Speaker selection help please
Home > Home Recording Forum > Live Sound Reinforcement > Speaker selection help please
Posted on Apr 21, 2008 06:53 pm
Henry Bowman
Member Since: Jan 24, 2008
I've got some money to spend on some PA speakers for my school PA.
This system only gets used a few times a year for our big rock band. We do everything from solo classical guitar up to death metal bands and every possible act in between. The system gets stored away when not in use.
I'm using a Carvin DCM2500 power amp to run the mains right now and I wouldn't be adverse to buying another one if I needed to in order to adequately power two sets of main speakers.
Our hall seats around 900 people and has a balcony and we typically get 600-800 people for these concerts.
I wouldn't mind being in the ballpark of $1500-1800 for some cabinets and then try to add another set of cabinets next year. My biggest beef is getting consistent dispersion across the width of the hall.
Obviously I'd like to get some Turbosounds, but that's about $4k more than I've got to spend.
Any thoughts?
[ Back to Top ]
Apr 21, 2008 11:19 pm OK. 900 people to cover, with a dB level of 110 - 115 is asking a lot. You are going to need something with a wide pattern as well. I'm sorry to say that the amount that you are looking to spend on a system to do so, is a little light.
As you said, the Turbosound system that you were looking at is a little pricey. But, JBL, EAW, PAS, and so on, are all in about the same price range for a system that can produce the levels that you need.
Since you are only doing a show a few times a year, I think you maybe better off renting a system as opposed to buying. Most companies will work with school systems and give discounts for the show. And this way you don't have the added expense of the up keep of the system.
Apr 22, 2008 09:36 am Hi Rob,
We can't do rentals out of our school board budget, unfortunately :-( otherwise I would say that you're dead one.
If we were going to go with something from JBL or EAW, where do you think we need to be?
If I have some practical idea of what would be ideal, I can maybe lobby for some more cash. It's been so long since i've bought cabinets, and I've never played in this size space before, so I'm kind of stumbling along.
Apr 23, 2008 08:52 pm I'll have to do some digging for you in the used gear section. I have some friends that broker gear. But, just to give you a ball park of the gear new. Most Club series boxes run in the neighborhood of about 1,500 a box new. From the information that you provided, I would say you would need at least 2 boxes a side. Used in good shape, sometimes we can cut that in half.
One of my friends is selling an older Meyer rig. I'll have to see what the prices are for what he has.
Apr 24, 2008 09:23 am Rob,
Do you have any thoughts on the Yamaha S215 boxes?
They are incredibly affordable and the specs look pretty decent, especially compared to the tired stuff we're using now.
I could get 4 boxes and then add crossovers and subs next year......
Apr 28, 2008 11:06 pm Sorry Henry, I've been having to deal with a lot of things lately. So, I haven't had the time to log on.
Yamaha's are just fine. And since you can't rent, this is a good alternative.
