crox Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 I think I have drawn the short-straw ... I have been tasked with buying a small portable PA setup, which does not run on mains, so essentially battery powered ... coupled with a wireless headset for a princely budget of £350! I was thinking something "like" this here, but a) have no experience of this type of kit (we run a somewhat larger setup on a Sunday) and b) am struggling to come up with a suitable wireless option, as again, I haven't ever bought a set which wasn't a Sennheiser set. Any help much appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomHoward Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 The QTX kits are kind of functional, they do run off battery power, come with VHF headsets / beltpacks and receiver built in.They are kind of cheaply made, the RF reception is usually pretty noisy, and they have a finite life before either something like the inbuilt media player dies, or the cabinet takes a tumble and the driver snaps off the horn internally.At the price they are though you can essentially just bin them when they are broken and buy another. Suitable for - market trader, demonstrations on food shows etc, street preaching, pub quiz. For vocals or singing - not so much. We also use the Soundranger units, which are better made but cost more to match. They have very small drivers (around 4inch) but are pretty well tailored for speech only.We have the Compact4 systems with wireless handhelds which are significantly more expensive - the Micro system with a wireless headset is about £30 over budget and will probably sound better but not be as loud.Still suitable for the same kind of thing but not quite as rough sounding, although more expensive and probably not as loud as the 8inch / 10inch QTX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkPAman Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 Thomann have quite a range of battery powered systems, so are a good place to look. This B stock one may be OK? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninjadingle Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 Bit out of price range, but we have a Denon Envoi that does the job pretty well as an all in one unit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kgallen Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 Also out of your current budget, but we have one of these in our amateur group which we use for rehearsals and for carting around doing promo events indoors and outdoors. We have the radio mic option (looks like a Trantec mic to me) plus the extension speaker for when we need a bit more "oomph" when outside. http://www.coomberaudio.com/equipment/details/Audio-Equipment/the-dance-combo.html They are popular in schools, and we ended up with ours after a recommendation from one of our teacher members who's also our main MD. I wasn't overly impressed with the range of units I found when researching the requirement, so we took the plunge and shelled out for this unit. The users/group love it and it means I don't need to get involved with the rehearsal sound and promo events which suits me just fine! Kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninjadingle Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 KGallen - does that use an external power transformer? Looks like there's only a DC input? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandall Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 does that use an external power transformer? Looks like there's only a DC input?Coomber do, or at least did, versions with a lead-acid battery in the box. One of my customers bought about 6 of them (not from me), unfortunately all on the same VHF frequency, which took a bit of sorting out. Having the batteries merely added a lot of unnecessary weight, as they were always used on mains. Ok for a classroom or small room, but they no longer corner the market, & there are better (& lighter) alternatives out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owain Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 KGallen - does that use an external power transformer? Looks like there's only a DC input?"DC input for charging the internal batteries or running the unit from mains power". "The Portable Public Address Amplifier comes with a free iPod lead, battery charger/power supply." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kgallen Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 KGallen - does that use an external power transformer? Looks like there's only a DC input?"DC input for charging the internal batteries or running the unit from mains power". "The Portable Public Address Amplifier comes with a free iPod lead, battery charger/power supply." Yes it's a small external SMPSU (not a fatplug), like a laptop PSU. Even though ours is used inside most of the time, they just turn it on and use it, so they are running it off the internal battery. It gets plugged in to charge every now and again when they remember or if there's a 13A socket near where they are using it. HTH Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xllx Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 I have a couple of the QTX 10 speakers. We use them for spot PA at rural events, often horse shows and such like. True, they sound harsh, but voice is intelligible, which is all we are worried about when announcing the winner of a riding competition or something. We must use them 3 or 4 times a year, in rural locations, so the limited radio mic frequencies have never been an issue. I suspect they would get tiring if you were listening to them all day, and I have never tried music or instruments through them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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