Budgets for PA

[azlan]

Hello all,

 

I'm hoping that this topic might almost come as a breath of fresh air compared to many of the similar posts that crop up, so please, bear with me.

 

I am currently looking at upgrading my current PA system to something with a bit more power behind it, I currently Have 2x Studiospares auditorium 315b (from the old range) full range cabinets, powered by a skytek 'pro 2000' amp which, although they are decent sounding at low levels, seem to struggle to keep up with the work they get,

 

they are mostly used for small punk/rock nights (1-200 capacity venues), but I tend to find that even with guitar amps turned down, they struggle to keep up with acoustic drums (lots of very loud snares!), and lack the 'oomph' for bass drums and similar, so I am looking to upgrade my current system to something a bit more potent, and am looking for opinions on the best way to go about things.

 

I have don't really have a budget at current, and am trying to figure out how much it will realistically cost to improve my system to the point it can easily handle these size gigs and potentially larger ones (ideally up to 500 capacity, but 250/300 would be more than enough). If anyone could help with advice as to if the full range boxes are worth keeping or getting rid of for the new system (or possibly keeping the speakers but upgrading the amp), and how much roughly a decent quality system for those size shows would be, and any examples or products to look at (in an ideal world, I would buy 4x EM acoustics 215's, 4x 121's and a big old rack of amps, but realistically thats not an option!)

 

I already have a mixing desk, mics etc, so am only looking at the actual front of house system

 

one final caveat, the system needs to be able to fit in the back of an estate car

 

thankyou

 

azlan

[bruce]

The auditorium range are decent speakers.

 

The skytek amp looks like a toy.

 

 

try driving your speakers with a decent amp and see how they sound.

[azlan]

try driving your speakers with a decent amp and see how they sound.

 

any decent budget(ish) recommendations? they are 600wRMS at 8 ohms

Would something along the lines of a Peavey PV2600 be up to the job?

[paulears]

I'm driving everything now from Thomann 2400, 1400 and 400 amps as others died. They run Auditorium 2215s bi-amped and with separate subs and seem to have no problems driving them. I really like them.

[Stuart91]

It might be worth hiring or borrowing an amp that's in the same ballpark for power rating. See if the end result is sufficient before paying out.

[cedd]

I've been looking into the Behringer iNuke amps recently, as my old Yamaha PC2602's are killing me weight-wise. As a budget amp they look pretty ok. There's been some discussion on just how accurate the power ratings are, but you seem to get a fair bit of bang for your buck. The DSP versions also have some really nice intuitive pc software which could be very useful, particularly the limiters. If you're running your existing cabinets "on the edge" then it might help protect your investment a little.

 

I own a pair of Mackie SA1521's. They're the first pair of cabinets I bought many years ago when I was singing with a rock and roll covers band. They don't get much use now as I'm normally in need of a flown 12" cabinet these days, but if I do get some occasional band work then I roll them out. They'd cetainly be my weapon of choice from the arsenal when doing the kind of gig you mention above. They're flipping loud! They also don't sound half bad! They come up pretty cheap on ebay from time to time, so they're worth looking out for.

[azlan]

thanks for the advice, I will try and get hold of a couple of amps to see if they make a notable difference to the output, and then report back.

 

thanks again for all the help so far

[TomHoward]

I'm driving everything now from Thomann 2400, 1400 and 400 amps as others died. They run Auditorium 2215s bi-amped and with separate subs and seem to have no problems driving them. I really like them.

Which of the Thomann range are you using? I have a rack with a dead QSC RMX1450 but it would be cheaper for me to replace the whole rack with 3x t.amp E800s than to replace the one dead amp..