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[Tracy Garner]

Hwy all!  I have been a long time lurker, and fan and I cannot locate what I need to solve in the search function. Maybe someone more adept with the search function can help me.

Anyhow,

Intro - I am a mobil DJ that specializes in weddings. I have a small inexpensive setup that sounds great for what I do and it is easily portable in my car. I serve central Utah. I am a 35 year old Father and have been married to a wonderful woman for 12 years. I work professionally as a Real Estate Appraiser and I have my own company. My DJ business is a side venture, but I would like it to get bigger and busier. But before I do that I want to have all the bugs worked out of my sound system.

My Setup -

I started Small with a Behringer PHH1000 Powered Mixer as I had some passive Squire Speakers. Well the amp blew quickly so I bought some Powered Behringer B215A speakers. I have this mounted on Tripod stands. Generally the only inputs I use are my Laptop (headphone jack 1/8" to line in 1/4" Stereo) and a Senheiser e835 mic XLR. This is all powered my a Monster Cable surge protector and power conditioner (not a pro audio one though). When I turn the speaker volume up to about 50% I get a noticable hiss. When I turn it down to about 35% it goes away. I am thinking this is due to power conditioning but I am not sure. I have been teaching myself everything as I go and I would appreaciate the input even though I realize this is a basic question.

Thanks in advance

If you run your laptop on battery power only, does the noise go away?

[Mike Price]

If you run your laptop on battery power only, does the noise go away?

I have not checked that - That is an easy check

[Greg_Cameron]

Hiss is not generally associated with power issues, gain structure usually is. Or maybe a poor quality sound card or other audio device. Power issues are usually ground related and so-called "conditioning" is not the issue. What Tracy is driving at is that many laptops have ground coupled power supply noise, often the external power supply switching circuity dumps harmonics into the ground bus of the laptop and that gets into the audio circuity. A good fix is to use a decent quality USB audio interface for playback to the mixer rather than the built in headphone/line out jack. It's generally good practice to do so anyways.

[Paul G. OBrien]

I am looking at getting a Numark Mixdeck - I am trying to do research on it first and would love some input on it.

The compact nature of these all-in-one consoles is tempting but it is a risk putting all your eggs in one basket and you have to wonder what it's reliability is like given the price point. Also consider it's form factor, it won't fit in a standard 19" rack so it will have to be cased seperately from other gear and that adds setup/teardown time and wear and tear on the I/O jacks of assiciated gear. Also note that it is reported that these consoles are not compatable with the latest Ipod/Iphone models despite what Numark claims. Personally I like standard 19" equipment, there are enough choices out there from the numerous DJ equipment manufacturers to get all the features you want with seperate components and they can be racked with backups in a fairly compact 19" console.

[Mike Price]

Personally I like standard 19" equipment, there are enough choices out there from the numerous DJ equipment manufacturers to get all the features you want with seperate components and they can be racked with backups in a fairly compact 19" console.

Do you have any preferences? I really like the idea of the Denon DN-HS4500 but I have heard that it can be hard to get the CD player that goes with it.

As far as using an all in one console - I realize the eggs are all in one basket - that is why my current setup would be my backup if there ever was a problem. The beauty of the all in one design is just that - it is all in one. I would really only need the one mixer/case, speakers and the laptop to play. I would then have my light rack case next to it. It actually makes things a little quicker.

Would a Driverack help make sound better? Are they worth the $400? I don't know very much about them. Since I used powered speakers, I would be looking at the Driverack PX+.

I know I sound like a total noob but I appreciate the help.

[Paul G. OBrien]

Do you have any preferences? I really like the idea of the Denon DN-HS4500 but I have heard that it can be hard to get the CD player that goes with it.

If I were buying I think I'd be looking at a media player, something like the Numark DDS80 system or Gemini CDMP2700. I have spent a whole lifetime in the tech world around all types of computers and from my experience you get better reliability from a single purpose dedicated processing system like those found in a media player than something that is designed to be infinitely flexable like a laptop, this flexability usually means there are also an infinite number of ways it can be corrupted and crash without warning. But my priorities may be a little different than yours, I run a small rental business that provides more Dj equipment than anything but I need it to be able to accept just about any input type. I too have been considering buying one of those Numark Mixdecks to try out for the very reasons you describe.. it's simplicity, throw the console on a table connect powered speakers and you're done. I may yet but it depends where customer demand pushes me, that's my sole driving force but it's probably not the same for you. 

Would a Driverack help make sound better?

With quality powered speakers I don't think they're necessary, I removed all outboard EQ from my Dj consoles after getting powered speakers.. partially to minimize the damage customers can do but also because the speakers really didn't need any help at sounding good.

[ProSoundWeb Community]