Karaoke Forums

Hi all,
I am new to this site that I accidently found while doing some research, and I'm so glad I did, it's great!

Anyway, I decided to upgrade my all in one vocopro karaoke machine (which was okay for a while until I caught the karaoke bug and started craving "more"), and I need help and advice with my new home system and since I am technically challenged simplicity is key for me.

This is what I have so far:
Cavs JB99 with 30,000 songs
2 - wireless Audio Technica mics
2 - wired Audio Technica mics that i don't intend to use often
2 - cheap wireless Hisonic mics (for drunk friends and relatives)
2 - non PA speakers not worth mentioning

As you can probably tell my system's sound quality is not great right now. I KNOW I need a mixer/mixing amplifier and speakers (perhaps powered) and I think I could be done (not sure)? I want my system to sound better than decent as I will be using it alot, but because this is for my home I don't think I need to overkill in reference to speakers (I'm not sure). As far as mixing amplfiers, I've read alot of good reviews about the Audio2000 AKJ 7050 on this site, but the Martin Roland MA 3000K looks very interesting - any thoughts. I need HELP on what additional equiptment I need and should have for my new home system, especially speakers. Any and all advice and thoughts will be GREATLY appreciated.
Thank you in advance ,
Lorraine

There are a couple ways to go....

1. With a mixer passed through to a standard home theatre setup.
2. A small PA system (Fender PD-250, Peavey Escort, etc)
3. Full on mixer/speaker setup (which is what you seem to be looking at now).

Given that this is for home use I'd go with #2. I know lots of people will opt for 1 or 3, but this is just my opinion.

I have a PD-250 that I use to do shows in some small venues and add powered speakers to do larger venues. The speakers in this system are co-designed by Bose and have excellent fidelity. It has inputs for 4 mics, 2 players, pan/reverb/eq on each mic/input, and loops for effects (on the main outputs) and even a footswitch to bypass the effects. I've been very pleased w/ the product overall and it works well for a small room w/ up to 50 people or so. It's also very portable and if you pick up a set of speaker stands you could set up almost anywhere you can get power.

If you opt for #3 you could go with a small powered mixer and external speakers or standard mixer w/ powered speakers. I'd provide more information but my experience in this area is limited compared to many here on the baord.

If you go with #1, you'd need a small mixer w/ main stereo out to hook back into the existing home theatre system. I wouldn't recommend this way mainly because you're using the existing speakers and standing in the middle of a 5.1/6.1/7.1 system w/ a mic you're trying to sing into is just asking for feedback (I've tried). By using dedicated speakers for karaoke you'd avoid this hassle. Another possibility is to use a home theatre setup that allows for turning off the surround sound to isolate the sound from only the front/main speakers. While this might be acceptable for your living room it would be difficult to setup outside at a bar-b-q or by the pool.