Karaoke Forums

Although I pretty much run my show off a laptop, invariably there are people who bring in their own disks.  I have been using a reliable but ugly CDG/VCD player that I bought on ebay a few years ago.  

Having bought an SKB pop up mixer case recently, I now have enough space on my SKB 106DJ for a rack-mounted player.  I have read glowing reviews on the JVC players, but those are no longer being made.  I have been considering the RSQ NEO-500 and the MK-22.  The latter model appeals to me because it comes with a rack-mount.  However, I am also interested in the NEO-500 because it plays the NEO-G format.  Unfortunately, it does not have a rack-mount.  

Are RSQ players reliable?  Is it worth buying the NEO-500 instead of the MK-22?  Are there better players out there?

JD

I have the very same unit MK22 in an SKB DJ06 case - I have a power strip in the 1st rack space - my MK22 next and then my AMP. (mixer is of course in top)

The Mk22 is an inexpensive and decent unit for the occasional customer CDG.
I have had no problems to date and graphics and key changer works as they should. LOAD times are not as quick as the old JVC triple trays.  Since you use
your PC most of the time the MK22 would not be a bad choice.

It wouldn't be my 1st choice if I only used CDG's.

I personally have the NEO-500, It's an Ok player, I do not think that I will buy another one. I would love to have on of the 3 drawer players buy Jvc, My friend uses one and it seems to be a really good player. Oh,by the way it is rack mountable and comes with all the hardware to mount it.

I have a Numark 25G that I really really like. It is a tank of a unit made for rackmounting, and has the fastest search/cue time of any player out there. The two drawbacks are that #1: The key changer is a speed changer, though I have never had anyone complain and #2: There are separate VIDEO channels for each player, so you would need a switch box to run both on the same TV at the same time, though since I play filler music between singers, I only use one player anyway and have plenty of time to cue up disks while the singers come up to the stage due to the lightning fast cue time.

I also have a JVC303 as my backup player but perfer the Numark.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

how about buying an external CD player, that is CDG compatiable) that can hook to your PC instead of a deadicated CDG player?

I'll tell you which one not to buy, Vocopro CDG 9000pro. Looked great, but tray 2 was DOA. I've read on this forum many many times to stay away from Vocopro, guess I had to find out for myself.
I returned it and ordered a RSQ T-2K, Hopefully I'll have better luck with that.

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions.  After much consideration, I think the RSQ MK22 is the right player for my needs.  I will only use it when someone wants me to play a CD or use it as a backup in case I have a problem with the laptop.

Twansenne, I also like your suggestion of using an external CD drive that is CDG capable.  Unfortunately, I need a backup unit without using the laptop.  I'm always looking for good deals, so I might buy an external CD drive someday.

Cheers.

I have both the MK22 and the external CD drive.  I like the MK22, though it took a little getting used to.  

It's good to have both and here's why.  I use S&D for managing the library on the hard drive (quite incomplete at this point).  Sometimes, in queing up the external drive when S&D is running you can get the Blue Screen of Death.  I'm still trying to determine the variables involved so I can avoid that. IN fact, I should probably raise that question here.  So when I'm in a hurry, I avoid the problem by using the MK22.

Second reason for both: with both, you can queue up two disks.

Now what I also have is a 4way splitter from Radio Shack that allows me to switch back and forth between the PC and MK22.

Go with the MK22

I wanted to share pictures of some of my stuff, but I have used up my allocation of space here.  Taking a cue from Kelly's setup pictures, I took the liberty of signing up with photobucket and uploaded the following picture:

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p102 ... G_2039.jpg

The SKB 106DJ case now holds most of my stuff, including the ugly Conia CDG/VCD player in front.  The SKB popup mixer case, which holds a Mackie CFX12 mixer, is on the left side, on top of 3 mic stands.  The blue plastic container, also on the left, holds one of the Yorkville NX55P speakers.  To the right is part of the TV stand and a case with rollers which holds the Carvin DCM2500 amp.  Not visible in the picture is the Carvin TRX118 sub, which is at the bottom of the SKB 106DJ case.

Cheers.