speaker advice

[VirtualLogic]

hey djtt
I have been a bedroom dj for a wile now and i am looking to start doing friends partys and stuff.
I have got all my controllers and laptop and everything already all i need are some speakers.
can you recommend good entery level speakers to do small partys with and stuff.

i was thinking :

DJ PA KARAOKE ACTIVE POWERED SPEAKERS SPEAKER PAIR X2

[bmo]

don't you dare touch those speakers with a ten inch pole. They are karaoke speakers which should automatically ring a bell in your head that they are optimized for vocals, not for bass or mids.

If you want a decent set of powered speakers look at the Mackie Thumps You can probably coop a pair for around 5 or $600. I use them at house parties all the time, no problems at all.

I know it looks like a lot of money, but you really do get what you pay for in terms of speakers. Getting no name speakers for $300 may not be that bad for house parties I guess, but they won't sound nearly as good as a speaker from a more reputable company like Mackie, or JBL, or RCF, just to name a few of the better names. And after all, when ppl hear you spin, you want it to sound as good as it can, and you can only do so much with your mixing, the rest is up to the sound speaker you're connected to.

One last thing to keep in mind if you're going to start doing house parties. PLEASE PLEASE do not just turn your speakers to the maximum volume if they seem like they aren't loud enough (even though your mixer levels are in the red), the high pitch will ruin everyone's hears and sound like shit. If you find you need more volume, you will most likely need to rent a subwoofer to accompany a pair of tops. You will most likely learn this through experience though.

cheers,

[DJMilk3y]

ide say no on them try and get something with a name atleast, ide recommend 15" instead of 10 for house parties thats just my opinion though

[VirtualLogic]

thanks bmo
whitht spec
what am i looking for . what Speaker Frequency Response. what Amplifier Output and so on.

also found these

LINK : FULL PORTABLE PA DJ SPEAKER + AMP POWERED MIXER SYSTEM
keep in mind that i am only 14 and dont have very much money so yeah.

thanks in advance everyone.

[DJMilk3y]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/CLUB-15-POWER...item230bda0be2 these dont look to bad i guess same retailer

[VirtualLogic]

they look good but i cant spend $500 on speakers

[bmo]

I don't think you want that either. Let's be honest you're just starting out, you want to carry as little as possible since you're probably a student and it may be a bit of a challenge to get to gigs. I would recomend getting powered speakers, where the amplifier is built into the speaker itself, so that all you need to do is plug a line in from your mixer to the speaker. No need for an amplifier in between.

So when you go to a gig all you'd need is your two speakers, and your mixer/cdj/tts or midi controller/soundcard.

the thing you posted looks outdated, and bulky, I mean that powered amp mixer looks like it will be heavy as an elephant, and in the end you'll have to carry three things instead of two. What I do if i'm going to a house party is put my midi controllers and cables in a knapsack, then all I need to bring is my two speakers and voila all good to go. *side note* it is pretty ghetto to take public transit to a gig with a pair of speakers, ask a friend for a ride or take a cab and get the ppl at the party to pay for the cab *end of side note* but regardless having less things to bring is always a plus, as well less things to connect, meaning you setup quicker and tear down quicker.

For almost any other DJ equipment I would recommend looking on Ebay but for Speakers/ DJ Lighting, I would really refrain from Ebay, because many vendors will post up equipment that looks really good on paper or they make it seem really good in the description because a lot of the information about speakers is confusing like spl output and frequency range etc. I would recommend looking for speakers at a local DJ shop, THEN when you've found a pair you like, you start looking around for a cheaper price, don't ever buy a pair of speakers without first listening to them.

They will be one of the most important investments you will make in starting your DJ career, since the house parties will eventually lead to other gigs hopefully. Make sure you purchase the right ones for you. If anything, you can just rent decent speakers for a night from a local DJ shop for around $30.

edit: the one's milky posted look much better, even if they aren't a name brand.

[DJMilk3y]

i guess you could always rent them, that way your getting better sound and everyone much happier, just ask everyone to pitch in 5 or 10 bucks each time shouldn't be hard if you've got 20 odd people

[keeb]

Depending on how big the house parties are you're talking about, and how the accoustics are, you can probably get away with using monitors. I'm using a pair of JBL active monitors (85 watts each) and at the parties I've been spinning they've been perfectly adequate. This is in a room which holds maybe 100 people really bumper-to-bumper, mind you. Also, I'm running them out of a presonus firebox which tends to have a pretty loud signal... when I run them straight off of an iPod, the volume is a bit lacking.

The advantage of doing this is that you can spend the money to get good monitors now (the ones I have are comparable to KRKs and cost me about the same amount) and then upgrade to nice full-sized speakers later. Full-sized speakers at this point may very well just end up getting you noise complaints as well, depending on your setting.

[Coldfuzion]

Could you play a SMALL house party with just monitors? I have never had a set of monitors so I wouldn't know. Mine should finally be here on Monday [tomorrow]!