pumpkinhead456 Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 Hi all, At present I own an HK Actor DX and often hire in another for larger gigs. We are running four cheap Class-D 200w monitors at the mo, however for larger gigs again we hire in a better monitor set up. We are currently trying to establish ourselves as event organisers/pa hire etc (what ever we can use our gear for!) and so would much rather own all of our own equipment than rent from others. Saturday past we ran the sound for the Bon Jovi Experience in a 600 capacity hall and had to spend £130 on hiring a decent monitor set-up. So... Firstly what is a standard wattage/spl that a band would expect and will sit nicely with up to an 8k rig? And secondly what would you recommend for approx' £1200, or should I just keep hiring until I can afford a few Darts? I have never had to do more than a 4 way mix thus far, so lets assume that we just need 4 (or 8 if doubled up) monitors. Thanks for your opinions... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james.sealey Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 Hi all, At present I own an HK Actor DX and often hire in another for larger gigs. We are running four cheap Class-D 200w monitors at the mo, however for larger gigs again we hire in a better monitor set up. What were you getting for your £130 and did it fit your requirments/needs/preferences? We are looking at a new monitor rig soom, currently have 4 HK Darts, which are built like tanks and have served us well, however are struggling to compete with the SPL from our FOH rig. Not dissing the Darts as they are excellent, I just tend to drive our PA pretty loud :D J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pumpkinhead456 Posted August 11, 2009 Author Share Posted August 11, 2009 What were you getting for your £130 and did it fit your requirments/needs/preferences? We hire a rig from The Warehouse, 4 of these L'Acoustics 115 FMs plus a 4 way bi-amp and speaker management system (£14k's worth apparently). They are very good, however it also includes a 35 mile trip each way to collect then return the speakers, which takes another 4 hours and extends our working time by an extra day. If you are selling your Darts James then give me a shout first! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james.sealey Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 If you are selling your Darts James then give me a shout first! :D No worries, we still need to set out budget for new rig and finish getting funding sorted for it, so it may be a while yet, but will make sure I get them in the classifieds section on here as a priority... J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Riley Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 What were you getting for your £130 and did it fit your requirments/needs/preferences? We hire a rig from The Warehouse, 4 of these L'Acoustics 115 FMs plus a 4 way bi-amp and speaker management system (£14k's worth apparently). Just looking at the boxes you're getting, even off warehouse's list price sheet, you can still get 4x d&B M4 and 2x D6 for 100 quid. Howcome you're choosing to hire older, not as good sounding, heavier boxes for more? Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_Beech Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 The issue is that good monitors cost money. Lots of money. £14k may well sound alot of money, but this is what you can expect to pay for tour grade monitor systems if you're buying new. If you're used to monitors like this then there isn't much you can buy that will match their performance unless you spend that sort of money (or their second hand value). There are lots of monitors that match their performance, but they're all the same sort of retail price. You can't complain about the hire price (I'm sure you're not) but I fully understand about the extra travelling involved. However, that sort of monitor system is alot of £130's worth. I've kind of given up suggesting products to people be it tour grade or budget or somewhere inbetween, it's pointless trying to do so as there will always be someone out there that's had 715,846 of them that they have stood on a shelf broken. So my advice to you would remain as : Have a listen to lots of different ones, try to hire some different monitors from somewhere, some that don't cost as much (even if they cost as much to hire), and see what you can afford. Then ask yourself, is it worth spending £1200 on something when you're used to £14,000 worth and your £2.50 ones aren't cutting it for larger gigs? Is it worth even doubling your budget? or is it better to just use what you have where you can and keep hiring when you need to. The gear you have is better than the gear you don't have / can't get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pumpkinhead456 Posted August 12, 2009 Author Share Posted August 12, 2009 A lot of good points brought up above, all of which are much appreciated. I suppose expense (as with most things sound related) is subjective, and very dependent on what level of quality you desire and more importantly need.I would love to have a spare £14k to spend on monitors, however my whole audio set up has currently cost £9k. This weekend I have two dry hires of the HK's which could net me another quarter of a Dart, or pay for another monitor hire in the future. So far my cheapo monitors have sufficed in most situations; so I guess it is now just personal choice whether I persevere with hiring monitors for larger gigs (and I will shop about a bit more to get better value for money) and save my cash for other things, or to get me some nice Darts which will look better on the hire sheet but may only have a limited lifespan until the company grows... Time will tell, and an impulse buy will probably take over all rational thought! