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Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums => DJ Forum => Topic started by: Marc Moberg on March 02, 2021, 02:58:45 PM
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First off I don't know much about Audio. Just saying. I am wanting a good quality sounding Audio System with a Subwoofer that is Loud enough to be Heard over my Drumset & also be used as a Movie Sound System for my TV. I will be hooking it up to either a TV or my Laptop & playing Rock, Blues & Hard Rock Music or Movies that way. I will be using it for playing along with my Drums & for a better sound system for my TV as well. Don't have to be Surround Sound. Just needs to be a Quality Sound System that is Loud but not Audiophile Quality. Need to be able to hear the Dialogue from a Movie or TV Show Better as well. So it has to be a good decent sound to it, Loud enough to be heard over my Drumset & be decent for a TV Sound System for Dialogue. I have a Budget of about $800. Not Much I know but I'm not looking for Top of the Line Stuff. Any Advice would be very helpful. Thanks.
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First off I don't know much about Audio. Just saying. I am wanting a good quality sounding Audio System with a Subwoofer that is Loud enough to be Heard over my Drumset & also be used as a Movie Sound System for my TV. I will be hooking it up to either a TV or my Laptop & playing Rock, Blues & Hard Rock Music or Movies that way. I will be using it for playing along with my Drums & for a better sound system for my TV as well. Don't have to be Surround Sound. Just needs to be a Quality Sound System that is Loud but not Audiophile Quality. Need to be able to hear the Dialogue from a Movie or TV Show Better as well. So it has to be a good decent sound to it, Loud enough to be heard over my Drumset & be decent for a TV Sound System for Dialogue. I have a Budget of about $800. Not Much I know but I'm not looking for Top of the Line Stuff. Any Advice would be very helpful. Thanks.
Read the rules, fix your display name.
Thank you for your cooperation.
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$800 for any decent 2 tops and a sub is going to be tough. But you could start with 2 fairly decent active tops, and buy a sub later. Look for 10"-12" speakers from Yamaha, RCF, EV, maybe Turbosound and JBL.
Active means that the amplifiers are built into the speaker. You will also want a simple mixer.
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Have you given thought to headphones or in-ears instead? You will be able to hear the dialog and music much more clearly and at a lower / safer volume. Get a good pair of in-ears for drumming from Sennheiser or Shure or wherever and a soundbar for watching TV.
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The best bang for the buck will be the EV ZLX line. You will want a mixer of some sort. A little Behringer 2 channel can be had for around $50. I think you will have to wait on a sub though unless you can live without stereo. Just about any powered speaker worth even thinking about starts at about $350 each. Subs are a little more expensive. Going used can stretch your dollar, but buying a used sub and having it shipped is a tough bargain. If you buy from most online dealers new it is often easy to get free or next to free shipping. With taxes, I suspect each speaker will cost you about $400. If you find a speaker cheaper than $350 from ANY of the standard names, it is not worth even considering. JBL, EV, QSC, RCF, Mackie, and Turbosound are about the only options and several of them won't have something in your budget.
The brands to stay away from speaker-wise include Harbinger, Behringer, Seismic Audio, Alto ( they do have some hidden gems though ), or any other name that isn't above. If you ask me though, EV provides about the best you can get for the dollar. JBL comes in next with at least a full line-up of speakers in that market segment ( EV doesn't have a ZLX sub for instance ). Alto is hit or miss. They are an OEM company meaning they have their brand, but also supply exact products to other companies who slap their name on it. The Headrush FR line comes to mind. Another FRFR guitar-based speaker has also been recently released that is a Behringer product. OEM brands are a hard pass, because if another company can buy the product and rebrand it for enough to still make a profit on, you know it is DIRT CHEAP to make. EV to the best of my knowledge doesn't sell to other companies as an OEM supplier and still provides a competitively priced product that performs above its price point. JBL's EON is not great, but at least has a full offering that includes subs. QSC has their CP line; I am not a fan.... Turbosound is owned by Behringer now ( Music Group technically, but Behringer ) and is not bad, but not great and will be pricier than most budget options. RCF is going to provide the best product in the market segment, but is also going to be priced significantly higher.
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Hold on. Is this for a HOME stereo system? If that's the case, you're now looking into more of a studio environment vs live sound. That changes things a bit.
