Advice for First PA Speakers

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Advice for First PA Speakers

Hi all, picked up my first decks (numark mixtrack pro2) last month to get me started, since then I have just been practicing in my room with an old shitty amplifier that came with my bass guitar years ago. However this weekend I am playing at a mates party for his 18th, he lives on a farm so we are having this party in a large barn. If I am going to play obviously I will need to upgrade in terms of speakers, even if it is still quite low end. Its just for the fun of it and also gives me a little bit of practice, so I was looking at hiring a PA system for the weeknd but in the end I’ve decided upon buying my own speakers for this weekend and then I can do more small partys for friends.

As we are quite far from the house and there us no electricity in the barn I would need to use a generator for power supply, but I am willing to rent on for the day. But the problem is that I have absolutley no idea what I am look at for these speakers. I was hoping to go along the lines of a lower end PA system with the 2 active speakers.

Could somebody point me in the right direction as to what I should be look for in these speakers and maybe a couple of examples. My budget is £270, and I understand that this will not get me the best quality speakers going but its really just to get me started.

Any suggestions or advice would be highly appreciated!

This is the system I have it mind at the moment, but I am not sure as to what adaptors I would need for a generator and how I would plug them into my decks?
(https://www.proaudiocentre.com/shop/audio-equipment/pa-systems/bargain-value-pa-systems/products/-x2-series-800w-active-pa-system.html)

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Re: generator - go for a diesel if you can, they tend to cope better with the type of loads PA systems represent and are safer to refuel. Anywhere that hires you a generator will usually also be able to hire you a simple adaptor to convert the output to a standard UK 13a socket.

If it’s not a ridiculous distance you could also consider hiring some large diameter cable and running it from the house (can be found from sound hire places). The further it is the larger the diameter cable you will need to minimise the voltage drop.

With your budget I would hire PA rather than buy, especially if you’re looking at brand new stuff; the sound quality is likely to be pretty awful at that price, and for any kind of dance music a sub is highly advisable. Full range PA speakers are typically designed to be loud but not go very low, so you won’t get much in the way of bass with a pair of 12+1 speakers like the ones you linked to.

If you really want to have your own system, I’d look at buying a second hand system that includes a sub after you’ve done your friends party. You’ll get something much better for your money.