Another "What Speakers to Buy" topic

[Brian]

I gave up 'doing' sound over 10 years ago when I sold nearly every bit of kit I had. I still get calls from friends etc to borrow some kit so I kept back a few mics and stands, have a mid-sized Behringer mixer and a pair of 'real' RCF ART300s driven from a Mackie M1400i (a big heavy old-school amp with loads of low-end grunt).

 

Recently, whilst hefting the 19kg ARTs onto stands at head height, I decided I was too old for this and have decided to look for a lightweight solution. Even the amp, in its flightcase, is a dead weight.

 

I've set myself a target weight for the speakers of 12.5kg. At that weight it looks like they'll be 10" units which is fine for their intended application for basic music playback and a bit of speech for rooms of up to 300 people. I don't need anything to pump out reggae 24/7 or cover a crowd of 2,000.

 

What I'm not decided on is active or passive.

 

Total budget, for 2 speakers and an amp if needed, is around £700.

 

If I go passive then I'll probably get a Behringer iNuke or EPQ amp. It can live in a lightweight case as it's own weight is so low. I was originally thinking about going the wooden box route as I find many plastic boxes to be a bit 'honky'. With a budget of around £500 for the pair I was looking at things like Thomanns own The Box Pro 110M or some LD Stinger 102s or some dB Arena 10s.

 

If I go active then most of the wooden boxes I've found are too heavy so it's plastic all the way. One thing I've spotted is that most active versions of passive speakers have an amp which is perhaps a little undersized.

 

I am a HUGE fan of the QSC K10s but they are out of my budget range.

 

An obvious choice is ART 310As but I've also spotted the dB Opera 410Ds.

 

 

Does anyone have any comments on the units I've linked to or can you offer any other recommendations of similar units?

 

 

Basically...

 

maximum weight of 12.5kg each item

total system price around £700

max SPL around 123dB+

[Doug Siddons]

HZ Sigma 100's and Sb300 link

[Alec]

There's a compromise you'll have to make somewhere - quality/price/weight/SPL.

 

RCF ART 710As would be perfect: 11kg, 129dB, and sound *fantastic* - way bigger than they should. However, your budget would get only one new. That said, I've picked up two pairs of ART710s over the last 18 months second-hand for around £700 a pair - so you might not be dead in the water yet!

 

That said, the ART 310As that I've heard were pretty tast too..

 

And I'm ready to bet that the DB Technologies Opera 410Ds aren't too bad - especially at the price.

[mkfs9]

300 people is a bit of a large crowd for 2 ten inch speakers I think.

[Brian]

300 people is a bit of a large crowd for 2 ten inch speakers I think.

Depends how loud I want it ;)

 

Let's work on the assumption that if they produce something in excess of 120dB max then they'll work just fine in my application.

[mkfs9]

300 people is a bit of a large crowd for 2 ten inch speakers I think.

Depends how loud I want it ;)

 

Let's work on the assumption that if they produce something in excess of 120dB max then they'll work just fine in my application.

 

Yes it depend s how loud you want it. But I think you would be pushing it a bit . You are looking at a 500 watt rms system roughly. Thats not even 2 watts per person. Not enough fo any type of music spoken word maybe.

[cedd]

Nah, a couple of cabs will do that easily! I doubt Brian's looking for face-melting levels. My split rig vocal cabs are Electrovoice SXa100+'s and for a low powered box they do an incredible job. Easily filled 300 seat halls. Notice though that they're only handling the vocals. The band go through some Mackie/RCF subs and tops from somewhere back in the dawn of time when Mackie were still Italian. That's the key, the content. I wouldn't attempt a rock band in a venue that size with anything less than a couple of stacks, but for pure vocal reproduction, even in a musical theatre background (so lots of voices, and potentially quite loud in the finale/megamix/whatever) a pair of 12"s are well and truly up to the job.

[J Pearce]

I sometimes hire in some LD stinger 12s for low budget events at work, and I love them. They beat SX300s anyday, they are a little weighty because they have the amp in them, but certainly not stupidly heavy. They also have a nice tilting pole-receiver, which allows you to be a bit more sophisticated in your speaker aiming.

They look smart and professional and have a sound to match.

 

I happily covered 1000 people in a marquee with 4 of the 12"s, with jazz band, string group, soft rock and speech and had no problems at all. I'm sure you'd be fine for 300 with 2 of the 8"s if you kept the bass sensible. A small sub might make a big difference and might only take up the space your old amp rack consumed.

 

Have you considered wind up speaker stands so that you can lift on at chest height then wind up to operating height?

[Brian]

Yes it depend s how loud you want it. But I think you would be pushing it a bit.

Back of fag packet shows that a speaker that'll do 127dB peak, as some of the ones I'm looking at will do, will do 100dB peak at 20m, or 65' in old money. That's not too shabby.

 

My split rig vocal cabs are Electrovoice SXa100+'s and for a low powered box they do an incredible job.

Sadly too heavy (although see below).

 

... LD stinger 12s for low budget events at work, and I love them....nice tilting pole-receiver, which allows you to be a bit more sophisticated in your speaker aiming.

I keep coming back to the LD stuff having been recommended it before. The components parts are all from decent manufacturers (Eminence, BMS and B&O).

 

Have you considered wind up speaker stands so that you can lift on at chest height then wind up to operating height?

No. I'll have a look. Thanks for the idea.

[S&L]

As a side bar you mention running passives via an EPQ - honestly a cracking amp and I run a pair of 15" tops off and EPQ2000, beautifully lightweight for your purposes but my gut instinct is that the manufacturer's figures are a tad optimistic. with my 15's I run the amp at more than 3/4 load for bar gigs with 150 people or so, it copes fine and it will sit there all day long at that level but I can't coax much more out of it - then again I don't need to.

[ScottishCol]

Obviously I don't know the exact purpose of the system but the vibe I'm getting puts you in the category of people who swear by FBT.

 

(def not for rockers, loved by folkies and organists?)

 

Check 'em out, and sorry for ageism.

 

 

Also wind up stands, too heavy, too expensive, just charm someone into helping!

 

 

 

Sorry if not helpfull!!!

[Brian]

...you mention running passives via an EPQ - honestly a cracking amp and I run a pair of 15" tops off and EPQ2000, beautifully lightweight for your purposes but my gut instinct is that the manufacturer's figures are a tad optimistic.

Thanks. I thought that might be the case.

 

 

... in the category of people who swear by FBT ... Check 'em out, and sorry for ageism.

Thanks, I will. Odd how there are so many Italian speakers companies.

 

 

... just charm someone into helping!

I usually do but sometimes she has other opinions!

[Skdimark]

This may sound a little obvious, but why not stick with them a little while longer and then upgrade to some 710's?

 

I'm not trying to be offensive, but 20kg isn't that heavy if you're only lifting it when you're doing gigs every now and again. If you have an injury or some such, then sorry if that is the case.

 

Anywho! Some cheap wind up stands from germany: http://www.thomann.de/ie/millenium_bs2400.htm At 40 pounds a piece, should keep you in pocket and save you lifting the speakers too high.

[Samwise]

Hey Brian,

 

I found the RCF 310A's a very lovely sounding little speaker, I used to run them for an open mic in quite a loud/large pub and they were perfect, I never needed to push them hard. I had the choice between the 310A's and some Mackie SRM 450 V2's I chose the 310's every time, not just for their weight (easily one in each hand) and easiness on the eye but they sounded faaar superior despite having smaller drivers etc.

 

I also used to use them for speeches on marquee jobs and they were excellent for that too!

 

I wish I still had them in fact... http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/sad.gif

 

All the best, Sam.