Portable Sound System

[rtgentry]

Hey everyone, what do yall use for sound amplification when doing shows? I have the main one we use for our church but I need something portable and of good clear and loud quality. Any suggestions.

 

[Johnny Fiamma]

What kind of price range are you going for, and just what degree of portability are you wanting? (i.e.- Battery operated amplification? Wireless systems? Venue size requirements? 5.1? Multichannel/Mixing capabilities? etc.)

 

[rtgentry]

It does not have to be battery op. It would be nice to have a couple of inputs for a couple mics and a stereo. As far as power , I dont know. At least loud enough to hear inside and outside venues.

 

[Johnny Fiamma]

Low end- You could probably find a Karaoke system for pretty cheap at places like Sam's, Wal-Mart, or Target. It'll have mixing capabilities mixed in. Only downside is the lack of the wireless mic, which you could get for anywhere from around $40 to $300, depending on what you're wanting. (Check out buy.com and amazon.com for the wireless mics.)

Now for a little bit more, you could buy the same wireless kit above and throw in a guitar amp ($30-$50, depending on ampage and size), and get a cheapo mixer by hitting a musical instrument consignment place or trying Best Buy or Radio Shack. Remember that when it comes to small venues (like a 20' x 20' room), 7-10 watts of amp can be plenty. (My daughter has a 4-watt guitar amp, and that sucker can get plenty loud- even on battery power. Plus, it was only $22 and it's extremely portable. Got it on Amazon.)

Or... Replace the guitar amp with a dolby surround system. You can buy a 300-watt system now for around $100 bucks. (I got mine at Kmart- and it had the DVD player built in). You'll still need the wireless and mixer, of course, as well as a couple of 100' spools of speaker wire to run for larger venues. The cool thing is that, if set up right, you can control your sound better, and premix cool audio effects to use. (And you can use it at home, too!)

Or, replace the mixer in either the amp or surround setup with your laptop. Use the mic in for the wireless (or just a regular mic), your CD drive for your music, the volume control on the sound card as a mixer, and output it from your headphone or line out jack to connect to the speaker system. (You'll have to hit Radio Shack for the right cabling and adapters, but what you'd need is easy to find.)

Finally, there's the real PA system. These have gone down considerably in the past decade. I found a couple of systems for a pretty decent price. Granted, you're still looking at around $250 to $300, though, and it doesn't include a mixer.

This site offers PA systems of all sizes and options, from this really cool 7-watt hip system to the larger professional systems: Radios4You.

 

[rtgentry]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Super-Nova-X12A...75768QQcategoryZ47093QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

Would something like this work>?

 

[Johnny Fiamma]

That sounds like a good offer for the specs shown. Heck, I'd buy it!

You'll just need to add your wireless mic, or corded mic. (There's the link to a reasonably-priced wireless one, but you may want to shell out a bit more and get something a little better.)

And you could still hook up your iPod, Laptop, or CD player to it for music and sound effects. According to specs I've seen for other systems, that setup would do for about a 1500+ -person audience!

 

[rtgentry]

Great, I just want a system that is loud and clear, and easy to carry around since I am useually by myself when I do my shows. I have used the karoke machines and they either give a lot of feedback or they are not clear enough. I will definitly spend more money on wireless mics this time. Last time I purchases a cheap set and I got what I paid for.....

 

[Johnny Fiamma]

Let us know how it turns out.

 

[wes]

http://store.yahoo.com/puppetproductions/soundsystems.html

Here's a link to sound Machines that are Puppet friendly, I got the bigger one and it works out Nicely, i can hook a Ipod, Cd, tape or what ever it also comes with a mic. Pretty nice price too. and good Quality it's a Fender!

 

[DannyRWW]

Just my two cents but I prefer corded mics since a) they are lower priced and there for easier to replace an b) less likely to get interference..... now I am no sound expert but I was told by the man who set up our sound equiptment that HDTV signals would eventually cause major interference with older wireless mic systems...but again I am no expert