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris4monitors Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 Another thing with monitors is that the best sounding, loudest, clearest boxes are not always what the artists or their engineers want. The main artist I work with prefers to use "older" boxes with less proccessing as he and I believe they are more musical. The festival I did with him at the weekend had the L'Acoustic wedges and sidefills and he hated the way they sounded as it all sounded "too clean" and "not musical". I do see his point for the kind of music he plays. However for pop bands they are great. Its all very subjective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Riley Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 . I do see his point for the kind of music he plays. However for pop bands they are great. Its all very subjective.Ah, but with top line wedges (like the M4, Le1200, 115 HiQ etc) then the issue isn't with the boxes, it's with the mons engineer ringing them out. If the artiste feels comfortable with a warm sound, then use that really expensive graphic eq the hire co have provided you with to achieve that result. M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris4monitors Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 . I do see his point for the kind of music he plays. However for pop bands they are great. Its all very subjective.Ah, but with top line wedges (like the M4, Le1200, 115 HiQ etc) then the issue isn't with the boxes, it's with the mons engineer ringing them out. If the artiste feels comfortable with a warm sound, then use that really expensive graphic eq the hire co have provided you with to achieve that result. MThe problem is not with getting them rung out or volume its being able to to get them to sound dirty enough. the modern proccesors seem to cut out all the bits that I want to leave in and there seems very little I can do about it, but I am open to suggestions if you have any. I personaly love M4's, Clair Bros 12 AM and LE 1200 but for this act an old LE400 or similar with an old fashoned crossover always works best ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPTTRIAL Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 just recently I saw 4 beyma 15 and horn monitors for sale on ebay for £700.00 and they didnt sell. keep your eyes open and something will turn up. as long as its got some decent components they should be okay. also, try and use a big amp on them, theres nothing like a bit of headroom when the vocalist goes for it. you could be out of the door for £1500.00 for box's and amp. It sounds like at your level, you dont need to spend a lot of money. spending 10k on some wedges and amps does not make business sense as you wont get a return on these unless you can rent them out all the time. £130.00 for l'acoustics sounds okay to me for a days rent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Adam Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 If you guys are down in galashiels, why not give sound sense a call. The are in hawick and have logic wedges. Whilst not in the same league as the L'acoustics stuff, it might get you by on a few gigs where you don't need / want to make that trip. I should note that I've never used Sound Sense before as I'm not down that way, but I've heard of a couple of sub hires done via them that went well. It's more of a locality thing for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pumpkinhead456 Posted August 14, 2009 Author Share Posted August 14, 2009 Good call with Sound Sense, I know they do a lot of work over the whole of Europe however I am sure they could help us out!I think my lack of general monitor knowledge would prohibit me from purchasing from ebay - at least with out consulting you guys first!!If I were offered 4 HK Darts say for £1400 (second hand obviously!), do you think they would at least bridge the gap until my business expanded to such a level where 320 watts wouldn't cut it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundgeek Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 Try some Mackie SRM450s or SRM350s. 450s are £400 each - and they are powered and have a lot of power in ;) Nice and puncy too. For really small gigs you could use as FOH too. I hire mine out quite often to www.thebbcollective.com who use them as monitors. Hope that helps... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themadhippy Posted August 25, 2009 Share Posted August 25, 2009 I may know were theres 4 15"+1" beymers going for a few quid less than £700,although there a passive box they dont sound too bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.