Karaoke Forums

Hello everyone and greeting from Melbourne Australia,

I'm in the middle of making decision of what pa speakers to buy for home karaoke ,our room is about 35m2 . I've already had a basic Yamaha mg06xu mixer with built-in effect which is ok for the job since we only sing karaoke once a week on the weekend. I'm looking to buy a pair of rather Behringer or Alto powered speakers .

I spoke to the music store and this the advice the guy gave me , he recommends to go with smaller woofer if I want clearer vocal sound , for example Behringer B112d or Alto TS12 , or even speakers with just 10" woofer . He said the bigger the woofer the more bass will take over and I won't get nice and clear vocal which that's what I'm after in a karaoke system.

I don't really care much about heart pump bass quality coz we will be only using it as home entertainment ,mainly singing and not playing DJ/loud dance music. As long as it gives us good vocal quality.

So I'd like to ask for your experienced opinions to clarify whether this is accurate or not.

Many thanks.

A 12" is fine for most home apps.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Well, keep in mind that just because a speaker may have a big woofer, does not mean it MUST be overpowering or "thumping" like a night club. It just means it is capable of reproducing lower frequencies and moving more air when need be. Just like owning a Porsche does not mean you MUST drive at 200kph speeds continually. The the amount of bass is more related to your EQ settings than anything, not speaker size.

If size in not an issue in home/basement, I personally would get 15"s if you can afford it as I prefer a fuller sound. But like Lon said, 12"s will work just fine as well.

This music store guy has never run a well engineered sound system before. The first thing I was tough was to cut the low ferq.s on the vocals ( 100 to 150 hz and lower ). That way you will not have "muddy" sounding vocal mix. The music from your CDG's or computer may need some boost in the low end to sound nice and full, but not too much. 15" speakers make it a little easier to get really deep base with out so much power in a small room. My road system only has 12" speakers for the low end, most of the bars I gig at have 15's. I don't have room in my motor home for anything bigger.

I just bought a couple of Mackie SRM450's to replace my aging monitor system, but played with them at home for a bit. They can definitely get nice and loud (crystal clear) & a lot of thump if I set it that way. Way overkill for simply monitors , but they will sound a lot nicer than my 30 year old Peavey's.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

I bought a pair of the original, made in Germany, Mackie SRM-450 speakers from Entertainment Systems Corp. nearly fourteen years ago... They've performed flawlessly as my main cabs for well over 1000 gigs... wedding receptions, corporate parties, bars, and karaoke. They may be only 12", but they've always provided enough sound for any gig I've done.

I understand the newer, made in China, Mackies are of lesser quality than the originals, but if you can get your hands on a set of the German-made, I'd recommend them highly.

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Earl
(BS, PHD & Certified CurmuDJeon)

[font=Times New Roman]"Growing Old may be mandatory... but growing UP is still optional."[/font]

Ill have to look to verify where these are made. They are the version 3 and sound very nice. I was big on the original 450s. The version 2 didn't sound as good but these add back in the first release quality.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Awesome speakers. recommended by Lon, I was also one of the lucky ones to own the orig Mackie srm450s . 1st pair – back plate sez ‘made in usa’. A yr later bought 2nd pair. It was designed in costa mesa ca, made in Italy. Or was it the other way around vice versa I can’t remember, been too long.

Got these before they outsource production in china. Built like a tank & served me very nicely thru my gigs for over 10 yrs; haven’t had a problem. Unlike the Chinese models these speakers have a very good feedback rejection. I highly recommend the mackie originals as well.

But (imho) one of the speakers that can compete with srm’s side by side would be my current qsc kw12s.

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To be fortunate enough to derive an income from a source as fulfilling as karaoke music has got to be as close to heaven as we can get here on earth!

Remember that in a pre-tuned speaker (i.e., no bi-amping/external crossovers), a typical vocal range will cross well into the woofer frequency range, so it's not like all voice frequencies are handled by the high-end driver/tweeter.

There is a good argument to be made that you get much better vocals from a 10-12" full range speaker than a 15" speaker, as there tends to be a bit of a dropoff in midrange clarity in a 15" due to the focus on low range (though typically not true in higher-end speakers). Conversely, a 10-12" obviously has a very sharp dropoff in bass response.

For home use, I'd go with a 12". Plenty of bass for a small room, anything of quality will have great midrange quality. If you feel you are lacking low end, you can always add a small subwoofer at a later time.

Good luck!

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C Mc
KJ, FL