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Author Topic: Best affordable active speaker for rental startup  (Read 16082 times)

Kurt Nyberg

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Re: Best affordable active speaker for rental startup
« Reply #20 on: July 21, 2014, 03:06:14 PM »

If you can somehow afford it I would suggest the L'Acoustics P Series. While a little costlier than the enclosures discussed earlier, their sonic performance is equally superior. It will be highly appreciated by your clients and their acts and you can charge for it! The L'Acoustics will put you above your competitors and their average enclosures.

I.e. 2 x 112P with 2 - 4 x SB15P can easily be used as mains FOH for a small band at a wedding reception while a couple of 108P's will make an excellent complimentary fill. They 108P's can be nicely spread throughout a venue. The P Series 90° Axi-symmetric directivity enable you to place the speakers without difficulties easily providing excellent coverage at all times hence perfect sound.
That said they are meant for near-field and throw nicely up to 15m/50ft.

Absolutely great system, better than anything mentioned before...
« Last Edit: July 21, 2014, 03:20:45 PM by Cord Nieberg »
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Richard Turner

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Re: Best affordable active speaker for rental startup
« Reply #21 on: July 21, 2014, 11:33:47 PM »

There's relatively little difference between most models listed here, and there are loads of threads here and elsewhere comparing the various MI powered boxes currently available.

The Mackie SRM 450 has been a hire company solid workhorse and reliable earner for many years, but it has now been replaced, though there seems to be a lot of places selling off the old version at a discount - however I wouldn't want to base a new company on such an old design.

If I were starting a hire shop I'd want to know which manufacturer provides the best local service and support - for example loaning out an equivalent when something goes in for repair.

The Yamahas have a long warranty which could be handy, but if you have to drive or ship long distances for repairs, and/or potentially wait longer than is reasonable for such work to be done and the item returned - that warranty becomes less attractive!

The best choice manufacturer is going to be whoever has good local service centres, with fast turnarounds on repair work (both in an out of warranty).

If that still leaves you with options, I would consider choosing cabinets with full face grills. This is usually a better choice for corporate work, weddings etc where discreet-looking speakers are often preferred.

Sent from my GT-I8160 using Tapatalk 2

read the fine print on the warranty. Some brands (or their national distributor) still clip the warranty for "for hire" gear.
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Looking at retiring. Local PA market has shrank to 2 guys with guitars and bose l1 compacts or expecting full line array and 16 movers on stage for $300... no middle left going back to event DJ stuff, half the work for twice the pay.

Aaron Talley

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Re: Best affordable active speaker for rental startup
« Reply #22 on: July 22, 2014, 12:42:25 AM »

The folks I have talked to seem to fall into two camps with the ETX, they either heard them at one of the trade shows in the controlled demo room or they know someone who did.  I can't seem to find a single person that actually has them in inventory and can give a trusted review.

I am completely grinding right now over KW181/KW122 vs ETX18SP/ETX12P on paper, and EV spec's are very vague, no frequency range, THD given for power rating for example.

The QSC on the other hand is a proven winner, great customer service and a safe choice. 

I hope that by sharing what goes into our decision making that the OP can glean some information on how to formulate the right choice for his situation.  I like to make decision matrix's and weight different technical and business factors.  This takes the emotion out of it or at least quantifies it so I can check my motives.

I have both in rental stock. They are both great. They are both huge money makers if you aren't over or under buying for the needs of your intended market.
The ETX is better in my opinion.
The QSC is still the standard for now. You can probly find more HPR or KW to cross rent right now than ETX.
No regrets either way.
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Scott Holtzman

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Re: Best affordable active speaker for rental startup
« Reply #23 on: July 22, 2014, 02:28:16 AM »

I have both in rental stock. They are both great. They are both huge money makers if you aren't over or under buying for the needs of your intended market.
The ETX is better in my opinion.
The QSC is still the standard for now. You can probly find more HPR or KW to cross rent right now than ETX.
No regrets either way.

Thanks Aaron, is the ETX sub, in your experience, a noticeable step up to give up cross rental?  I work very closely with a company on the other side of town and they have standardized on the QSC. 

By significantly better, is it truly have pattern control?  It's hard to believe a single driver ported sub could have a deep null to the rear as they advertise?  The QSC is punchy but does not reach deep for some of the electronic drum machine samples the bands I am working with are showing up with?   

The ETX tops I am sure are at least as good, low end is so subjective I will freely admit I am looking for validation that these things are the egg laying milk pig of the low end market. 

Thanks
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Scott AKA "Skyking" Holtzman

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David Morison

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Re: Best affordable active speaker for rental startup
« Reply #24 on: July 22, 2014, 08:47:53 AM »

By significantly better, is it truly have pattern control?  It's hard to believe a single driver ported sub could have a deep null to the rear as they advertise? 

RTFM maybe?
The individual boxes aren't cardioid, the DSP preset is there for when you combine the relevant number of boxes into an array.
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Aaron Talley

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Re: Best affordable active speaker for rental startup
« Reply #25 on: July 22, 2014, 08:53:59 AM »

I prefer the ETX subs to the QSC.
If the stuff you are doing includes EDM then you probly need something else. Unless it is at low levels.

Are you referring to the cardioid mode?
The manual in no way suggests that they can be cardioid as a single unit.
 "CARDIOID – should ONLY be used on the rear firing subwoofers in cardioid arrays."
They didn't do anything magical with this. They just made it an easy preset to use.

