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Old 23rd August 2008 , 12:47 AM
Stagesound
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Northern Ireland
Posts: 180
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So the budget is around £790. You don't say what all that's to include, i.e. is it just the PA (amps and speakers) or are you expecting to get mixer, CD players etc.

I could write on the back of my hand what I know about techno music, so I'm going to do some guessing here. I presume you want a decent "kick" at the bottom end, and a fairly bright top end. Having these is probably more important to you than ruler flat frequency response?

Also I'm guessing you want to move this in a car, rather than a van or trailer?
If so, you need a pair of decent PA cabs with 15" drivers, and an amp to match.

Be very warry of choosing speakers simply on power handling figures - power alone does not equal volume - you need to consider efficiency, maximum SPL, and frequency response.

I'd suggest something like Mackie S215's which you can get from DV for the same price as Behringer P2520's. (£358) Now I'll probably annoy a few behringer fans here, but I'd take the Mackie's any day. Initial spec may make you think you get more for your money with the Behringer - after all, the headline figure on the DV web site is 350W power handling for the Mackie and 900W for the Behringer, with the Behringer having two 15" drivers rather than one.

Dig deeper and you find that the Behringer is 900W peak power but only 225W continuous, whereas the Mackie is 350W long-term, and 1400W peak. The claimed frequency response for the Behringer is 45Hz to 20 kHz, but they don't say at what cutoff frequencies - that's usually a good sign that they are -10dB points. The Mackie, with only one 15" unit, claims 55Hz to 20 kHz at -10db points, so it doesn't go as low as the Behringer, but going by the frequency response chart for the Mackie (which for some reason Behringer don't want to publish for their speakers), this is a fairly accurate response, with a not-too-lumpy response curve.

The Mackie is slightly more efficient than the Behringer, and this coupled with its higher power handling means that it is capable of higher volume levels.

I'd drive the Mackie's with something like a Samson SX2400 which can deliver more than enough power, for £240. (Beware when looking at amps that you ensure it can deliver the power you need at 8 ohms - the headline spec. on amps is usually the maximum power at the lowest impedance they can cope with).

Thats £600, so you've got £170 left to play with for stands and cables. (Though if you need a mixer etc. as well, things are going to get very tight!!) I'd suggest that if this is the case, you put as much as possible into your speakers - you can get a very basic mixer to get you going, and once you've got some more cash upgrade to one with more features.

One thing I'm not sure about is whether you can buy at UK prices - with the higher vat rate in Ireland, you may have to pay more than the DV247 prices I've used here.
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