Monitor Speakers

David5150

Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on what wattage vocal monitor speakers are the most useful for a loud-ish rock 4 piece. We are starting to play bigger venues and struggle to hear the singer - who has got in the annoying habit of basing his timing off the ambient room sound.

Have been looking at the Box range of speakers on Thoman's website but have no experience in this area.

Thanks

ESBlonde

In respect of wedges the most critical feature is a smooth/tailored response to avoid feedback. A 5,000 watt cab that squeals like a banshee is as useless as a 75w one that can't be heard.

Next, power. If your 100w marshall stack is running hot and dirty and the bass is thumping on top of that you will need a lot of CLEAN power to get the vocals heard.

Next what are you intending to use to control the monitor mix? A single spare aux off the desk, split the lead vocal mic into two channels to give separate eq on the monitor. A graphic? A DSP (digital sound processor).

Are you doing a vast variety of venue sizes?

So you can get good active powered wedges these days which have the response pre tailored to be flat(ish) and are fairly easy to get set up to a basic usable standard, as long as you don't cheap out.

BUT with the advances of IEMs and the total portability of the systems if you are starting from scratch I would suggest going this route. For the same money you will get absolute clarity, complete repeatable settings, clear sight lines, uncluttered stage, lightweight and compact. 

David5150

Thanks for the response ESBlonde<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

I agree with you on the technical points you have raised. Our stage volume is actually pretty low these days, and smaller venues do not present the same issues as the larger ones based on the fact we can all hear each other wedged under the dartboard down the local boozer!

Our desk has a dedicated monitor send with FX and Eq – so getting a smooth (ish) sound should be a lot simpler than a fire and forget kind of signal.

As with everything I’m looking for a balanced system that is not under strain – have played at gigs before with a stupid 8 inch underpowered and distorting vocal monitor aiming at the singers knees which was less than useless.

Will take a look and audition some speakers and will add my thoughts to this thread so others may benefit from the journey. Will probably look at traditional floor wedges and those funny little ones that attach to the mic stand, IEM’s – whilst being fantastic – would not really suit our singer as he has balance problems (I kid you not) and can’t wear headphones else he starts falling over.

Watch this space

thomasw88

Switched to the behringer 205ds a while ago, and think they're pretty decent tbh.

IanSavage

What kind of budget? If you don't mind lugging a bit of weight you'd get a big ol' 500W+ power amp pretty cheap, partner that with a few 12" wedges and you're laughing...

maltingsaudio

Thing to remember with wedges is it isn't going to be the same as front of house, taking out everything below 150-200 hz will make it much easior to hear in a loud band situation, also consider what you need to hear over what you want to hear. It takes a leap of faith to trust what you can hear at high volumes to what the audience can hear

nickp

I guess budget is the most relevant question.  We picked up a powered wharfdale monitor for about £100 delivered and a passive laney slave for £5!!!  but we are cheapskates.  The most expensive thing I did was buy quality leads which cost about £40 so were dear in comparison!!

this works for us in the sort of 100 capacity pub type venue that we are doing at the mo

I just lurked on ebay for a couple of weeks - helped by a tightwad band

David5150

Thanks guys. Have found a pair of active Wharfedale EXP15 monitors for 250 notes that should do the job. Will let you know how they go.

ICBM

David5150 said:

Thanks guys. Have found a pair of active Wharfedale EXP15 monitors for 250 notes that should do the job. Will let you know how they go.

Up in smoke, usually...

Avoid, they're crap.

I would choose Behringer over Wharfedale for quality and reliability - really. Peavey is a safer bet all round though.

David5150

Thanks ICBM- I hear a lot of folk saying the wharfedales are crap and will blow up, tweeters catch fire, but have used their mains for over 60 loud gigs and have not had any issues. Other folk take great pleasure in slating behringer stuff too - but I love their mixers That said I appreciate your advice and will re-visit some peavey stuff as a maybe. Feckin singer should sort this stuff out but he would probably spend the cash on a sparkly mic stand Thanks