Stuff that can make a decent amount of sound for a movie theater can be gotten in a HUGE array of price points and complexity.
For a movie theater system, typically you'll be working with volumes consistently in the 85db range to be comfortable. For the most dynamic experience, you really only need to be able to get your system up to 100-105db. Beyond that, it just hurts and isn't necessary for movies. Even pre-recorded music would be fine at those levels.
When looking at something that can get louder than your drums, well, that's potentially a challenge. Drum kits without any miking can produce 120db or more if you really get into them. Making a happy mix requires a LOT of speaker power, not to mention it's pretty hard on your hearing.
Using ear protection with drums is good practice, but that means to keep a mix, you'll be running everything else stupid loud and if you've got neighbors, that may not go so well.
Alternatively, if you're looking for just something to play along with, headphones can be a great choice. The headphones act as hearing protection against the drums and you can turn up the music volume to whatever is comfortable. And a good set of headphones can easily fit well below your budget.
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Thanks Guys for all the Advice. Really Appreciate it very much.
Trying to Figure out the MAX SPL of my Old Audio System so I can Figure out how much Louder I need my next System to be. This is my 15 year old Old Sharp Mini Component System that I have used for 15 years at Full Volume to play along with my Drums. It was just loud enough to be heard over me playing the drums lightly but I could overpower it if I banged on them hard. Would getting a PA System or Home Theater system be better for me you think? I would be using it for more Movies vs playiing Drums but it would have to be Loud Enough to overpower the Drums. I Imagine a Home Theater System wouldn't be Loud Enough for my Drums.
I have been looking at getting 2 Abramtech Bluetooth E500 Speakers which would be $600. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TT9XZF9/ref=sspa_dk_detail_3?spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExT0FTNFhUUUZPSUNTJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMjA4NzgyMVpKUjBIV1NQSFc0WiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwOTkwNzI1M1ZPUTgwV1pXU0E5OSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2RldGFpbDImYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl&th=1
What do you think the MAX SPL is on this old Sharp System? Just a Guess if you don't know. Thanks
The System has a 175 Watt Receiver with a 10 inch 120 watt Active Subwoofer.
Signal-To-Noise Ratio is 55db
Dynamic Range is 90db
Amplifier Output Details 135 Watt - 8 Ohm - 100 - 20000 Hz - THD 10% - 2 channels (front)
65 Watt - 16 Ohm - 5000 - 20000 Hz - THD 10% - 2 channels (rear)
400 Watt - 6 Ohm - 50 - 120 Hz - THD 10% - 1 channels (subwoofer)
SPECS
https://www.cnet.com/products/sharp-cd-g10000p/
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You can download free SPL apps on your phone. Not terribly accurate, but might get you a close idea of what you're dealing with.
Any typical home system, especially compact systems will have trouble producing anything much over 100db. For in home sound, as I said in the last post, it's rare that you ever want it to get that loud.
Drums as an instrument are freaking loud. Put them in a small room, and the problem gets even worse.
I don't think you'll be able to find speaker systems that fit your particular set of criteria.
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You can download free SPL apps on your phone. Not terribly accurate, but might get you a close idea of what you're dealing with.
Any typical home system, especially compact systems will have trouble producing anything much over 100db. For in home sound, as I said in the last post, it's rare that you ever want it to get that loud.
Drums as an instrument are freaking loud. Put them in a small room, and the problem gets even worse.
I don't think you'll be able to find speaker systems that fit your particular set of criteria.
The Room I have my Drums in is an Open Game Room that is almost 450 sq ft. Would that be considered a small room or a larger room?
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The Room I have my Drums in is an Open Game Room that is almost 450 sq ft. Would that be considered a small room or a larger room?
Small. Large would be something that comfortably seats over 500-1k people.
Even if you do get speakers that will cleanly play louder than live acoustic drums - in that small a space, that is way too loud.
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I know Caleb will hate me for suggesting this 8)
See if you can find a pair of used Cerwin Vega RE-20/RE-30 used. They pop up on craigslist every once and while, and can usually be found for $50-400 a pair.
They will sound better than any of the PA speakers in your $800 budget, and while they are technically "home-audio" they will easily keep up with a drum set and then some in a small room (they are stupid loud!).
Their crossover is also a pretty efficient design so any decent home stereo amp will drive them just fine; and if you ever do something stupid with them, they have fuses built in. ;)