Your recommendations please

[Ben Lawrance]

Hi All

 

A mate of mine is a performer doing caberet shows for weddings, functions etc. He has decided it is time to upgrade his PA. He plays backing tracks via minidisc, and sings along to them.

 

 

What he needs:

 

To cover audiences up to 1000 people

Reasonably light weight

Fit in a transit Van

Powered boxes would be a bonus

Subs and tops (to cover the whole audio spectrum, not just the vocal)

 

 

His budget is about the £3000 mark

[Chris Hinds]

To cover audiences up to 1000 people

Reasonably light weight

Subs and tops (to cover the whole audio spectrum, not just the vocal)

His budget is about the £3000 mark

OK

 

What he needs:

... is a good relationship with a local hire company. You are not going to cover a 1000 Pax audience for £3k. You might second hand... but not well. 1000 people able to hear and hear well implies two stacks of D&B C7, a pair of JBL SRX722 and SRX728 Subs with DR/Amps etc etc. A minimum of double the proposed investment. For the number of times he's doing 1000 people he'd do better to hire. He's more likely to save on storage costs too.

 

Regards

 

Chris

[Bobbsy]

Coming at it from a slightly different direction to Chris, I suspect the first thing that might be needed here is a reality check on the size of audience to be covered. You mention that he does "weddings and functions". For this sort of event, 1000 people would be extremely unusual, with a rig that can comfortably cover a couple hundred being much more what's needed. If expectations are lowered to the 2-300 mark, then perhaps the budget (and also the aspirations to be able to carry it in a transit) will be more realistic. This is especially the case since weddings specifically do NOT want Metallica-level SPLs. Levels have to be low enough for the ushers to make their drunken passes at the bridesmaids without yelling!

 

Even so, I'd still check out my local hire company and find out what's available through them, then perhaps spec the owned gear to be something compatible so when you DO need more, you can still use your system as the basis and use the hire company for add-on extra ooomph.

 

Bob

[Joe]

I work with an 8 piece function band, doing corporate and weddings, so far the largest audience has been 400. I use a Mackie setup (2 x SRM450 tops, 2 x SWA 1501 subs). According to Mackie that's around 2Kw. That type of powered speaker and a decent desk (A&H Mix Wizard or the like) should be possible in his budget.

So far I have not had to push it to it's limits to cover any of the venues or audiences. If your friend is really doing crowds of 1000 on a semi regular basis, then I agree with the other posters, he probably needs to build a relationship with a hire company.

 

 

Joe

[jamesperrett]

Even so, I'd still check out my local hire company and find out what's available through them, then perhaps spec the owned gear to be something compatible so when you DO need more, you can still use your system as the basis and use the hire company for add-on extra ooomph.

 

I'm not sure what it is like now but when I was in Liphook there were no decent hire companies with that sort of rig within 30 miles. Mind you, are there many 1000 capacity venues within 30 miles of Liphook either?

 

Cheers

 

James.

[Bobbsy]

I don't know the Hampshire scene at all (have been north of the Thames as long as I've lived in the UK) but I have to say that I'd have to travel a long way to find a functions venue that could handle 1000 people.

 

The trouble is, when specifying a sound system, there's a pretty massive jump between "a few hundred people" and "a thousand people". The cost (and hidden costs like transport) increase almost exponentially...so unless you regularly do events of that size, it's probably not worth trying to equip for them yourself.

 

Bob

[paulears]

It isn't the number of people, or even the size of the venue, it's a question of how loud do you want it. Our venue is a big single level, raked auditorium seating 1200 in a rectangular building. Visiting middle of the road artistes often have quite small systems, and most cope well - we've had a Mackie system, like the one mentioned above, with 4 tops and just 2 subs, and quite a few times people like Bucks Fizz who had no problems with 4 EV SX300s and subs - quite modest systems. In fact we have a semi-permanent 'B' system with just these components as the EV's worked so well. We've flown a pair from the front truss, and have 2 pairs we can mount on the stage side extensions when we have side by side shows and the other has a big system in, but not being used. Unless you want gut bending high spls, then they are quite capable. I'm not saying they are excellent, because there are limitations, but for many events they are perfectly matched to 1200 people, although rock and roll - they aren't!

