An Active crossover will split the line level signal into three, meaning you'll need three amps to power different speakers.

A Passive crossover splits the amped signal.

Exactly what follows from my post :lol:

Shhhh.

:p

dude, I'm epilectic, and your avatar just caused my keyboard to stop working because I had an attack and frothed all over it.

If I had a heart, I would probably feel bad.

A simple solution would be a powered sub.
You can run a line level signal into it straight off an Aux output of the mixer, with no need for a crossover.

A powered sub may be the best solution. I'm not sure if the mixer has an aux output. It's a peavey unity 2000 made in 1990, so it's not incredibly up to date. It has outputs for main speakers, monitors, headphones, and a component tape-out jack (as well as a tape-in, but I don't get what it does).

The good thing about running a powered sub off an Aux output is that you can use the 'Aux send' level on the mixer to conrol the loudness of the sub. It's an advantage but it is not essential.

You should also be able to run it off any other line level output that the mixer has. Even in parrallel to the main outputs would do.

2 pas?
 

Ok, we have this cheapie pa [url]http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=live/s=speakers/search/detail/base_pid/632200/[/url]

I'm a guitarist and singer in my band, and I really have a hard time hearing myself when we start playing loud, and i end up singing bad. So I want maybe one or two monitors. But, I don't think we can hook them up to our crappy pa. Also, we want to mic our guitar amps, but we have 4 mics for singing, and trying to use low pedency mics to mic guitar amps sounds bad (low pedency because no more normal mic ports). So I was thinkin either we can buy a new pa with more wattage, and room for the vocals and guitar micing, and then use the old one for monitors (if its possible to connect it like that, and telling me how would be nice). Or, is there such thing as like an a monitor thats like indepentdently powered that we could hook to the pa without taking away wattage?

You can get powered speakers to use as monitors. But these are often quite expensive. And not ideal for those who are on a budget.

What I'd suggest doing is, yes, saving up for a new PA. One that is of course bigger and better and has enough mic input and enough watts to do the job.
But, keep that little one you've got.
This new bigger PA should have some sort of auxillery output. So what you can do is run this output into that little PA of yours and use it as monitors.

[QUOTE=Aes820]You can get powered speakers to use as monitors. But these are often quite expensive. And not ideal for those who are on a budget.

What I'd suggest doing is, yes, saving up for a new PA. One that is of course bigger and better and has enough mic input and enough watts to do the job.
But, keep that little one you've got.
This new bigger PA should have some sort of auxillery output. So what you can do is run this output into that little PA of yours and use it as monitors.[/QUOTE]

Sounds good, thanks alot. What wattage do u reccomend though? I want a price between 300-500 I think.

so, do you recon a PA is a must for every band to own? for gigging AND practice? and a guitar amp is NOT a good idea? what about booster amps, are they the same idea?

Also, what PA's are you guys using? thinking of gettin one now, as it seem pretty essential. Could find a good 300-400 quid and lookin for somethin that will last a lifetime, do pretty big gigs, but also smaller ones to begin with and with about 8+ inputs.

Hold on a sec...
 

Nonon, guitar amps are good. Don't plug a guitar directly into a pa. Amps sound way better. But yea, if u have vocals in your band, the pa's are essential. Pa's are for vocals, and loudening your sound if u need to (guitars, bass, drums which u can mic). You can't really do a very decent sized gig without it.

I noticed nobody is posting in this thread anymore.

What kind of PA's do you have? Im thinkin of gettin one thats big enough for small - medium sized gigs, and practices, but without loosing anything on the tone. Got a good £300-400 to splash out with

Yeah i havent posted in a while hhahahah i wont ask any questions this time around.. just post some info on what ive decided to do.. im goin POWERED!!!

After heaps of reading, the pros and cons etc.. of both active and passive.. well for my needs im goin for the active speakers... and im goin for 2 powerful babies.. and ill get a quality mixer i think.. ill get a monitor later..and alot later down the line, ill evenentually be getting a sub if im ever gigging somewhere bigger..

But as uve all probably heard before.. ive wanted a small but very loud system, not only for jamming, but for medium sized gigs..eg.. being able to gig at a pub or at a school basketball gym sized hall.. if u know what i mean..

Heres what im gonna get.. ive decided im not gonna go cheap.. and go for quality.. these are the prices in australian btw.. but from a fair bit of reading from various forums and sites comparing the top (clearest and loudest powered speakers) ive narrowed it down to about 4.. maybe 5.. still im currently getting advice from some music stores.. but if anyone here has had any experiences with the following speakers, please let me know what u think..

