Proper Speakers

Okay guys so here is the deal, I know I will get bitched at and called a noob, but I am in need of speakers for about a 300 person party at say a country club ballroom, but here is the problem: I know absolutely nothing about speakers. Currently, I use small Behringer Ms16 monitors that are great for PRACTICING, but that is just it, they are not large enough for a 300 person crowd. I was hoping some of you could enlighten me as to what i might be looking for. Also, as I am a college kid, i wouldn't really like to spend more than around 600$ for these, unless the return will be pretty awesome haha. If you need to know the use, they will be used mostly for sorority formals, dances, etc. parties like that. Let me know what you're thinking. Thanks in advance.

I was in your boat about a year ago. What I did was hit up craigslist. I got 2 older electro voice full range cabs and a 900 watt amp for like $400. Then about a week later I bought a jbl powered 18" sub for $300 on craigslist, it was pretty much brand new and retails for $800. So for about $700 I got a system that could def handle what youre talking about. I use it for house parties and sorority brat frat parties. The sub really thumps and thats what people wanna hear.
Also you can ask guitar center and other stores about older or damaged speakers that they have.
And you can consider building your own sub... http://www.billfitzmaurice.com/T30.html

I guess im kinda asking like what is good what kind of watts am i looking for along with amps and what not. I am still kind of confused as to what all that is. Right now when i gig i plug my stuff in and dont worry about what i have to do with the power. I hear like 2 100 watt speakers and 1 100 watt subwoofer would be good. but idk what that stuff even means

http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35290
http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35312
http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34206
http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31539
http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31613
http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30704
http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30295
http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23942

^ total win

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Originally Posted by WhatsADJ?

Okay guys so here is the deal, I know I will get bitched at and called a noob, but I am in need of speakers for about a 300 person party at say a country club ballroom, but here is the problem: I know absolutely nothing about speakers. Currently, I use small Behringer Ms16 monitors that are great for PRACTICING, but that is just it, they are not large enough for a 300 person crowd. I was hoping some of you could enlighten me as to what i might be looking for. Also, as I am a college kid, i wouldn't really like to spend more than around 600$ for these, unless the return will be pretty awesome haha. If you need to know the use, they will be used mostly for sorority formals, dances, etc. parties like that. Let me know what you're thinking. Thanks in advance.

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300 people? 600 dollars? Add an extra zero onto that and you got yourself a decent setup. Save your money and start a relationship with a good rental company.

First off if you go passive you need these things
Power Amps
Signal Processing (crossovers, EQ's, limiter/compressor)
Power conditioner
Speaker Stands
Cables

These things alone will run you close at least 1000 dollars to power everything.

Then speaker wise it really depends on how loud you want to go. Do you want "club level" sound? Do you want just loud enough for background music? What kind of spl are you looking to output over a defined area. How big is the country club ballroom?

For commercial cabs and semi-club level you would probably need at least 4-6 tops, and 4-8 subs. You'll want to go quality here (Yorkville, QSC, EV, JBL). You could get away with 2-4 subs and 4 tops if you built a bill fitzmaurice system yourself (4 DR200's, and 2 Tuba 30's) depending on the size of the venue and what kind of SPL you want throughout and it would be considerably cheaper (like 1/4-1/3 the price) than buying commercial tops and subs but takes knowledge of woodworking and electronics along with the right tools.

I mean you could do 300 people with 2 tops and a sub but it will sound quiet for most people with a lot of dead zones. With 6 tops and 8 subs and proper placement/signal processing you'd get good SPL, clean sound, and good coverage throughout the room and have plenty of room to drive the SPL louder. Anything in between and YMMV. Room acoustics can really wreak havoc on any setup.

Just remember this: You can always under-drive a setup but you can never make it go louder than its maximum. So just as with the amps powering your setup - you want HEADROOM with your speaker setup. If you expect 300, you want your system to be able to do 500 at the desired SPL. If you expect 500 you want your system to be able to do 700 at your desired SPL. Having too much is always better than not having enough when you fill to capacity and people in the back are begging you to go louder.

Unless you plan on doing these events at least once a week and filling to capacity you're better off renting.