Active speakers or passive with an amp?

[AtgAni]

Jbl are more expensive for one than a pair of mackies! I've only been dj'ing 6 months and im a student so don't want to spend a fortune

[jamthrax]

ha... just dont eat this term and spank all your loan on some

[AtgAni]

This loan just went on the s4 and pioneer headphones! Managed to get the s4 for £350 off eBay but I'm still a bit skint

[jamthrax]

i would recommend saving some cash up then... i did what you are thinking and invested in some cheap P.A speakers. after 4 months and the night i run getting bigger had to buy a sub. After another few months was still not happy with A) the sound quality B) having no control over DJs pushing the speakers. Ended up getting a passive 5k rig with limiter and crossover. In all i recon around £1000 pounds wasted due to buying cheap speakers

[AtgAni]

Ooh I'm not ready to spend a grand just yet! And it'll just be me using them so they'll be looked after and not pushed. 90% of the time they'll be used in my house, so they can be loud but not club level loud. My surround sound system we currently use is cranked up to the max and you can hear us quite clearly outside lol!
Main thing is I want it to better than that, and I imagine even the original ones I posted will be but my surround does still have a dedicated sub and I'm not sure if I'll miss that at home?

[jamthrax]

if this is the cause... you are better off going with some speakers that are not PA. get something like KRK's or alesis Mk 2's. These are cheap and give a reasonable all round response and will be louder then your computer surround sound. The alesis can carry a room in a house party as well best of both worlds.

You will find using speaker like to ones you posted at home will be overkill and have loads of mid treble

also i did not say spend £1000... i was getting to point across that i lost £1000 by buying cheap speakers in the long run

[AtgAni]

It's quite a decent Samsung av surround I use that's 1000w total, will I get bass from alesis or krk or will I need a sub as well?

[D-Kem]

Your best bet on a budget would be some passives and an amp. You should be able to get set up with better gear at a fraction of the cost. If you want active PA speakers you will need quality (RCF, JBL QSC etc) although DB Opreas can be picked up cheap and use the same drivers as the RCF's. There's a pair finishing soon on ebay. Your set up will need minimum 2 tops and 1 sub if you plan on playing Dance music of any type.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DJ-ACTIVE-...8b787#ht_2394w

[AtgAni]

How would I connect a sub if I had 2 actives? Xlr to the output of one?

[RockingClub]

It's often hard to find the right amp that fits the passive speakers so buying some active speakers is more recommendable. Especially for studio monitors (I know you are not talking about monitor speakers but maybe someone else is interested).
I don't know which speakers are best for live gigs, but I highly recommend the (admittedly quite expensive) Mackie HR 824 MK II when it comes to studio monitors. They sound brilliant and you will surely enjoy DJing on them at home. They can get quite loud, too!