New PA System

[pete10uk]

My aim over the next 6 months is to look in to and purchase a new PA (meaning amps and speakers).

 

I'm looking for a reasonably compact setup capable of producing enough sound for 500-600 people out doors ( think back of a trailer in a field), the content is live music ranging from solo artists to full heavy metal bands. The setup would also be used indoors in various sized venues.

 

I was recently at an event where the speakers were mackie SA1530z's with some mackie subs. Although the system coped, it was only a juster, there was no headroom left and we had to back of a little as the protection limiter was making an apearence.

 

I'm not set on passive or powered, I like the compactness of powered but like to see and monitor amplifiers, but after seeing the mackies recently, powered is looking good especially in the same format as the mackies were.

 

Budget is not set but I would imagine in the region of 3-6k for the cabs and amps, would be where I'm looking. I would give second hand gear a real consideration as long as I could determine it was from somewhere genuine I.e not of the back of a lorry and that it had been looked after by knowledgeable people.

 

I'm looking for good clean sound especially from the vocals, as this is what keeps letting me down.

 

I would only look at pro and branded kit.

 

Any advice on where to start would be appreciated

 

Cheers

[cedd]

Got to be honest Pete, you're not going to get much louder than those SA1530's with subs for that kind of budget. The Mackie SA range are flippin loud boxes for the money. I own a pair of the SA1521's and they never seem to run out! You could look at the likes of HK Actor, but I don't think it'll have any more guts than those Mackies.

 

What's the going rate for a couple of stacks of D&B C these days? You're looking in that kind of ballpark to make a marked improvement on what you've heard already, and for those kinds of crowds it's the least I'd be specifying (renting).

[cedd]

Can't claim any of the credit for this one. Simon Lewis just posted this link in another thread and I was having a quick look through. Towards the end of the listings there are some complete PA packages. I think system 2 might well fulfil your needs reasonably well within budget. Also it answers my question above - D&B C is a lot more than you can afford second hand :-)

 

LMC audio

[TonyMitchell]

What's the going rate for a couple of stacks of D&B C these days?

 

 

C4 can often be found (relatively) cheap with P1200s, sure it's loud, but doesn't play low enough on its own

 

C7 very occasionally appears on the s/h market, but is much more sought after (as it's much more useful)... therefore is expensive

[lightsource]

 

Outdoors ( think back of a trailer in a field)

 

I was recently at an event where the speakers were mackie SA1530z's with some mackie subs.

 

Certainly wouldn't go down the Mackie subs route. We have 4x Mackie 1801's, and they don't seem to cope with damp environments well. We've needed to recone 2 drivers, due to paper tears, and both occasions (seperate) they failed on the second day of a 2 day festival where they were left in a tent overnight.

 

Also, now made in China, Mackie have a poor reliability rate.

[LXSX]

Hi there

I heard some QSC K12's with a k sub each side really impressed with the k12's not so much with the sub I would say the k12's are on par with the EV live x range all fairly good for your money in my opinion

 

1339282797[/url]' post='442603']

1339233794[/url]' post='442491']

What's the going rate for a couple of stacks of D&B C these days?

 

 

C4 can often be found (relatively) cheap with P1200s, sure it's loud, but doesn't play low enough on its own

 

C7 very occasionally appears on the s/h market, but is much more sought after (as it's much more useful)... therefore is expensive

 

Totally agree I work with c4 quite a lot as well as the q subs and q1 array very nice backed up with some b2 subs !!

[haymere]

Have a look on the LMC list at the Renkus CE3 system about £300-400 per box and they are a lot of box for the money but you would need a van.

[pete10uk]

The Mackie stuff is in the right format for what I'm after (dimensions wise), to be honest I didn't think that a system of this size would be close to covering outside gigs but it was close, just not quite.

 

The guy who brought along the Mackie stuff also had a friend / roadie who spoke highly of EV kit. He said he had just purchased some new EV kit (meaning it was a new product) which was in the same format of 2 columns and 2 subs, it was slightly smaller than the SA's but much louder. They both agreed that it much louder and better for vocals. When quizzed on price he said he paid about 6K including a second hand yamaha 01v 96 in case.

 

I'm with cedd on the renting front for bigger gigs as this is what I currently do on larger events, but 90% of my bread and butter music work will be more than adequately covered by something in the realms of the SA range, it would be nice to have a system to cover the smaller outside events also, if that is a possibility.