Karaoke Forums

Okay, I have loved karaoke since I waitressed in a bar that had karaoke Wed thru Sat nights. Almost 10 months ago I picked up a home player with built in screen and over that time have accumulated between 900 adn 1000 songs (CDG). Obviously since I enjoy karaoke so much and I already pump money into my hobby I thought it might make sense to try to support my "habit" (hehe) by at least doing parties, weddings and perhaps even trying to do some club gigs in time. I'm looking into the various players/systems for a purchase early next year. I'll have several thousand to potentially spend, but I'd like to be a thrifty as I can. One particular player has caught my eye...the CAVS Super CDG Player. I don't have an amp, speakers or anything else that I would need other than a decent start on songs and a love of karaoke. So, would the CAVS be a good choice for what I'm thinking of, or should I look at something else? I really like the Super CDG concept, so I would like something with that capability. What equipment will I need and how difficult is it to actually be a KJ? Does anyone have any advice, suggestions or warnings? Thanks for any input!

ladycentaur

I don't have the time for a compleate post right now. I 'll try to get back to my PC in a couple of hours.
I will give you one warning:
Don't buy speakers that are so heavy that you need a small gorilla to move them!

Well, I'm a little 5 foot tall woman, so I automatically consider how easy it is for me to reach, lift and move things around before buying things. I won't be buying anything until February, so I have plenty of time to plan. I want something that I can easily use at home but can also use for shows if I decide to go that route. Thanks for your response!

don't have any info on the super cdg format. it' hitting the news,, tough.

the problem is, it's what we call proprietary! Righ now, they're the only ones doing it. And many manufacturers are having fits with the copy issue... I like stuff like this personally, as you buy the music you want and then convert it. CAVS has another machine which is similar where it's mp3+g... but it's the same issue.

Sound Choice is coming out with a machine that's kinda similar... but you download their tracks and store it on their machine.

My biggest problem with all this is, we have to do what THEY want us to do in order to use this new formula.

Personally, I just buy the music, supporting the companies, and then do what I want to do afterwards. They don't control me one way or the other. And I would challenge them to do so otherwise in court.

I tire of all the debates on this (not your fault, you're just asking a question)... I'm on the web. If people want to stop me, come to my house with a supoena. otherwise... drop it! !

SHEESH!

Well, from what I've read you buy the Super CDG disks from retailers just like you do other songs, but that the discs hold hundreds or thousands of songs instead of a dozen or so. I read that you can also somehow transfer the data from your CDGs directly onto the machine so that you don't have to cart around all the discs. The technology sounds great, and yes, as with any other technology there's always a way to abuse it to cheat the system. That doesn't make it bad to want to use the technology legally and ethically. I mean, who wouldn't want to only have to carry 5 or 6 disks with them instead of several hundred? If you can fit more onto a disk and don't lose any quality, why not?

LadyC,
Anytime that you have music stored in anykind of memory, (MP3, etc.), you'll lose quality.
Having a thousnd songs on one disk is fine until you lose or damage it.
The most commomly used player is a JVC triple drawer. There are others like the Pioneer 2 drawer player. You can comfortablely buy either one without fear of being a loser.
The most commonly used mics. are corded Shure SM-58s. Like with the players there are many, many others but this is a solid choice that you won't go wrong with.

Considering your price range I think that you should look at the systems that I'm looking at. My system is too big and I'm looking for something to replace it with. If only I had known what I now know when I had built it.

I'm going with Carvin.
First, let's look at the PA800, 8 channel mixer for $700 and the PA1200 12 channel mixer for $770.
Each channel has a hi, mid, and low parametric eq,(tone), control. These mixers have 2, 9 band graphic EQs built in, and 2 24-bit stereo processors, 256 effects.
Each has 3 amps that put out 333 watts each at 4 ohms. This means that you can run 2, 300 watt, 8 ohm monitors connected in paralle. These mixers have a standard "Duratuff ll" case, which means that the front of the mixer doesn't have a cover. For $50 you can upgrade to a Road Warrior case which will allow you to throw the thing in the back of a truck with any damage to the controls.