Here are the speakers and the best price (in australian) i can get for these(each) so far:

1.
Mackie SRM450 12" (23kgs) - from the reviews, these are one of the best, especially in terms of clarity.. from many review sites and forums, are better than the well known JBL EON15 G2s. Apparently the clarity on vocals are the best with these, but the only problem with em is that the bass thins out in an attempt to prevent overdriving..thats when cranked.. many have said this, and hence use the sub1501 with em.. very expensive to do that..so far can get em at $1295 each ($2590 for pair)

2.
Samson db5000a 15" (27.7kg)- apparently one of the best value for sound.. alot say better than the MackieSRM450 and JBL EON15 G2s (many american product review sites), particulary in the bass department... and alot saying a sub isnt that necessarity with it.. unless playing at huge venues.. cause the bass is so good..
Only down side is the weight and support(ie. takes ages to get things fixed).
Can get these for $962 each incl delviery hehe ($1924 for pair)

3.
dB Opera Lyric 415 15" (20kg) - an italian brand.. a few on a DJ site say its actually goes much better than the MackieSRM450 at the high levels. Im guessing it has a good bass to it.. but heres a review that was done on it (also has good results for the Quest QSA300 12" which u may find interesting chris :) ) its a power amp shoot out.
[url]http://www.inthemix.com.au/p/np/viewnews.php?id=11074[/url]
due to the layout of this page u have to the the search or favourits tab on left hand side.. so that all the pics can be seen properly.
Anyways, these opera's seem very loud... and seem to be good quality, yet very light speakers.. only 20kg.. but still dont know too much about em.
Can get these for about $1000each at the cheapest ($2000 a pair)

4.
Yamaha MSR 400 12" - hmmm some guy from a shop thinks interms of price these are the best valued powered speakers on the australian market... reckons they are 2 years ahead of any other speaker in the power speaker class..whatever that means.. they are new on the market, but i think he just wants to get rid of em hahah.. they are about $888 each ($1776 a pair)

5.
QUEST QSA400 15" - similar to the speakers u have chris.. but 15" instead of 12", and a slighly higher max spl.. dont know much about these..but they were the ones i was gonna get, based on listening to the ones u have. I can get them for a very cheap $850 each ($1700 a pair). Dont know enough about these since i cant find any reviews etc.

Im currently thinking about the 2(samson) and 3(db opera lyrics) option, possibly the 5th (Quests), based on value, but also fact apparently both the samsons and db's can out punch the more expensive mackie's. Currently sending off a heap of eamils to get opinions from various australian online music stores, and next couple of days ill continue to do more searching for "powered speaker"comparison sites.. and ill also go and visit my local PA shop in canberra to suss out not only what they think, but also hopefully have a listen. But either way, i think i wont be dissapointed goin for any of these speakers.. just that im want the best, and at a price range i can afford ($2500 being close to my absolute limit).

Im also gonna get a good quality mackie mixer.. ive heard speakers are the most important thing with sound, but a mixer has alot to do with it aswell..and ive heard mackie's much better than behringer..
was gonna get the: [url]http://www.behringer.com/UB1222FX-PRO/index.cfm?lang=ENG[/url]
($294) since it has fx and graphic equaliser (for monitor use done the track), but i found a mackie version: [url]http://www.mackie.com/products/dfx6/index.html[/url] ($496)

Well, im just glad ive finally narrowed it down to the powered speaker and mixer option.. not much longer ill make my decision.
This has taken ages, but im 100% sure im gonna be happy in the long run.. with a good system, that wont need to upgraded for a long time ;)

btw..any tips on experience with the mentioned products would be very much appreciated.
fk..another long post hahah
cheers,
steve :)

That link you gave with the reviews of each of those speakers is awesome. Thanks for the read. It's interesting how they say that the RCF ART 300A is the most expensive but also the worst performer out of the bunch.

The Quest QSA300 got some nice mentions in that article. Especially about it's crisp sound quality. Which I can only agree with. :)

Although it is obvious that the extra headroom on the DB Lyric 415 will make it the better performer out of the two.

It would be intersting to see the Quest QSA400 compared against the DB Lyric 415.
I think considering the 400 watts and the 15" woofer in the QSA400; it would be a much more even match between the two. Then, considering the price tag of the Quest speakers, maybe even the better option for you.

I bought the Behringer mixer because it was cheap, and had plenty of features. The quality of the mixer may very well have an affect on the quality of the sound so if that is your motive for buying the Mackie then definately go for it.
But I bought the Behringer for it's features and it's reasonable price tag.

But powered speakers really are great to use. They are compact, they are very often of high quality and they are easy to setup and use. I'm sure you'll be happy with whatever decision you make.
And if you ever get to a stage where you need a bigger PA, then the venue you'll be playing at will most likely have an 'in-house' Pa anyway.

so what size of PA (in watts) would you suggest for small to medium sized gigs, and practices?

