Light Console Posted July 20, 2004 Share Posted July 20, 2004 Hi folks, Long time no post, but am in Mallorca till October, and internet in hotel only free when the waiters aren´t on it. SO, I don´t get much time to search if a topic like this has been posted before, if so, please move it.Right, I am planning to sell off all of my odds and ends of a sound system when I get back. I then plan to buy a new PA, but would like some advice on what to go for. I work with a Mackie Sound system here, and like their powered speakers, but most of the work I do requires the speakers to be high above heads, and these seem to be too heavy. So thinking of powered pair of Basses and Satelites. Have seen HK system on net for 1,900 pounds, or a JBL for 2,400 pounds, but with seperate amp rack included.Am I barking up the wrong tree?Cheers Folks,Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanG Posted July 21, 2004 Share Posted July 21, 2004 Have a look at the Nexo PS series stuff too - it's probably just inside the same kind of price range. What is the exact application? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olistockman Posted July 21, 2004 Share Posted July 21, 2004 We're running an HK Actor set up at the moment....and it sounds beautiful....the stupid number of leads at large shows is a little frustrating though...active speakers definately have their pro's and con's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dominicgross Posted July 21, 2004 Share Posted July 21, 2004 another vote for the Nexo gear: great sound and so easy: but SOOO expensive: the recent quote I got: 4 x PS10's @ 900p/u= 36002 x LS500 @ 1200p/u = 24001 x PS10 controller @ 700+ 2500 of amps and then some...= 10,000. £10,000 is a hell of a lot of money for a portable PA system... I ended up getting a simular performing Mackie system for half the price... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Console Posted July 22, 2004 Author Share Posted July 22, 2004 Applications are indoor PA in a school/village hall, where there might not be a stage to sit them on, or outdoors for fetes.Nexo good too, but £10,000 out of my budget!Might end up getting powered EV bass bins to compliment the SX200's I already have.Thanks for replies.Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_blue_rhino Posted July 23, 2004 Share Posted July 23, 2004 You could all ways go for a d&b system I know it is exepensive but if you want a small light and good sounding system the go for their e-series (the only problem is that you have to buy their EPac amp) I have worked with the C-series (4xC7 tops, 4xC7 subs and 2xb2) the system is ony 3.5k and kicks arse. the funy thing is when we were testing it was just running of one 13amp 4way I would also agree with your idea of the ev's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Light Console Posted July 23, 2004 Author Share Posted July 23, 2004 I have worked with a d&b system many years ago, they are great, but a little out of my current price range. If I get lots of work.....I can dream, can´t I?Although I am looking to do this in November, I am thinking that EV´s are the way to go for this PA, as already half way there! Cheers for your help folks,Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 If you're looking for systems at the lower end - scrub nexo and d&b et al and look for good quality, but cheap equipment with good backup. Unless you really need a rock and roll PA there's not much point in buying anything so expensive it will never pay for itself and need a hefty truck to move it in. I'm seeing more and more portable kit coming into our venue. Much is built around EV style 'clone' plastic cabs. They seem to wear very well and don't sound unpleasant. Many people seem to be using powered versions and then just pulling enough off the truck for the venue size. Some have matching plastic subs, but these seem to be a little lightweight sounding. I was quite impressed with some proper wooden 15" subs last week. Branded Powerworks, they are part of the HK product line. Quite heavy and work well. Last night we had 4 of these and 10 12/1" EV style mid/hi's. They had the same hanging points as our EV300's so we flew 2 of them from our advance bar. Sounded really good - and made the get-in/out very simple. We've also seen more people using German KME kit - this seems not too expensive but also sounds fine. They were an odd colour - sort of greyish paint finish. One small system we had in that didn't work too well was one of those small HK systems - two small tops, and 2 powered subs. Blew a fuse on power up! It actually sounded good, but was very underpowered - the act was confused as they had been assured by the shop they bought it from that it was big enough for the largest venue - turned out to be 600w from the sub and 150 each to the tops. So my advice for small, cheap PA - have a look at the thomann.de website and look at some of their own brand stuff and then buy more as you need it. When you want to spend over 5K things start to change a bit. Joe Pasquale was in last night - although he used our PA, he'd just bought some plstic powered boxes - made by GEM the Italian musical instrument manufacturer - he'd got an on site service deal with them - any problems and someone would bring more out with a couple of hours. Didn't hear them, but he seemed very happy with them - about 750 a pair