Good compact PA speakers??

Gadgie

Hello,

Looking for some recommendations for a small/compact PA speaker for acoustic/vocal duo. I have a mixer already, but no 'working' power amp, so it would be good if these were powered speakers

Thanks

Brian

John_P

Might be worth a look at the turbosound Milan speakers.  I’ve got a pair of m12 but the m10 would work fine.  As they have two inputs with volumes you’ve have a backup if you’re mixer had a problem and if you get reverb from a pedal you could just go direct.   

revsorg

Do you have a budget?

Gadgie

Thanks John_P

revsorg. no real budget as such. If they are compact and good sound/quality etc I'd be tempted

Whistler

No budget, as in no limit or no money?

My wife and I use a pair of Alto TX208 powered monitors (£109 each) which we sit on a pair of speaker stands (£26 a pair) which we are very pleased with.

Gadgie

Well I sort of meant I have a budget, but it's not money no object

Thanks for the recommendation on the Altos

John_A

RCf 708 or 710
yamaha DXR 8 or 10
db technologies flexysys fm10
Qsc cp8 or k8.w
rcf hd10
turbosound iq 

would be my recommendations

personally I’d avoid altos, they are great for the money, but not great, similar to the Db b-hype range, definitely not pro quality IMO, but may be good enough for a vocal only pa in a not so loud band


if you want to down the route of power amp and passive speakers I’m selling some RCf Monitor 8s which sound amazing but after passive, pair them with something like a Behringer nx3000 and you’d have a very high quality rig for not a lot of cash

if you’re after cheap, great sounding but not so great looking I’m also selling a hi audio pro 8 active which has a passive out and a Nova 8” passive

the nova is in great nick, the Hk has a few knocks

there are, however a million options depending on budget, how loud you need (venue sixpence, style of music’ and how compact you need them to be.  Also are they only going to be used for vocal and acoustic, or would something that could be stretched to a bit more be us ful?

Requirements like pro quality, really loud and dirt cheap are probably unrealistic;)

maltingsaudio

Depending on size of gigs I would have a look at HK Lucas and Nano range, 

Legionreturns

What about an array system? 

I use 2 EV Evolve 50s, but 1 would be more than good enough. Fantastic sounding across all frequencies and very portable. Yes, they're a bit pricey, but worth every penny 

Gadgie

Thank you for the suggestions. I'm going to look into those. I was already looking at QSC CP8. I was also looking at a Curv500

JayGee

Yamaha do a couple of neat options with a small (but perfectly adequate for an acoustic duo) mixer which tucks into the back of one of the speakers and has a storage space for leads etc built into the other one.

An acquaintance has been using an earlier version for vocals only PA in a bigger band, hosting open mic nights, and the odd acoustic gig for some years very successfully. Sounds better than just OK In those applications, has proved itself robust, and about as compact as you’re going to get...

andyoz

Lots of options covered here already

I'd be going for 10" two way actives myself for acoustic duo without backing tracks.

Yamaha's range offers crazy long warranty (7 years?) which is important for gear at these price points. Their new DZR range are nice but pricey. The older DXR10 is great value though.

I like sound of the RCF Art series but the lack of the full grille design personally puts me off visually.

I think dB Technologies are doing great things at their price points. They've a few 10" options right up to the pricey DVX D10 HP (I'd buy the Yamaha DZR10 over them probably for warranty and better badge for resale)

ICBM

Just for a bit of amusement, if you want to find out how far PA speaker technology has come in the last 40 years, yesterday I was given a pair of these, for free...



Peavey SP-3s from the late 70s or early 80s. They're passive 1x15" plus horn, are rated for 100W RMS continuous and 200W programme, are almost 3 feet tall and weigh a staggering 93lb (42Kg) each!

They're probably pretty efficient, so if they work they might actually be useful for a rehearsal room with a little old-school 150W amp or something - where they will never need to be moved again - but just imagine having to gig with gear like this back in the day!

Musicwolf

Back in the 80s we used to gig the working men's clubs with a 150w Carlsbro head + a pair of these

Pretty much the standard back then.

andyoz

@ICBM ...I remember those days well.

I just noticed Yamaha has released a Mk2 version of their popular DXR series. Main diff seems to be better horn (larger diaphragm with neo magent so they've skimmed some weight, also improved DSP apparently).

Decent price hike too so good time to snap up the original DXR10's

kennedydream1980

This guy is selling some EV SX300 speakers with a power amp for £400 on Facebook. Might be a worth a look:

 https://www.facebook.com/d.i.evans