Karaoke Forums

Hi All - I've been lurking on and off for awhile and finally wanted to post to the resident experts and enthusiasts on the forum.

My only exposure of Karaoke are the "pro systems" I've (tried) to sing on in commercial establishments and my own humble consumer home set-up. I have a generally good understanding of home electronics, but don't know much about pro stuff and/or how home electronics can or cannot transfer well for home karaoke.

Two general questions on what are key characteristics/traits for amps and speakers that differentiates the electronics for home theater vs. home karaoke? I can share my home gear, but wanted to better understand what's good system for home use. I'll get into mixers and sources, later, but wanted to focus on amplification and speakers. For home use, I find that most this is typically the weakest point for folks who try to set this up at home.

Any thoughts, insights and references would be most appreciated. BTW, love this forum...there truly is a forum for everything these days

Moderators, can you please delete this post as it's duplicate with my other. Thank you.

Real Karaoke speakers like BMB branded ones that are actually made for karaoke have anti-howling (feedback) built-in. They are made to take the abuse like a PA speaker and are also tripod/pole mountable.

Most have said that don't even consider using your home speakers for karaoke, and I'm not goint to experiment to find out if they are right.

That said, I would go to your local Guitar Center that is so readily available on the mainland and check out the powered (Active- has buit-in amp) PA speakers there. I'm partial to the Yamaha brand, as they have been reliable over the 2+ years I've been using them. The newer speakers coming out are super lightweight and run cool compared to the older stuff from years back. Digital amps are amazing in that regard.

Just get an active speaker and be done with thinking about it. Well, you'll still have to choose your brand. Although I'm a Yamaha guy, the QSC K series speakers are ones that I look at with envy. Their 8" speaker is amazing considering size and efficiency. Yamaha's new DBR line is super lightweight, and amazing in it's own right. Price is amazing also for such a great performer. The bass is mystifying to me as I have the 10's and low frequency extension from such as lightweight package is a wow. Buy yeah, go to Guitar Center and check out all the brands... JBL, EV, Mackie...

I appreciate the response. Prior to seeing this post, I actually found myself in GC listening to some powered/active speakers.

I was set on listening to the JBL EON 610 (but they only had 615" connected). I also listened to the Mackie Thump 10" and Alto 12". They didn't have any Yamaha to listen to. I liked the QSC, but a bit more than I'm willing to spend for home fun/use at the moment for just Karaoke. Despite of what I thought coming in, I walked out liking the Alto the best. They are also the least expensive (but that wasn't the reason). I'm still going to try to listen to the 10" in all models for a more "accurate" comparison.

Whatever I decide to go with, I think I'll stick to dual 10" (that's probably overkill for home use as it is ). This may not be common, but rather than connecting the active speakers to my mixer, I was thinking to connect to my preprocessor (Anthem AVM60) and use my Server 15" for the low end (and use the processor crossover). It's been a bit challenging looking how best to connect this unless I physically unplug my current front mains and plug in the active speakers.

I personally don't like powered speakers. Or powered mixers, for that matter. I like keeping my components separate. With powered speakers, you have two more things you have to plug in. And if the amp goes out, you're without a speaker.

With passive speakers, you have more flexibility and control. Of course this is just my opinion and others who use powered speakers will disagree with me. And that's OK, it won't be the first time. My advice is to look at a nice set of passive speakers, an amplifier (those class D amps are very lightweight and sound amazing), and a nice mixer. Put it all together and you have a nice system.

And whatever you do, don't ever use your Home Theater for karaoke.

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

That sounds like it would be the best option for your situation. I'm guessing you're speaking about crossovers for the subs? Cause most current modern active speakers have High Pass Filers so you really don't need crossvoers for them... the usual 80/100/120hz cuts.

If it's gonna be for the home, then why not just a single 10? If you want to save even more money, then Behringer speakers are not bad.

I actually have the DBR10's($399) and 12's ($499). The 12's I got last week as a friend asked me to KJ/DJ a grad party. You need to listen to the DBRs. Seriously. Read the reviews on em. They are priced great also.

Here's my current setup: MacBook Air (KJams Pro)->MGX10U/MGX12U Mixer via USB->DBX GoRack->DBR10/DBR12 w/ DSX15 sub. When indoors or in a garage, one 10" is more than enough.

Since my last post I have been reading up on the entry DBR, I'd like to listen to the 10" if I can find it locally. Output wise I realize one would suffice but figured get two for future flexi ilty. Yes, if possible I'd like to turn off crossover on the active speakers and use the crossover on my processor to split the high and low's to my Servo 15". It's for home theater but I've used to all this time with no issues. Else I'd get cascading crossovers with the active speakers and that would not be good.

My home speakers are passive paradigm driven with an anthem amp so I do appreciate passive speakers. For this karaoke situation active is more convenient.

But he is asking for home use. A powered speaker is much better suited for home use than the same type of setup with a passive system (matching amps to speakers proper rating (which most fail to do properly), electronic crossovers, processing, etc). With the powered everything is already built in and matches the speaker. And I use passive systems as well and would agree they are more flexible, but in this case it doesn't need to be.

