Sign In:     

Forum: General Discussion

Topic: What Speakers Are you Using????

This topic is old and might contain outdated or incorrect information.

Hi VDJ community.

In a quest to improve sound quality I would like to hear your feedback regarding amplifiers and speakers.

Audio quality is important as the louder you pump your music the more noticeable the amplifier and speaker performance is. Loud scratching sound =equals listener ear fatigue. The audience sub consciously moves away from the speaker and thinks "I don't like this DJ and I don't know why" even if you are playing the best tunes. Conversely if the system sounds good and you are an okay DJ people get up and dance.

What are you doing to create the best audio experience for your customers?
It seems most of us mobile guys are moving to Active or powered speakers. Why?
What brand are you using and why do you like it?
Do you use subs and when?
In your experience who makes the best speakers and amplifiers and why? FBT, RCF, Yamaha, Yorkville, KRK, JBL, Crown, Peavey.
Do you have a secrete sauce processor to assist in making your sound good for example I love my Mackie DL1608 mixer.
What should a newbie DJ in the market for professional audio look for in their potential rig.

Thank you for sharing.

D
 
Posted Wed 24 Jul 13 @ 12:55 pm
I use two Harbinger speakers. the HA60s to be exact. For $200 you get an amp, with two speakers. I also bought two speaker stands for $30 each at Guitar Center and I would say I'm really happy with the performance of the speakers. Really good bass and they go fairly loud.
 
For best results with the HA60 crank the master volume and turn off [turn the volume all the way down] on all unused inputs and fx.

Output from your sound card at unity [means 0 on your VU meter] and adjust the channel volume to the required level.

Unbelievable price on that puppy.
 
Regarding size of venue. Let say typical wedding 150 - 300 people.
Please feel free to offer any other applications such as outdoors and clubs.

Here is a tid-bit for new wedding guys. A couple asked me if I had enough sound for 300 guest and I confidently said "oh yes". They replied are you sure as the venue reports that DJ's have trouble at their facility with volume. Turns out that the event was a tent on a golf course. newbie DJ's.... Tents mean outside venue. When the tent doors would open the SPL (sound pressure level = volume) went very low and when they were close my system was working hard to play at a comfortable dance SPL. Weirdest sound environment ever. Not to mention they had industrial level outdoor air conditioners blasting.

Cheers.
 
Yeah, when you're playing in a tent or outside, the sound doesn't have solid walls to bounce off, so unless you have plenty of headroom on your system, it will sound quieter than when it's inside.

I've played in marquees (big tents) with my small system (1500W) and not had an issue yet.

If I need to bring out the big guns I have a 5000W system too.
 
What is the name brand of your system?
 
Daz's top tent tip for the day :-)

If you have the luxury of four speakers and a pair of amps. Place 2 speakers 1/2 way down each side of the tent. Use a stereo delay on full wet setting to drive the second amp with a delay setting of roughly 1ms per ft or 3ms per meter distance from the main speakers. This will give you a far more even sound level while the audience will still believe the sound is all coming from the front ;-)

Daz
 
The best sounding speakers I've ever heard are RCF, it's a shame they don't do a decent passive 12"
 
sonisphere wrote :
What is the name brand of your system?

Mine? The small one is a combination of RCF tops and DB Technologies subs (effectively budget RCF).

The large one is all RCF.
 
I have heard a lot of good things about RCF.
 
I have two Jbl Prx615m Speakers and they Still impress me every time I have a gig. I used to have Two QSC k12s but, they were not all that due to the speakers not pushing the volume I expected. The Prx615m speakers have very good bass with a warm sound. I prefer speakers in wooden cabinets because you will get a better bass response. The EV ELX, I wasn't impressed of the sound quality. I heard them many times but, the jbls thunder when you crank them. The jbls are expensive and worth every penny. I was very close to buying the ev's due to the price but, every time I went to the store to hear them again & again, The jbls sounded better in a side by side comparison.

If I am Dj ing a Party for up to 100 people, I will use just the tops. If its more people, I will bring out My QSC KW 181 sub. It depends on the size of the room.
 
Crown Xti 2 - 4002 pushing JBL PRX 415M's
 
sonisphere wrote :
Regarding size of venue. Let say typical wedding 150 - 300 people.


That's some pretty big weddings you have in Canada. Interesting. In Denmark a typical wedding would be between 60 and 120 people

I use Mackie and DB Technologies speakers. They are ok, but I wouldn't recommend them for more than 150 people tops.
I'm thinking about doing an upgrade to the "DB Technologies big-brother" RCF myself

Best regards
Klaus Mogensen
 
Regarding large weddings you are right I never that noticed before.

Based on my own wedding the larger the event the more bang for the buck for the bride and groom. Seeing that I profited a little bit from my wedding my formula must work.

The more PAYING guest, the more money to work with.

More guest = higher budget.

