5 replies to this topic

[cooperman435]

Just about to start investing in my own PA system so would greatly apreciate some comments and suggestions to help guide me from those who know more than me on the subject.

System is obviously for outdoor use at displays, varying crowd sizes so I cant really advise as to their exact use but you get the idea.

Curently looking at Mackie SRM450s, either V1 or V2 as price seems pretty much the same though Id normally head towards the newer V2s as they superceded the V1.

Idea being with active speakers I can add to the collection over time to make it larger if needed, have no amps to lug about as they are self contained units and if one breaks the others would continue fine alone.

Would anyone suggest I need a deck to go with them as my understandign is I can go straight from the laptop to them? Is it needed or maybe just adviseable to have one?

Comments......................

[portfire]

Certainly go for a active setup, for pretty much the reason you've stated. We also use a small, robust 2 channel mixer. With it you've got more "friendly" output options and gives you ease of control over the master levels.

[Arthur Brown]

PA demands mains! laptops usually have a hum or noise problem, you need a DI box as well. The great outdoors soaks up power from a PA. A Mackie on a stand will be OK at 20metres but for bigger distances you will need several. Speakers usually need volume (size) to sound good at high volume (loudness) so they become heavy and expensive and need a LOT of van space,

Lots of firms, -bands, concert promoters etc hire in PA for each job. -no cost of ownership, just a business expense.

[Sparky]

Phil,

I was in the music business and ran a recording studio many moons ago so have plenty of experience with audio solutions. I'm not sure what size audiences you are looking at or what type of music and volume you want. A vocal PA is very different to one you want to pipe pop, dance or even classical music through.

However....

If you want to address a large field with 1000 or so people and you wanted the music to be a good volume e.g. something that will be nice and clear above chatter and fireworks then you would need a combined output in the region of 3 - 5k as a starting point (probably more). It's often better to spread a number of speakers over the area rather than 2 big main stacks but this causes cabling logistical problems. We used a 10K rig to perform to about 3,000 people but in a very tight outdoor area.

A 300W rig is really designed for quite small enclosed spaces and for a band would be a vocal rig only. We used to own a 1k rig and that was only just suitable for a small band in a pub venue and we only ran vocals and keys through it.

To be fair I don't have much experience with anythig other than bands or indoor clubs so I could be miles off. Being outdoors and the type of music and volume you need changes everything. I would contact a PA hire company and try a few solutions they recommend and see what you think. Try before you buy I think is the way forward.

[pyrotrev]

When I'm not doing pyro I actually design sound equipment, so here's my pennyworth. Yes, active speakers are a must, why anyone bothers with passive ones these days I don't really know. The Mackies are good, and will do fine for e.g. small wedding shows, though you might consider the SRM350s plus a sub as they will likely do as well and smaller bits to carry and extra bass extension. It will be wise to have some kind of interface box to go between the laptop and them, not just for getting rid of hum, but also you may find at times cable lengths will get long and it's always best to drive long runs balanced with something that has balls. A little mixer is one solution, but here are others, I actually use a Focusrite stereo mix processor that has unbalanced ins and balanced out's together with a bit of variable gain and some EQ.
If you come to do BIG shows, there's 2 alternative strategies, either multiple small speakers close to the audience or a couple of big stacks (ideally line arrays) a way back to get full coverage, often perilously close to the pyro! The multiple little speakers has the advantage of minimal acoustic delay, but need choosing, placing and angling sensibly to avoid multiple path delays confusing the sound: but they mean you can grow your system. Something like the Mackies aren't going to work well at long distances, you're into the realms of concert systems then and you'll really need to think about flying gear to get them high enough to project sound to the back of the crowd.....maybe time to hire in a system?

[Arthur Brown]

A MAJOR issue will be power supply. Small gensets don't like audio loads which then can easily kill amplifiers. Be very sure that you have real mains available