andykelly Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 Hi guysLooking for a pair of active speakers to act primarily as electric piano speakers but also for occasional speech to around 1000 school children and occasional vocals over an un-amplified school Big Band. The only speaker I have experience with in this price range that is also active is the Mackie SRM450 (not the newer version) I've used them in venues quite often as monitors, and noticed they overheat and cut out a bit too often. Also heard them being used to play music and found them to be very 'hi-fi' sounding. Through looking through websites I've come up with a list of 3. RCF Art 312a - I've been very impressed when engineering on large RCF systems before, these also seem to get very good reviews and are within the budget.Montarbo T10a - Excellent spec for the price, I've never used or even heard any Montarbo speakers before though...Turbosound Milan Mio - These are just over budget, but my boss love's the Turbosound name! If people recommend them I will propose them to him, although I'm not so caught up on name brands! I know the first thing people will say is "Go out and try them for yourself" - As far as I know though, that's not going to be possible as I'm not aware of anywhere that stocks all 3 speakers even remotely close to where I live (Oxford, England) ThanksAndy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brainwave-generator Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 Hi guysLooking for a pair of active speakers to act primarily as electric piano speakers but also for occasional speech to around 1000 school children and occasional vocals over an un-amplified school Big Band. The only speaker I have experience with in this price range that is also active is the Mackie SRM450 (not the newer version) I've used them in venues quite often as monitors, and noticed they overheat and cut out a bit too often. Also heard them being used to play music and found them to be very 'hi-fi' sounding. Through looking through websites I've come up with a list of 3. RCF Art 312a - I've been very impressed when engineering on large RCF systems before, these also seem to get very good reviews and are within the budget.Montarbo T10a - Excellent spec for the price, I've never used or even heard any Montarbo speakers before though...Turbosound Milan Mio - These are just over budget, but my boss love's the Turbosound name! If people recommend them I will propose them to him, although I'm not so caught up on name brands! I know the first thing people will say is "Go out and try them for yourself" - As far as I know though, that's not going to be possible as I'm not aware of anywhere that stocks all 3 speakers even remotely close to where I live (Oxford, England) ThanksAndy For trying stuff out the only hope you've really got is PMT on the Cowley Road. All I'll say about choices, is I think you should check out the new Studiospares Auditorium 2 range. For your budget you'll easily get 2 of their biggest model (active), and they do sound good. They're quite a lot cheaper as they cut out the distributor from the money chain. The Turbosound is a good speaker but a bit small for what you need. The M15 would probably be alright but I guess that's even more over budget. I would definitely give the Auditorium 2's a look, they are in my opinion by far the best bang for buck you'll get at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laolu Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 I love the Mackies you mention and would buy them anytime again. I didn’t have the problem that they did a thermal shutdown. Maybe I never cranked mine that much. And I hardly lay them down in a monitor position, where convection is hampered. I use them for venues up to 500 pax in combination with a sub and am very happy with them. Maybe that last item is something you might consider: add a decent sub and you will gain headroom for the Mackies. You can run them via an active x-over (I am using an old RANE AC22) and keep the real deeeeeeeeeeeep stuff away from them. And do a little EQ-inq around 5 - 8kHz if they sound too harsh for your application…. My 2 cents, Norbert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthowe Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 The turbosounds would be a good choice in my opinion good all round box, Try looking at the QSC K series as well. They might be a bit over your budget but they are an impressive box!! they come in different driver sizes from 8 to 12 I think, but the amps are all the same in them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indyld Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 The turbosounds would be a good choice in my opinion good all round box, Try looking at the QSC K series as well. They might be a bit over your budget but they are an impressive box!! they come in different driver sizes from 8 to 12 I think, but the amps are all the same in them. I thought about the QSC K series too, though I've no idea how much they are if am honest. Pretty solid bits of kit, installed some K8s recently and was pretty impressed with power and clarity, although they do sound a bit plasticky out of the box and the tweaks I came up with in the room were cutting a little around 75 and 7.5 - 8K. 100 odd degrees all round and seemingly always on axis wherever you were - including out the back of 'em so watch that. They also have a good few built-in tweak switches, mic/line inputs and line outputs and looked nice enough on the wall. They angle a forward a bit, but not really enough so some creative mounting ensued. Just thought I'd expand as I was only working with them yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andykelly Posted October 30, 2011 Author Share Posted October 30, 2011 Thanks for all the responses guys. In terms of PMT, I will have a look there, but I've had nothing but bad experiences unless I'm dealing directly with Dan, the manager. QSC K series are well out of budget, I've used them before and REALLY liked them, unfortunately, even a single K8 is over the budget I have for 2 speakers. Same situation with the Turbosound M15 - way too far over budget Although I'm sure the Turbosound would sound excellent im worrying that it wont be powerful enough to be used as a full range. It's PEAK SPL is rated about 3db lower than the other models I listed, and has much less low end extension. Anymore advice, information, different products etc. would be much appreciated cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjriley Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 Behringer B315D's are fantastic for the price even though they are behringer. http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gifAdd in a B1800D sub to get bass extension - superb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andykelly Posted October 31, 2011 Author Share Posted October 31, 2011 Really??? I've lived by a rule of not using anything made by Behringer that touches an audio signal. Not only do they sound cheap, they feel cheap and usually break way too early! It's not Behringer snobbery, I've had bad experiences and I think the Midi/Audio/DMX controllers are excellent tools for their prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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