The average guest in my community (x2 for Italian weddings) gives about $75.00 per head. [$75.00 x 330 guests = $24,750]

We asked the top 5 halls we wanted to call us when someone cancels. You would be surprised how many people get cold feet and cancel. In this case they loose their $10,000 deposit which goes toward your wedding as now you need to plan a wedding last minute. The hall tends to make further concessions as they don't want the room to go empty.

We end up getting a high end reception normal worth $120.00 per plate for $64.00 per plate but now we had to plan the whole event in 9 weeks.

Based on my $75.00 per head budget we had to produce the rest of the wedding with $11 per head x 330 guests =$3630.00.

Some how we made this budget and end up have some bonus cash toward the honeymoon.

I sometimes share this experience with my customers to calm them down the cost of the wedding which usually leads to me up selling my services. :^)

Here is a speaker setup tip for newbies:

If you are DJing an event with a lot of old people or a diverse crowd with some guests who want the music loud to dance and others who want to chat, place your speakers toward the dance floor with the back or side of the speaker facing the audience. If the speaker has good isolation (wood usually) the dance floor will be loud and the seating area should be at a level where guest could carry a conversation. This is called creating multi-zone environment.

Also, check you levels regularly by visibly walking around and listening from the dance floor. This demonstrates a sensitivity and attention to the SPL levels and sound quality. I actually do a fake volume drop. I walk the dance floor and then the back of the room pause and listen then drop the volume noticeably and then gradually raise back to the level it was as a customer optics thing. :)

Please pay attention to indicators of bad sound such as people moving away from your speakers. Listen, then make some adjusts such elevating the speakers over the guests heads. This is effective for large rooms with a lot of people. It helps project the sound to the back of the room while not taking off the heads of the people close to the speaker. Also I find many DJs don't bother or don't know how to EQ their sound. A 31 band eq is an essential tool that will assist in sound design. This is a continuous procedure not a onetime setting. Variable such as how many people are in the room and the size of the room will cause these tuning setting to change. Many times I have one speaker placement setting for the speeches and a completely different setting for dancing. Quick tip do not run microphone through subs.

Hopefully VirutalDJ creates a plugin structure to purchase third party plugins that can do this.

I use my Mackie DL1608 for processing. Love it and higly recommend this method as it offers an insane amount of control such as sending only program music bass to the sub not microphones. I would really appreciate a multiband limiter that would help keep the bass, mids and highs consistent from song to song. This is especially handy when going from old school music to modern day bass heavy tunes.

Anyway, listen for frequencies that are annoying usually where the speaker crosses of from the woofer to the high frequency driver and lower them slightly. Don't just make a happy face and walk away. Also a limiter will help you to control your volume so that it doesn't run away from you.

Regarding Subs, Some us tend to get over zealous with this device. Remember for most events the the bass extension is an effect to the music not the other way around. The trick with bass is placement. if you are in a large hall point the bass reflex on 45 degree angles toward the walls so it ricochet around the room and is felt in the back of the hall while not overwhelming the guest close to it. In a small event or mult-zone application keep the level moderate and place and point the sub speaker away from the seated guests. If done correctly the people on the dance floor will be able to hear it and it should not boom everywhere else as much as most DJ's enjoy this I call "listen to me, listen to me mys system is loud" effect. A mature dj reads the needs of his customer and delivers not what you want or how you like it.

As for speakers I use a Yorkville LS720p as a sub and NX55p (12' full range) for the top.

Wow I really ranted today sorry for the long read.

D
 

I have been running with a pair of Yorkville NX-55p's (+- 550 watts each) and a Yorkville LS-200 (200w) for 4 years now. This system will fit into my Civic coupe and there hasn't yet been a gig that I could not do with these bulletproof speakers. I do weddings, corporate, outdoor bbq and parties)

Cheers
J
 
My speakers aren't great. They're the cheapest things I could find with an amp. The Harbinger HA60s. What is the loudest, best quality speakers for under $500?
 
I use Yorkville NX55p and LS720p for a sub as well. I must agree that these speakers are bullet proof.
 
Have just got a FBT Vertus system, which is an upgrade from my Mackie's, it is vastly better in every way, its a line array system and comes with 2 bass units which the 2 mid/high either pop onto poles or clip to the front of the bass bins. It is very compact for a 2.2K system! Clarity and definition are very natural but you can mess around with settings to make it how you like, as it is a active system everything works beautifully. Feedback is a thing of the past and I couldn't be more impressed.I was tempted with the Bose systems as they are similar in looks but the FBT's are for me better.
 
Love the versus system and its far better than Bose, different league. They were too busy designing ipod docks lol

I like the HK offering (Elements) with the 10" single active subs and line array tops with a pole as a connecting connection so no wires required for satellite speakers. Those Germans always come up with good ideas!
 
Peavey SP6 and SP4, and 8 - 18's 25,000 Watts of Peavey 4080HZ
Smaller system is Craig 100 Watts using Peavey 8.5 to drive them.
 


(Old topics and forums are automatically closed)