Karaoke Forums

I've read posts that strongly recommended against using home audio equipment for Karaoke and live vocals.  Do live vocals have the tendency to kill home speakers, even decent ones?

I've done a little research on some PA speakers and found a couple Peavey 10" 2-way models that would do nicely.  They would replace the Infinity speakers described below, and all other equipment would stay the same.

One thing I noticed is that, generally, PA speakers have poor bass specs vs. home audio speakers.  For example, the Peavey 10" models are -3 dB at around 97 Hz (which seems way to high for these speakers to stand alone for music).  A good home audio speaker of similar cabinet volume would typically be -3 dB in the 40's-50's Hz range.  Why do PA speakers generally have higher -3 dB bass specs vs. similarly sized home speakers?

My current equipment for Karaoke is below.  It's home audio/theater equipment in an 18'x28' room in my basement.  Now, with my new DVD/CDG player, mixer, and mics, the system below sounds great for Karaoke.  I do not hear any signs of stress or distortion and the receiver barely gets warm.  I figure I will run the Infinity speakers until they die, as they are expendable and are not being used for anything else.

Speakers - Infinity SS-2005, which is a fairly efficient mid-size 3-way home speaker, 8" woofer, 4" mid, 1" tweeter, went for $500/pr in mid 90's.  I hook them up only for Karaoke duty, sitting them on top of my Polk LS90 tower speakers (which are not running for Karaoke).  

Sub - Outlaw LFM-1, 12" with 350 watts RMS, $600.

Amp - Pioneer Elite VSX-45TX receiver, 100 watts/ch RMS, $1000.  I have the receiver set to send everything below 80 Hz to the sub.  

Thanks,

Adam

I have experience of using a home unit and can tell you I hated every second of using one.  I am so glad it wasn't my equipment but I felt very humiliated to be forced to use it in a comercial envirement.  I assume that means that whatever player you are using your are running your mikes through the player's mike inputs. I suggest you invest in at least a power mixer for your amplifier needs as even a home stereo amplifier will not hold up to live vocals if you turn it up much.
You'll thank me for saving your $1000 Pioneer amplifier since it wasn't built for live vocals.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

My equipment is only used at home, and not at extreme volume.

I would think that my receiver would go into protect mode and get hot if I were taxing it too much (clipping with the vocals).  In other words, I would expect to see signs of overdriving before damage was done, which I never have.

Are both the preamp and amp sections at risk?  Shouldn't there be warning signs, or will something just blow without warning?

Also, would the added efficiency of PA speakers reduce the risk of damaging the receiver (less load on the amplifier at a given volume)?

I have that same Pioneer receiver, and have been running it with alternately cheap MTX 12" PA speakers and Bose 301 for two years. I have never had a problem. Though we don't really blast it I have had the MTX up pretty far at a party due to all the people and conversation.

Of course I could just be lucky. But my belief is that mostly an amp is an amp, and if you don't drive it too hard with absurd incoming levels you are fine.

I did some system rearranging and experimenting.  I have separate 2 channel home audio equipment (preamp and amps) in my system, in addition to the Pioneer home theater receiver.  The set up below allows me to run just the vocals on the Pioneer receiver and Infinity speakers, lessening the load on both.  The other nice thing is that I can use the Pioneer receiver's remote and my 2 channel preamp's remote to tweak the vocal and music mix on the fly.

Mics > Behringer mixer > Pioneer receiver > Infinity speakers (sitting on top of Polk LS90 towers for Karaoke duty)

Music track from CDG/DVD player > 2 channel preamp > 2 channel amps > Polk LS90 tower speakers

I still may get some small (10" woofer) PA speakers to use instead of the Infinity's, or if the Infinity's croak.  Down the road, I might also look into a small (150-200 watts/ch) PA amp just to power the vocals (and remove the Pioneer receiver completely from the chain).