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[Richard Penrose]

Hi,

I've been asked to source a new pa system for a small church and their budget is £1200max. The church holds around 60-80 people and is quite a nice sounding room.

They will require :-

1 pair of speakers
1 mixer maybe 8XLR's + 2-4 channels of jack line inputs?
2 dynamic mics
1 lapel mic

So far they've been using an extremely small system which is a pair of 4/5" Adastra speakers and a 6 channel mixer with 3 mic pres! Surprisingly this tiny system does a passable job at playing cds but I wouldn't touch it for live music.
They would like to put a keyboard, bass, 4x vocals and maybe acoustic guitar through it. The desk will need to have additional inputs for DVD and CD player.

The church would like the system to be as small and discrete as possible whilst being suitable for the job. The speakers should also preferably be white!? The speakers will be wall mounted fairly high and angled down so a passive speaker would probably be a good option.

I've had a quick look around and have found the following speakers :-

1/ Electro-Voice EVID 6.2
2/ Electro-Voice SX100+
3/ Electro-Voice ZX1i
4/ LD Systems SAT 82

I can't find any other white passive pa speakers that would have enough bandwidth for live music apart from the Behringer B212XL-WH but I would be more enclined to go with EV!
I have an Alto TS112a which I use as a monitor with my main rig and this speaker has impressed me a lot for its price. Unfortunately these don't come in white else I'd go for a pair of their passive TS112's!

As for mics, I will go for a couple of AKG D5's but am not sure what lapel mic I should get?


Are there any speakers out there that I've missed?
What speakers would you recommend?
What powered desk would you use with them?
What lapel mic would you recommend?

[Scott Wagner]

I can't find any other white passive pa speakers that would have enough bandwidth for live music

Any speaker can be any color that you want - that's why they make paint.  Of course, it is a bit more difficult to paint plastic, but not impossible.

[Tim Perry]

Hi,
Are there any speakers out there that I've missed?

Turbosound TCS-B15A /WHT White, among others. For lower cost the Peavey Sanctuary series. 

What speakers would you recommend?

An Active speaker ... maybe, depending in the install.  More information about the venue is needed to make a constructive recommendation.

What powered desk would you use with them?

None: most if not all powered mixers are lacking either in features, usability, channels, durability, aesthetics, and/or power (usually).  Yes a lot of churches use them and they perpetually wonder why they keep having problems. If you just have to have one, try the Peavey sanctuary series.

What lapel mic would you recommend?

None if at all possible. If you just have to have one... I use Shure ULX with mostly earworn mics. 

[Brad Weber]

They would like to put a keyboard, bass, 4x vocals and maybe acoustic guitar through it. The desk will need to have additional inputs for DVD and CD player.

My basic comment is that you are going about it backwards by defining a budget on some apparently unknown basis and then trying to figure out what to do.  The problem is that the budgets assigned in such a manner often do not reflect the goals and expectations for the systems.  The budget available may be what it is but I think it is usually better to know what it would cost to do what you want and then if necessary make informed decisions on what you can or have to do without in order to get to the budget, that way there is at least some knowledge of how the results may relate to the expectations.

Let's start with this as it seems to define their goals and expectations.

• For 60-80 people do you really need the bass in the system?  Having to reinforce bass and keys can require much greater low frequency output from the system.
• Do you have any ideas on the microphones?  Any wireless mics, pulpit mic, etc.?
• You mentioned the speakers being wall mounted, which suggests an installed system.  Does the budget need to cover all the related wall mounts, cabling, boxes and conduit, etc.?
• Is there any existing equipment (microphones, DI boxes, snake, mic stands, etc.) to be reused or does all of that have to be provided within the budget noted?
• Would the new system have to coordinate with any existing conduit, boxes, power, etc.?
• Is there any need for some type of monitors for the performers?

Beyond that, how do the seating, 'stage' and potential speaker locations all relate?  Is the speakers being white indeed as or even more important than their not causing feedback, being able to make what people say intelligible and so on?

This may seem overly complex for a basic system but the underlying issues and principles apply regardless of the size or scope of system.

[chuck clark]

Hi richard, I've had good luck w/ Wharfedale SI 12's for speakers and a Yamaha EX 312 mixer head.
You'll definitely want to get a true compression horn speaker as spkrs. w/ dome tweeters lack the directionality to avoid feedback problems at a decent volume when a lapel mic is used. As another poster mentioned, lapel mics can be challenging to get up to volume live without feedback issues. You might try  a headworn mic instead.
Also as another poster said, bass and keyboards have low frequency content that can be demanding. While a small system will probly be fine for vocals, acoustic guitar and professionally mastered (compressed) music playback, it would be advisable for a bass or keyboardist to have their own stage amps. You really should have 15 inch woofers and 500 watts or more to put bass and keys in a PA except at low volumes. Best of luck!
Chuck

[Jerome Malsack]

Another good consideration would be to use the smaller speakers and add a crossover with a good sub to make it a fuller musical system.   The Bose L1 is an example. 

[Richard Penrose]

Hi,

I've been asked to source a new pa system for a small church and their budget is £1200max. The church holds around 60-80 people and is quite a nice sounding room.

They will require :-

1 pair of speakers
1 mixer maybe 8XLR's + 2-4 channels of jack line inputs?
2 dynamic mics
1 lapel mic

So far they've been using an extremely small system which is a pair of 4/5" Adastra speakers and a 6 channel mixer with 3 mic pres! Surprisingly this tiny system does a passable job at playing cds but I wouldn't touch it for live music.
They would like to put a keyboard, bass, 4x vocals and maybe acoustic guitar through it. The desk will need to have additional inputs for DVD and CD player.

The church would like the system to be as small and discrete as possible whilst being suitable for the job. The speakers should also preferably be white!? The speakers will be wall mounted fairly high and angled down so a passive speaker would probably be a good option.

I've had a quick look around and have found the following speakers :-

1/ Electro-Voice EVID 6.2
2/ Electro-Voice SX100+
3/ Electro-Voice ZX1i
4/ LD Systems SAT 82

I can't find any other white passive pa speakers that would have enough bandwidth for live music apart from the Behringer B212XL-WH but I would be more enclined to go with EV!
I have an Alto TS112a which I use as a monitor with my main rig and this speaker has impressed me a lot for its price. Unfortunately these don't come in white else I'd go for a pair of their passive TS112's!

As for mics, I will go for a couple of AKG D5's but am not sure what lapel mic I should get?


Are there any speakers out there that I've missed?
What speakers would you recommend?
What powered desk would you use with them?
What lapel mic would you recommend?

Thanks for the replies. The bass and keys really aren't going to be very loud! This is a very small church venue and they've been managing with 40W 4" speakers!!! I think they will notice a huge difference going for any of the speakers I mentioned!!!!!!

Space is very sparse for the band so I would like to avoid amps etc. Also, I don't think they will go with subs as they want as much space as possible and to be as clutter and leads free as possible!

Those Wharfdale SI 12's look good but are a little out of budget by the time I've bought various mics etc! They cost £740 a pair over here!

The Alto TS112's cost around £250 a pair, the ZX1's are around £480 a pair and the SX100's cost around £520 a pair.

The Alto TS112, EV ZX1 and EV SX100's look like pretty decent options for what they need??

There are these other alternatives :-

Wharfdale Titan 12
Behringer Eurolive B1220

There's also 15" versions of the Alto TS115 and Wharfdale Titan 15's

What are your thoughts on all of these speakers? What would you recommend??

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