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

Nothing is overkill if you like it. I have an older set of dual 15" Peavys setting on 18" sub cabs in my basement being pushed by approx. 2500 watts.

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

Guitar Center should have them, as well as Sam Ash. It's a pretty common speaker as even my local shop in Hawaii has them. We are not lucky enough to have big box music stores in Hawaii.

I just did my first real mobile karaoke gig with two DBR10s. Been using them for nearly 2 years and they are pushed pretty hard. I am amazed at how much bass they output with the built-in eq set to their "FOH" setting, which pretty much shapes highs and lows, and even extends the lows. I am a former bass head who had 4 JL 10's in the trunk when I was a teen, so I appreciate bass. Really surprised at how the speaker handle even some good old DJ Magic Mike.

Here's the manual of the DBR line:
http://download.yamaha.com/api/asset/fi ... t_id=63429

The 10's are 325w RMS while the 12's are 465w RMS. The extra 140w for the 12's and15's go to the woofers.

For $100, maybe go for the 12 for the extra power and larger woofer size. I probably don't need to tell you about the advantages of a larger cone size. I'm probably gonna leave the 10's at home for gigs and use the 12's instead, just so I can have the extra power if needed.

Thanks again all for the good feedback.

Ctwennntytwo, to make a long story not as long, there weren't any convenient places that had DBR in stock. At least 3 GC by me had no DBR's. GC offered me an exchange if I didn't like the DBR10. This is a first for buying speaker without a listen, but the risks are low with ability to exchange with no restocking fees. I even got a $120 discount for the pair.

I've been OCD with powered speakers and read up on the many reviews for the entry levels for my home use. The manager at GC thought next to the QSC, his money was on the DBR. As mentioned, I'll be honest I liked the Altos and was impressed given what my ears heard and for the price point.

Lonman, yeah, I hear you. In general more headroom is better. I think I'll have that even with the 10" pair. Hopefully paired with my Servo 15", it should be a good little system with balanced highs and lows.

You all see any issues turning off the HPF on the DBR and just using my processor's crossover? I can adjust around 80-120hz so the lows go the sub and all up goes to the DBR. Again, I dont want cascading crossover between the processor and on the DBR.

Thanks.

Quick update; I decided to "do it right" for my situation and went with the DBR10. I also removed my Anthem preprocessor from the equation and bought a Yamaha MG10XU (I think that's more than I'll ever need for home use).

According to the manual and what I've been reading, here's what I did to set gain:
* Gains and Mic Compressors turned all the way to the left, FX turned off, EQ sitting at 12 O'clock
* Channel levels and Stereo Level up to 3 O'clock
* Checked Mic while turning up the gain until the meter hit around last green / first amber. The gain is barely sitting at 9 O'clock
* Then turned on my hardrive Karaoke machine for audio, and turned up my DBR10 to the loudest point I would ever use them (stopping at around 10 O'clock).
* Did the same for FX. Turned to 3 O'clock on main, then around 12 O'clock on Mic levels. Using the Reverb Pan for now.

I basically only touch channel level to turn down audio/mic at this point. I think I did it right? Clean audio, no Mic feedback.

dead on right.

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

Thanks for the response. I've since tried to tweak here and there, and, I find myself going back to how I originally set it up. I have since turned up the "one-button" compression to about 9 O'clock. I read a few articles are the usefulness of single knob compression, but I figured adding a bit would help "control" the potential screams now and then (i.e. helps protect any clipping within reason).

One thing I left out is that I do run the XLR output from one of my DBR10s to my home theater 15" Sub (Paradigm Servo). I know home theater and karaoke gear mixing isn't recommended, but I'm confident that the sub can handle any Karaoke audio/songs frequencies. On my two DBR10s, I set the crossover at the 100hz HPF, and set the variable LPF on my Sub at roughly 100hz.

The sub has dual purpose for music and moves, so when I don't use for Karaoke, I flip the switch to use the RCA input connection (which is connected to my processor/preamp), turn up the crossover all the way up (since I then use my crossover on the processor).

I also have the MG10XU... and a MG12XU. I like the size of the MG10XU and keep the other as backup. If you aren't using the USB on the mixer, I would. Obviously, the sound is gonna be cleaner instead of using the analog headphone jack and the computer's D-A converter. Your computer should recognize the MG10XU as a sound output. If not, install the Steinberg USB drivers.

A Mac automatically sees the MGXU series of USB mixers, so there is no need to install drivers.

Do you like the sound of the speakers BTW, since you didn't get a chance to listen to them prior to purchase?

I basically use one of those "Karaoke Machines" with HD with video and audio outputs primarily. So I basically go HDMI to my processor to TV for video and RCA stereo to the mixer. I don't have much experience with mixers, but I'm happy with my purchase of the MG10XU.

Yes, I'm happy with the DBR10s - I'm keeping them. It crossed my mind if I should have gone with the DBR12s. But thinking through it really isn't needed for my home/room size and I'm I don't think I'm even driving them that hard. I don't travel with them, only to eventually put away , but I still like the smaller portable size. Anyway, I like the warm and relatively flat sound. I don't think my sub blends in as well as my main speakers do, but it overall I think it sounds good for my purpose.