would be save up for good speakers they are well worth the little extra money.
For example I bought some skytech 15inch speakers about 5 years ago and paid about £120 the pair. They were great up to a point sounded pretty good although never quite the volume I desired.
I then upgraded to a pair of peavey st-15's which I loved and were a great speaker. They had a much better efficiency rating than the skytechs so the percieved volume was greater. Peaveys are a great work horse speaker and well worth considering.
I then went to mackie c300's which again were an upgrade although I now needed to add a sub for good bass response for larger gigs.
I now use DB opera 402's the next jump up for me. But I would have saved a fortune if I had saved up from the start.

Skytechs = £120 a pair
Peaveys = £180 a pair (plus came with free cables and stands)
mackies =£350 a pair (got a bargain on that at the time)
DB operas = £650 a pair

SO adding it up I actually spent nearly double what I should have to get where I am than if I had saved up to start with.

My advice on this would be get your speaker repaired. If it costs to much buy some work horse speakers like the peavey pro's. These are reliable and come with a 5 year warantee. Use that time to save up then jump straight up to the better makes like DB, RCF etc. It will be worth the wait.

[DJ James Lake]

It might also be worth looking at a more powerful amp, a mistake a lot of people make is buying too small and amp and then having to thrash it causing distortion which will make any speaker blow.

[A1DL]

Look out for a pair of branded speakers secondhand, there are often bargains to be had, here's one link that may be of interest:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Electrovoice-EV-SX200-Spkrs-1200W-Peak-Pwr-1pair-left_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ65Q3a3Q7c66Q3a2Q7 c39Q3a1Q7c293Q3a6Q7c294Q3a50QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2 em14QQhashZitem45ed0fccd8QQitemZ300329979096QQptZU KQ5fConElecQ5fSpeakersPASystemsQ5fRLQQsalenotsuppo rted


If you buy entry level speakers, you will continue to have quality & reliability issues.

If you buy branded pro kit secondhand and look after it, it will serve you well and hold its value come the time you want to sell it on.

[Excalibur]

Look out for a pair of branded speakers secondhand, there are often bargains to be had, here's one link that may be of interest:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Electrovoice-EV-SX200-Spkrs-1200W-Peak-Pwr-1pair-left_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ65Q3a3Q7c66Q3a2Q7 c39Q3a1Q7c293Q3a6Q7c294Q3a50QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2 em14QQhashZitem45ed0fccd8QQitemZ300329979096QQptZU KQ5fConElecQ5fSpeakersPASystemsQ5fRLQQsalenotsuppo rted


If you buy entry level speakers, you will continue to have quality & reliability issues.

If you buy branded pro kit secondhand and look after it, it will serve you well and hold its value come the time you want to sell it on.

Don't disagree with that sentiment at all Tony, but if funds were an issue, roadies were young and fit, and you wanted one cab to do it all, even though these have gone up £25 , they're half the price of the EV, and 15" drivers. ( :eek: :eek: :eek: ) I can't recomend these enough.
http://www.classd.ltd.uk/1400w-cd15sp_pair-of-classd_pa-speakers.html

If 12" is preferred, these are the ones. I've not heard these, so can't say how much bass you'd get, but I'd expect them to match or exceed any other 12" box, cos they'ree still big cabs.
http://www.classd.ltd.uk/1200w_pair-of-cd12sp-class-d_pa-speakers.html

[rob1963]

If you buy branded pro kit secondhand and look after it, it will serve you well and hold its value come the time you want to sell it on.

Assuming it was looked after by the previous owner, of course!

:D

[ppentertainments]

If 12" is preferred, these are the ones. I've not heard these, so can't say how much bass you'd get, but I'd expect them to match or exceed any other 12" box, cos they'ree still big cabs.
http://www.classd.ltd.uk/1200w_pair-of-cd12sp-class-d_pa-speakers.html
I will vouch for these speakers. They are bigger than most 15" but do sound reallg good on their own. I would reccomend these to anyone, use on their own, then add a couple of subs at a later date.

To put it into perspective, I done a 18th gig for 80 people just using these speakers due to difficult access. The speakers managed no probs at all, and thats at an 18th.