I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slim_mcslim Posted July 25, 2004 Share Posted July 25, 2004 well you get what you pay for with PA quite frankly...and equally it depends on the kinda sound you want. personally I think that EV and Bose are ##### and I would never recommend them. we have recently supplied a load of EV clones, that don't sound as good as the EV, but are fine for thrashing a bit of disco through, they are strong boxes and the drivers last, and they have a trade price of £80 each opposed to the £500 on the EV. Personally I would reccommend Nexo, but it is expensive, even at trade price and I am not sure that PS8's cut it, they still lack a bit of punch. In our hire stock, and our prefferred choice for installations is Martin Audio, we have been using the F range, as they are exceptionally well priced compared to the W series, and sound pretty similar, and both sound fantastic. Driving this lot we spec QSC PLX amps for a mid priced setup, or Matrix Amps (which I believe have gone bust) for cheaper set ups, both of which are solid, good sounding amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Instantdeath Posted August 1, 2004 Share Posted August 1, 2004 EV's get my vote, I've used them in many apllications inside and out and they always sound good, very robust and fly easily. Most hire companies now use them instead of 802's. You can get them for 700.00 a pair trade so dont get ripped off. The look a likes are great for voice reproductions but dont come close for music or being driven hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dentos Posted August 2, 2004 Share Posted August 2, 2004 If you're looking for systems at the lower end - scrub nexo and d&b et al and look for good quality Lies! D&B stuff is some of the best sounding and most durable that I've ever worked with, it's expensive but surely worth every penny, fantastic stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljstevens Posted August 2, 2004 Share Posted August 2, 2004 D&B well what can you say! horrible sounding boxes well except the C6's which aint bad, and the B12s which are ok! You want quality then have a listen to Martin Audio cracking boxes! Meyer these are what you want! natural sounding boxes sound fantastic and also do powered stuff, they may be out of your price range! Also have a listen to Rankus Heinz, funktion One, Apogee, Some of the Nexo stuff, Some of the Turbo-Sound stuff these all produce good solid boxes ideal for rock and roll! But try HK audio fantasic systems fairly cheap could be what your looking for! Stay away from EV, Some D&B,Ohm,Tannoy, and Bose! Amp wise if you dont get self powered stuff have a look at www.Mc2-audio.co.uk quality but cheap amps, Yamaha are good robust amps, Some of the QSC stuff is good cheap and cheerful but does the job! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 I think we're getting into favourite kit now. It can be very snobby to slag off make after make in favour of something else. I don't like the Bose 'sound' myself, but you have to accept that loads of people do. Same thing with Tannoy. I did an install last year where the client had heard Tannoys in another venue and liked the sound. I ended up with 8 flown 15's and some 950 subs. I have to admit it did sound good - very 'tannoy' but still good. I think originally the thread was looking for good quality low end price kit - so d&b, nexo et al are just out of the price range. As a receiving house, we see loads of different systems - some makes I've never heard of, or ancient stuff in dreadful states, but most of them sound perfectly good for the use they're put to. It's fine to say you don't like something, but that doesn't mean it's #####. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard_cooper Posted August 3, 2004 Share Posted August 3, 2004 As a receiving house, we see loads of different systems - some makes I've never heard of, or ancient stuff in dreadful states, but most of them sound perfectly good for the use they're put to. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I could not agree more. I work in a venue that receives a good deal of shows. It is very rare for a show to have poor sound because of the equipment, its suitability the task and how well it's operated are more important. The only show that I can remember sounding terrible was a once famous singer, the show was painfully loud and increadibly harsh. That was the operators fault, not the equipment, but then again they did spend nearly an hour choosing between two SM58s! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enbee Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 My vote woulkd have to lie with D&B but I can see that this may be out of budget. I would have to suggest speaking to a few compnies, it may be that they will let you visit them and try some kit. I think the best thing that anyone ever taught me was that you can't buy talent. you can have the best kit in the world but if you have a pants engineer it will sound pants. The other thing to bear in mind is that your rig is only as good as your worst piece of kit. try to make sure that they quality of the kit is consistent even if this means going for slightly less quality in some areas. you may well end up with a better overall sound Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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