[LampTramp]

A nice little PA system with a lotta punch is fohnn Xperience II active sub and XT2 tops and not megga bucks to buy new

[paulears]

These compact systems, and the similar KME, HK versions do sound quite good in smaller rooms, however, I always find the one sided sub a bit odd in a room where the spacing means that the sub has to be very one sided. Obviously, a central sub is great, but finding a place for it is often tricky- I guess you could just buy and extra one?

[Chris Hinds]

Coming at it from a slightly different direction to Chris, I suspect the first thing that might be needed here is a reality check on the size of audience to be covered. You mention that he does "weddings and functions". For this sort of event, 1000 people would be extremely unusual, with a rig that can comfortably cover a couple hundred being much more what's needed. If expectations are lowered to the 2-300 mark, then perhaps the budget (and also the aspirations to be able to carry it in a transit) will be more realistic. This is especially the case since weddings specifically do NOT want Metallica-level SPLs. Levels have to be low enough for the ushers to make their drunken passes at the bridesmaids without yelling!

While I maintain my original position if the croud is in the 1000 person range, as Bob says, lowering the requirement to 2-300 people makes things much more feasible. The amount of extra power and coverage needed is often grossly underestimated.

 

For 300 people consider the new MRX line from JBL in unpowered boxes, or the Mackie powered solution which also works very well though admittedly not quite to the same SPL output. The other solutions that are presented with the single Sub I have to say I'm not overly inclined towards.

 

Regards

 

Chris

[Matt Riley]

I'm not sure what it is like now but when I was in Liphook there were no decent hire companies with that sort of rig within 30 miles. <snip>

 

Cheers

 

James.

 

Que? I've been living in Soton for a grand total of 5 months, and I can name/recommend the following very large suppliers who could do what you want within 30 miles of Liphook - there will probably be loads of other as well.

 

BCS concert audio - Fareham Hants - great guys, stock everything up to VDOSC.

RPA Sound - Soton, Hants - They could probably put together a nice Q series rig for you, or something smaller if you wish.

University of Surrey - Guilford, Surrey - Like my uni (Southampton) they are a students' union that happen to hire out their not insignificant stock of gear to the public, not a hire co, but if you can cope with that then you could do far worse.

 

SFL group in Reading are about 30 miles away as well.

 

I'm sure that a quick google would turn up many more,

 

Matt

[LampTramp]

With the fohnn system just add a passive sub on the other side, that takes it up to a 2k rig that fits in the back of a mini!!

[Rob_Beech]

Nice Quote there :** laughs out loud **:

 

I've not really worked with the Fohnn stuff a great deal but have heard nothing but good reviews on the systems.

 

I'm with the majority here, if you can find a system (probably 2nd hand) that can cover a few hundred people that a local hire company also stocks, then you can add to the system for larger events which should work out cheaper than hiring a complete system and having yours sat at home doing nothing.

An example is having 2 tops and 2 subs a side which are 8 ohms. The hire in 2 more tops and 2 more subs would bring the amplifiers impedance down to 4 ohms. not normally a problem here, so a fairly cheap addition to the system. it means you dont have to carry it around everywhere, you dont have to buy it, just hire when you need it. Obviously there are some very expensive systems out there, some which wipe your budget out with a single box. These are still surprisingly cheap to hire, is it worth hiring a system all the time?

 

Rob

[MarkPAman]

Just to be pedantic :** laughs out loud **:

 

I've been living in Soton for a grand total of 5 months, and I can name/recommend the following very large suppliers who could do what you want within 30 miles of Liphook - there will probably be loads of other as well.

 

Um, you must have long miles!

 

To drive:

Fareham - Just over 30

Southampton - Over 40

Guilford - Yep, that's within 30

Reading - Over 40 as well

[jamesperrett]

Que? I've been living in Soton for a grand total of 5 months, and I can name/recommend the following very large suppliers who could do what you want within 30 miles of Liphook - there will probably be loads of other as well.

 

Thanks Matt - it shows how out of touch I am really.

 

Cheers

 

James.