PA System and Desk requirement

DiamondJQuimby

Anyone got any good suggestions as to a PA System to play to around 300 to a maximum of 500 people, Not looking to rent

Let's say for arguments sake that we have €6,000 or thereabouts.

Also need a decent desk with effects built in if possible trying to reduce the amount of gear we have to carry around also.

Active systems considered / or passive..

We are a fairly loud band in that we mic everything four mics on the drums three vocal mics a DI for bass and Two Guitar amps mic'ed we also have a monitor Mix requirement so the desk would have to be able to accomodate all of that.

We are looking for a really good thumping system

'Only way I can describe it.. we have all been to them gigs where the band were just putting out a stadium type sound in a small venue well that's the kind of gear we are looking for'.

Not sure if we have the budget though. Any help appreciated anyway,

Cheers

D.

Savman

Loadsa options for €6k

Like Dynacord Powermax 3 (2.6k) €6500, passive without mixer

Active systems probably best option (I'm now converted ) just make sure your rig is scalable up/down as needs be

Search www.musicstore.com or www.thomann.de for Active systems by HK Audio, DB Technologies etc and you'll find a lot of reading material. Good idea to research each system in depth.

Regarding Mixers I'm happy to recommend the Allen & Heath MixWizard 16:2, excellent thingy. Has 16 channels, 4 separate monitor sends + 2 internal effects (6 aux) and is the best in its price range imo. You also have to factor in Stage Monitors and all the extras, not sure if you have those already or if you want to get the whole rig for €6k in which case you'll have a job on your hands for that "thumping" sound

david

What about

http://www.thomann.de/thoiw6_mackie_cfx_16_mk_ii_prodinfo.html

and

http://www.thomann.de/thoiw6_artikel-180347.html

Both look nice and compact, gives you a hefty budget for some SM57's, leads, multicore etc with some change left over

DiamondJQuimby

Thanks for the suggestions.

Yeah we have pretty much everything else cables Mics stands etc.. Just need the Desk and the PA and we are all set..

D

Savman

Wouldn't recommend either that Mackie mixer (only 4 aux) nor the HK Elias as the spec isn't enough to reach that "thumping sound" as the OP put it.

The Elias would be a nice rig, but from what i can remember the Elias is only 1600w, 2x 400w tops and 2x 400w bins and I think you need more from your bins tbh.

Trust me there aint really a cheap way to do it, in my case I didnt want to compromise so I had to buy in pieces over the past 4 months but now have a system I'm more than happy with. Quimby I remember from a different thread ur band is a rock band set-up yeah? 2 leccy guitars with bass and drums?? If so start thinking of above 2000w anyway, it's not that its "louder" as such just means you've headroom for the whole band

EDIT: wharrabout the Mackie SRM450 tops with the Mackie SWA1801 bins, that'd be 2600w for about €4.5k leaving u €1.5k for a good mixer

DiamondJQuimby

Thanks Savman

Yeah we were thinking of the SRM450's, they look the business.

We were thinking of going with these bins also

http://www.soundslive.co.uk/product~name~dB-Technologies-Opera-Sub-15~ID~3726.asp

Not too sure about the desk why would you not recommend the Mackie desk with 4 sends

We can't see a scenario where we would need more than 4 sends we would only use 2 for the Monitors..

I think the Allen & Heath desk is just too expensive we have actually had to rethink our budget down to 4.5k now so that desk is out, everything we have read about the Mackie with effects has been good.

Cheers

D

Edja

How many of you are there? Have you thought about the Bose PAS? Tried it out 2 weeks ago in Carlow in a night club. One of them filled the room no problem whatsoever. The sound was amazingly clean and filled the room no matter where you were standing! check out bose.com

david

I think you may be better off goin foir 18" bins if youre getting the 15" SRM's if you really want massive low end.

david

Have you seen the HK projector system in the FS section, Apparently its amazing.

Edit: if you want to save yourself some money...

http://www.behringer.com/B412DSP/index.cfm?lang=ENG

Yes, i know its behringer. But seriously, the specs on that look pretty good for the price. You wont find 600w biamped DSP controlled active tops anywhere for a price like that (about €500 i'd say, when it comes out)

DiamondJQuimby

Yeah that behringer looks good but we have had bad experiences with Behringer in the past, Desks and Monitors.

Cheers

D

david

Yeah I agree "behringer = not so good" in a lot of cases, but their new stuff isn't half bad at all, heard good things about Xenyx mixers, and you can't beat the price on those tops. They're as reliable as the next brand nowadays.

sei046

I have the man to do up a system for ya. My sound man, i got my original PA off him for 6000 and its exactly what your talking about. PM if you want

Savman

DiamondJQuimby wrote:

Not too sure about the desk why would you not recommend the Mackie desk with 4 sends

We can't see a scenario where we would need more than 4 sends we would only use 2 for the Monitors..

I think the Allen & Heath desk is just too expensive we have actually had to rethink our budget down to 4.5k now so that desk is out, everything we have read about the Mackie with effects has been good.

ah well if you're happy with a 2-way monitor mix then yer grand...

DiamondJQuimby

sei046 wrote:

I have the man to do up a system for ya. My sound man, i got my original PA off him for 6000 and its exactly what your talking about. PM if you want

Sounds interesting.

What could he do for €4500 as we have had to rethink our budget down to that,


Cheers

D