Carvin recommends 2, 722 speakers for $400 each and if you buy them as a 7222 package of 2 with speaker wires you save $34. Think about monitors later.
You can buy 2, 832 speakers for $500, ($250 each). These are my choice since they weigh 51lbs and have a nice frequency responce, (hi Q). You could get 822s for $200 each that weigh 36lbs but these are low Q speakers. The bass ramps up in volume faster in hi Q speakers.

You could buy the PA800 for $670 and 2, 832 speakers for $500, bringing your total to $1170 or you could buy the P800-832 package for $1200. Fror the extra $30 you get a set of 16 gauge speaker wires, and $125 in credit that can be applied to any of the other junk that Carvin sells, (speaker stands, mics, mic cables, guitars, etc).
I would recommend that you buy speaker stands, ($50 each) with the $125 credit and then apply the other $25 to a mic, or to mic cables, or to headphones.
The PA1200 mixer at $770 and 832 speakers at $500 totals $1270, and for the same $30 more you can get the P1200 system for $1300. It also has speaker wires and the same $125 credit.

Note:
You'll impress me a lot faster with Carvin than you will with Peavey.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and print this out for my good buddy who wanted to know about Carvin's systems.

Good Luck!

Wow...that's a lot of information for me to digest all at once!

What I'd really like would be to find a good "pro system" that's already put together and all I'll have to do is whip out the credit card to pay and wait for it to arrive at my door.

Ideally, I was thinking of spending about $2000, although I could double that if I really want to. I prefer to get the best bargain without sacrificing quality. I'm a deal hunter, you might say. I've been scoping out Ebay to see what they have there and I was shocked at how much Karaoke equipment and music are sold on there. Most of the items are brand new and there seems to be some deals to be had.

I'll look into the brands you mentioned and will see if there are any options where I can buy a whole ready-made set up with those brands.

Thanks for all the great advice!

LadyC,
I don't know if you know it but this is supposed to be the technical forum, however there is a LOT of grey area between it and the discussion forum where you would go to discuss things like buying disks and what ever.
The only reason that I'm mentioning this is that it will be easier to answer your technical questions if you keep them all here.

Even though you might want to buy disks on eBay I would recommend that you stay away from buying equipment there. The biggest reason that I feel this was is that I've seldom seen any discriptions of any equipment there that was nearly compleate enough to make a wise decision on with out knowing all about it beforehand.

Stay away from turnkey systems. You'll still need to buy a TV and a stand, and you won't get any bang-for-the-buck. I've heard that there is a little turnkey that has a TV monitor, but it's really a home karaoke toy and not a pro anything. You're the first person that I've met that has actually owned one.

Buying a PA package, and a TV monitor, and a player is not like buying an audio rack and installing a mixer, an effects processor, a player and a power amp. and then buying a TV monitor, mics, mic cables, and speakers, and speaker wires, and connecting cables. Either way you will still need to buy something. If you want to plug your system into a clubs TV system you'll need to get an RF rectifier to convert from a simple video input line to a coaxel cable.

I don't know what you're talking about when you say super CDG.
The only formats that I know of that have music and graphics are VCDs, CDGs, DVDs, and DVD-As, (audio DVDs), and the old big and bigger laser disks.

I could be wrong. Just because I don't know about something doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

A couple of years ago there was an article in Karaoke Scene that listed somewhere between 15 and 20 differant formats. Weird stuff that I'll never see, like double sided disks.

Seriously consider buying a Pioneer 2 drawer or a JVC, (not RSQ), 3 drawer player, and connecting it up to a Passport P-250 or the Carvin
PA800-832 system. You can get speaker stands with the credit that you'll get from Carvin and still have $25 credit to go towards a mic. You'll get 2 mics with the Passport P-250 but you'll still need to get speaker stands, and you'll still need to get whatever kind of cable that you'll be using to send the graphics to the TV with, and a TV. This is about as simple as it gets. Sorry.

Talk to ya later!
Kojak

Kojak,

it's the new technology released by Cavs... it's very similar to the mp3+g AND SC's new DVD player with a Hard Drive.

http://www.expresskaraoke.com/store/pro ... id=DVD101G

Many of the manufacturers are now starting to see the light... but it's still proprietary. It would be nice to have a single machine that accepts everyone's "super whatever"...