Why on earth would you want to give away income you don't have to work for.
If you can cross rent QSC boxes to someone else, then there really isn't a choice.
If the other guys have standardized the local market you are in with QSC, then why not have what the local market is already accepting and will readily rent.

It doesn't matter what you get, but if one product can be working for you when you aren't there...
For example,
If you need it 20 times a year and they need it 5 times a year, then they just rented your stuff for you 25% more of the time than you could. Even though you would more than likely be giving them a good cross rental rate, so to increase revenue by 25%, in this model, it could take 8 cross rentals, it is still better to have your gear working than gathering dust.
No one buys stock that doesn't perform.

Have you asked to see if they are open to cross renting from you? Are they going to continue with QSC for the foreseeable future?
This is about a rental start up. Other companies can bring you large amounts of rentals if you are willing to play nice.
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Scott Holtzman

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Re: Best affordable active speaker for rental startup
« Reply #26 on: July 24, 2014, 01:28:41 AM »

I prefer the ETX subs to the QSC.
If the stuff you are doing includes EDM then you probly need something else. Unless it is at low levels.

Are you referring to the cardioid mode?
The manual in no way suggests that they can be cardioid as a single unit.
 "CARDIOID – should ONLY be used on the rear firing subwoofers in cardioid arrays."
They didn't do anything magical with this. They just made it an easy preset to use.

Why on earth would you want to give away income you don't have to work for.
If you can cross rent QSC boxes to someone else, then there really isn't a choice.
If the other guys have standardized the local market you are in with QSC, then why not have what the local market is already accepting and will readily rent.

It doesn't matter what you get, but if one product can be working for you when you aren't there...
For example,
If you need it 20 times a year and they need it 5 times a year, then they just rented your stuff for you 25% more of the time than you could. Even though you would more than likely be giving them a good cross rental rate, so to increase revenue by 25%, in this model, it could take 8 cross rentals, it is still better to have your gear working than gathering dust.
No one buys stock that doesn't perform.

Have you asked to see if they are open to cross renting from you? Are they going to continue with QSC for the foreseeable future?
This is about a rental start up. Other companies can bring you large amounts of rentals if you are willing to play nice.

You just summed up my internal argument.  You are exactly right.  Yes the other company is very vested and sends me almost 50% of my business.

Here is the caveat, if I am doing the show, I can use whatever I want although if the customer is used to seeing QSC the comfort level won't be in place.

In a pinch they would still rent the ETX stuff dry from me but are not excited about the prospect.

The real nail in the coffin is the owner last night asked to stick with it.  The KW - X32 is very rentable in this market and well received.

The engineer inside of me is just going ape knowing that something better exists for the same money.

With regard to the time of the venture, this is by no means new.  I have been around for quite awhile, the difference is I want to retire from my day job and build the sound business as one more fun ride before I get to old to save the galaxy anymore.

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Scott AKA "Skyking" Holtzman

Ghost Audio Visual Solutions, LLC
Cleveland OH
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eric lenasbunt

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Re: Best affordable active speaker for rental startup
« Reply #27 on: July 24, 2014, 10:09:02 PM »



The engineer inside of me is just going ape knowing that something better exists for the same money.

With regard to the time of the venture, this is by no means new.  I have been around for quite awhile, the difference is I want to retire from my day job and build the sound business as one more fun ride before I get to old to save the galaxy anymore.

The only way you build to that point of not needing a day job is by making the decisions that makes the most $ sense. I doubt the QSC gear will lose you any business (it hasn't for me) and it sounds like it will gain you some. That's a no brainer. If having a "sound company" is a hobby then save your beans and buy Danley or something high end to have fun and look cool, if you want to make $$$ at it you HAVE to view gear as an investment, and then invest wisely.
   I am speaking as a company owner that is only fairly recently not working another gig to support the habit. You learn fast to buy what makes you $ or don't buy it at all. The differences between those speakers are likely insignificant to your final product in comparison to the differences in how often you can make money with the QSC and your cross-rental relationship.
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Scott Holtzman

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Re: Best affordable active speaker for rental startup
« Reply #28 on: July 24, 2014, 10:46:47 PM »

RTFM maybe?
The individual boxes aren't cardioid, the DSP preset is there for when you combine the relevant number of boxes into an array.
Finally got an RTFM, funny.

Yes I did and it is less than clear.  It only had the one setting so I should have known.  That plus one driver.

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Scott AKA "Skyking" Holtzman

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Scott Holtzman

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Re: Best affordable active speaker for rental startup
« Reply #29 on: July 25, 2014, 02:54:58 AM »

Also forgot to mention my "day" job is a partner in an established 30 year old IT company.  I am 50 and have the means to not have to draw a salary while I grow the sound business.  I have some wonderful talented and deserving young engineers I work with.  I would like to build this to the point that I can hand it over to them when I am ready to stick my toes in the water and ass in the sand.  I love building companies with real value.  If it was a hobby shop I would already be playing with the etx.  I asked a question I already knew the answer to but was hoping I missed something.  This is a great community the business accumen is as sharp as the tech.  Thanks for your time.
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Scott AKA "Skyking" Holtzman

Ghost Audio Visual Solutions, LLC
Cleveland OH
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ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Best affordable active speaker for rental startup
« Reply #29 on: July 25, 2014, 02:54:58 AM »


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