[QUOTE=riverniall]so what size of PA (in watts) would you suggest for small to medium sized gigs, and practices?[/QUOTE]
2x300 watts should be suitable.

so, by 2x300 watts do u mean 2 speakers that give out 300 watts each? and is there any brands that give good PAs at low prices?

[QUOTE=riverniall]so, by 2x300 watts do u mean 2 speakers that give out 300 watts each? and is there any brands that give good PAs at low prices?[/QUOTE]
For your needs I would recomend a powered mixer package. They usually come with everything you need. Like the powered mixer plus speakers, cables and maybe even a couple of mics.
Brands like Yamaha and Peavey are worthwhile looking into.

Just when looking for PAs, go off what you want to spend.
Just use my advice of 2x300 watts as a ballpark-figure. What you actually get is more so up to you and what you can afford.

Thanks for advice Aes820

I think the behringer PMH5000 powered mixer would probably give me everything ill ever need (sorry i cant like it for some reason, it doesnt seem to work). Would i be best to get behringer speakers too? or is mixing brands a better idea? or does it just not matter?

Thanks again in advance

You can mix brands if you wish. There's no harm in doing so.
But once again, when chosing speakers you'll have to look at their specifications, taking into consideration what you can afford.
(ohms, power handeling, and efficiency)

If you want [B]the best[/B] performance, then there is a lot to take into consideration. Reading back through the last 5 pages or so of this thread may help you out.
But you can get accecptable performance just going off whatever you can find for a reasonable price.

Going for a packaged setups is usually the easiest thing to do in that case.
For example; here's a packaged system based around that model powered mixer you mentioned:
[url]http://www.behringer.com/EUROPOWER-PACK-1/index.cfm?lang=ENG[/url]

ye, that looks awesome! would i be best to buy a PA over the internet, or would i be best to try it out at a shop first? I'll probably buy that, cos it has all i'll probably ever need.

Guys. My potential saviours. This is what's happening. With any luck, I'll be able to take out a loan soon, hopefully somewhere in the $10K vacinity. Once that's done I'll buy a bigger car to carry my music gear in, but hopefully not spend more than $7,000-$8,000. The remainder of which will likely go in to a PA. For a jamming PA I think I'll need the following: 2 mics, another mic stand (I have 1), leads, PA head, 2 wedge speakers, and MAYBE a stand-mounted speaker or 2.

I should have a bit of money, as I said before, I want to know if you think I'll be able to get all that with 2-3 grand. Also, if you think I will NEED that much stuff. I don't need a massive mixing board, maybe 3-5 mic inputs.Also, I want wedge speakers because I've read they are the best for singers to hear themselves back through the PA. I'm wondering if simply a couple of those would be suffice for the whole jam? When playing gigs places have their own big speaker rigs anyway so we don't need a full set of speakers for that.

So, basically, do you think I'll have enough? What's an idea for some brands of mixers/speakers? And do you think wedges will do for a jam?

Simon, the user 'aussiegnr' that has been posting in this thread over the last several days is in the process of upgrading his own PA rig, and now has semi decent 2x400 watt Behringer PA for sale. Plus a couple of speaker cabinets. A rig like this may be near perfect for jamming for your needs.
His name is Steve and he's a Canberran, just like us.
Maybe you two could work something out?

If you are interested, send me a txt on 0411 295 116 and i'll text you back his email adress so you can get a hold of him.

Then if you have a chat to some of the folks at better music or pro audio they could set you up with a couple of vocal mics and everything else you need.

I haven't posted here in a while. AES, we have an outdoor gig coming up on the 27th. It is not a huge outdoor gig by any means, maybe 100 people or so. We'll be using a Peavey 600 watt powered mixer. From the mixer, we will primarily be running 2 Yamaha 1x15 cabinets through the mixer. Then, we wanted to hook up two 15 inch monitors as well. To hook up the monitors, we can just hook those up through the Aux input on the mixer correct?

And...600 watt powered mixer powering two 1x15 cabs and two monitors with all mic'd amps and vocals, that will be suitable for a small gig won't it?

Thanks!!

Hey what do you guys think of this for mostly practice and some small gigs?

[url]http://www.music123.com/SoundTech-STPA712-i161317.music[/url]

[QUOTE=Horenulas]Hey what do you guys think of this for mostly practice and some small gigs?

[url]http://www.music123.com/SoundTech-STPA712-i161317.music[/url][/QUOTE]
maybe, it'll be cutting it close. practices, probably. gigs, doubtful taht it will be good. it will probably work, but not well. are you using it just for vocals or for mic'ing the drummer and guitar amp and bass amp too or what

[QUOTE=Horenulas]Hey what do you guys think of this for mostly practice and some small gigs?

[url]http://www.music123.com/SoundTech-STPA712-i161317.music[/url][/QUOTE]
Depends on your style of music and how loud you are.

200w is maybe not so much as you might think.