[amplified]

well at the moment i'm using an behringer ep2500 to power both the speakers and bass bins. i calculated linking the speaker and bass bin gives 700 watts rms at 4 ohm and the amp gives 750rms a side. so am i going wrong here ?

[Excalibur]

well at the moment i'm using an behringer ep2500 to power both the speakers and bass bins. i calculated linking the speaker and bass bin gives 700 watts rms at 4 ohm and the amp gives 750rms a side. so am i going wrong here ?

Depends. If you're not using the filter in the bins, the tops are trying to reproduce bass also, which is not ideal.

If you use the filter, the subs get bass, the tops get high end, and the amp sees 8ohms, thus reducing the load ( and sound output) a little. As has been said before, there's the temptation as James rightly said to push the faders up to the limit, and thrash a struggling amp past the safe levels, and feed crap to the cabs. Recipe for disaster. Keep all the red lights off, whether on mixer or amp, or there'll be more blown drivers. Simply buying a bigger amp isn't the solution, you won't hear a noise increase, just less damage to the cabs. I had two diferent amps for the same cabs, and the bigger one was effortless, the little one could struggle on occasion.

I know it's more expense, but as I've said many times, the ideal rig is an active crossover, two amps. You can work towards this in stages.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

havent got endless amounts of money for good speakers like some mackies.

From what you have posted, buying cheap speakers is false economy. You could have bought a fairly decent pair of cabs if you add up how much you've spent on cheap rubbish and repairs.

[Penfold42]

From what you have posted, buying cheap speakers is false economy. You could have bought a fairly decent pair of cabs if you add up how much you've spent on cheap rubbish and repairs.

Couldn't agree more.....living on a false economy is not the way to go.

Think of it like buying clothes or shoes....good pair of shoes will last you and less trips to the clobblers....:D

I bit the bullet and bought a faily reliable sound system (2nd hand)...:sofa:...(ducks for the incoming)...but it has served me well and I've never had a problem.

:)

[Tom]

Couldn't agree more.....living on a false economy is not the way to go.

Think of it like buying clothes or shoes....good pair of shoes will last you and less trips to the clobblers....:D

I bit the bullet and bought a faily reliable sound system (2nd hand)...:sofa:...(ducks for the incoming)...but it has served me well and I've never had a problem.

:)

Nothing wrong with second at all. :)

You can pick up some real jems these days.

Most of us buy cars/vans second/third hand anyway. :)

[amplified]

well theres a pair of peavey st-15's iv got my eye on on ebay.

I might well have to buy another amp and crossover as the 1 amp i'm using now is clipping before the bass bins are hardly putting anthing out.

anyway thanks for the advise guys

[Penfold42]

Nothing wrong with second at all. :)

You can pick up some real jems these days.

I would agree with this up to a point.

...I have also bought some right crap second hand....(not off you Tom ;) :p :D )...but you do have to watch what you buy...IMO. :)

[Tom]

I would agree with this up to a point.

...I have also bought some right crap second hand....(not off you Tom ;) :p :D )...but you do have to watch what you buy...IMO. :)

Haha. :D

Have to agree though. :)

[Excalibur]

I would agree with this up to a point.

...I have also bought some right crap second hand....(not off you Tom ;) :p :D )...but you do have to watch what you buy...IMO. :)

A good reason for dealing with trustworthy folk on here. ;) :D :D

[Penfold42]

A good reason for dealing with trustworthy folk on here. ;) :D :D

Amen to that brother. ;) :D

[CRAZY K]

well theres a pair of peavey st-15's iv got my eye on on ebay.

I might well have to buy another amp and crossover as the 1 amp i'm using now is clipping before the bass bins are hardly putting anthing out.

anyway thanks for the advise guys

Hmmm tread carefully on ebay---you dont know what a hammering they have had.

If your looking at that type of speaker I would suggest the new Peavey Pro15that has a 5 year warranty on new speakers.

May not be rated on here but mine are doing the business still after 4.5 years and I wouldnt replace them with anything else.

I have also been impressed by sounds from Mansfield.

CRAZY K

[Vectis]

I rate 'em :)

Unbeatable for that sort of money. If the budget will stretch, you can usually get a new pair with stands and cables for about £230 from Stagebeat.