The problem is, the Pioneer V888 and their V555 will not play these... so anybody that buys these discs has to have the specific player to play them.

Becareful about marketing wording, Sounds like it comes with a midi disc and a few a few discs in the hard drive -

Plus I believe it takes a long time (long enough) to which from hard drive to disc

_________________
The opinions of Sammy do not necessarily reflect the views of the Karaoke Scene Magazine - Advice is given with a sence of humor and should be taken accordingly - If you have problems setting the clock on your VCR - You've come to the right place

Thanks kojak!

I did find what looks to be a pretty good pro starter set that comes with about everything at the www.karaoke.com web site. It was pretty pricey, but I believe it had the JVC player you mentioned. It came with a tv, tv stand, speakers, speaker stands and two mics as well as the player and I think an amp or mixer. If I can find the link again I'll post it.

As for Ebay, I wouldn't buy a system on there, but there are great deals on discs and accessories.

ebay can be fine for individual items... especially those from retail stores, such as acekaraoke.com and such.

Just stay away from vocopro... please? You'll regret it if you get into anything with them! ! WAYYYyyyy too many bad stories about that stuff for my liking!

Matt

This is why I'm pretty interested in the CAVS system. It will play everything I already have, plus it will play the Super CDGs. I could try one of the Super CDGs out to see if I like it, and if I do, I can get more. If I don't like them, I can still play everything else on the same machine. The last thing I want to do is invest all kinds of money on a system only to have it be outdated should these Super CDGs become the norm.

This is why I'm doing some research before making any large purchases. I don't want to buy a lemon. I'm hoping I can find someone who actually uses this type of system to ask questions to. It's a bit of a catch-22 in that I don't want to get something that's going to be outdated, but I also don't want to buy something that is just going to be a flash in the pan. Hopefully everyone here can help guide me in the right direction. I'm glad I found this place.

Cavs is the WORST sounding crap I have ever heard. I would rather sing my Backstage Disks ( shudder, horror )....peace,love, karaoke

Are you talking about the "jukebox" model or the model that plays the Super CDGs as well as regular CDGs? I guess what I'm asking is it the system itself that you don't like, or the stored songs?

The stored songs are mostly Junk!!

If I personally were to get the cavs unit, it would be with the promise of the storage of what I have spent the last seven years building up... my current song base!!

It's hypnotic - seeing all those songs out there initially. I'd be very cautious if I were you. Sammy mentioned on here once before he heard that the song base is adjusted, because some of them (graphix) are in other languages other than English, so you get 2000 in English, 2000 in Spanish and 2,000 in japanese... or something similar.

CALL cavs, and ask them to send you the song listing. You'll find that they mostly are brands that most of us agree on are less than desirable: Music Maestro, and the like.

Matt

From what I read, you get to choose from a pretty good variety of disk sets, including the ones people have been advising me are the best to get. The Super CDGs out aren't that plentiful as of yet, but I think Chartbuster has a couple out. The thing I really like about the technology is that you can capture all your own disks onto the system so you don't have to drag around all your disks or do disk changes. It's supposed to only take a second or two for the song to start once you key in the number. You also are supposed to be able to use the system to make song books very easily.

Have you heard the system being used? It seems like you are really against it and I'm just wondering if it's because you have experience with it or if it's more because you are concerned about the potential of people using the system to get songs they don't buy? I'm not interested in cheating, but I have to admit that the convenience of the system is pretty attractive.

Okay, here is a link where you can see the different song lists available for the CAVS system.

http://www.cavs-usa.com/jb-99.htm

The available song packages are:

Top Hits Monthly
Music Maestro
Chartbuster
DKK Millenium
Karaoke UK
"Other Songs" (Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Spanish)

I doubt you're going to get all the songs you want with selective manufacturers.

While I'm no fan of Top hits Monthly, they would certainly be a better option than none at all.

Sooo, If I HAD to make a choice on the songs, I'd do the DK Mill, Chartbuster for country, and THM!

As with all things, my opinion is only that! An opinion.

Sounds as if you've made up your own mind! I wish you the best!

Matt