Karaoke Forums

http://www.dplay.com/dv/balance/balance.html

Good explanation on balanced wiring.
Only thing you really can't have balanced is the speaker wire itself.

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A silly question here, folks:  Just how big is the room in your home that will be used for karaoke?  There IS such a thing as too much......

  But that aside, in most cases I've found component systems, even at home, to be superior to mfr. "package" deals. For instance, though not big enough for general usage at pro sized venues, the Electro-Voice (EV) 10" 300w speakers are truly awsome in sound, enough for virtually ANY sized home, with built in limiters.


   Just a thought......

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

There is never a thing as too much but as to how much you will use.  No matter what your intent is, you should still always TRY to match what your system is capable of.

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True true... doesn't seem like this guy has a "low" budget either (at least for home use) ... if he's willing to dish out around 750 just for the basics.  Or maybe i'm just dirt poor

At first, I was reading through the forum, wanted to have a affordable way to build the karaoke system.  I wanted to buy a pair of 12" MTX like mckyj57 suggested and use my home theater amp to drive the speakers, but then i have to buy 2 speakers for 2X80+tax.  And then I have to buy a mixer with effects, which a good one will cost around 150.  Just these will cost me 400 dollars.  Even tho I say i will not take this outside of my house, but I want to have an option.  I was struggling between buying a powered mixer, or a passive mixer.  THEN, I consult my GIRLFRIEND, I asked her between $400 and $800 dollars, what do you think it's reasonable.  She just flat out say, if you want to spend, just go ahead and spend 800 dollars, 400 dollars more it's really not that much more, and if you are buying something permanent, you should buy something that's good.  It is absolutely true, i mean, these things are here to stay, so i might as well buy a good one cause i can be happy when i use it.  And with the package deals, i think it gives me an option to take it to my friend's house if i wanted to, without worry about break down cause they are rugged and strong.  

To the Balanced wiring, that's a bit tougher reading than the Speaker wire reading.   It's a bit technical, I will go through it a few more times before I ask more question cause I don't really get it still.

Get regular speaker cables for that, they’re not balanced; just make sure they're speaker cables; they’ll just say “Speaker” cable on them.  

If you're under 400 watts RMS and under 50ft, 16 guage is plenty.  

As for hooking up your equipment, it’s really debatable as to how important balanced cables are in short runs, like under 5ft long.  I wouldn’t worry about it much for now.

OOOo the girlfriend glad I don't have one of those.. just kidding... Yea I think along the same line.. better do it right the FIRST time, then regret later down the road.  I think 800 bucks is pretty reasonable for something you will use 3-5 years down the road.

Yeah, I mean, i like that fact that she actually encourage me to spend the money the correct way, which is cool.   However I still have more questions, sorry about this.  

I think I understand a little bit better with the balance wiring, but not all of them.  If the wiring is construction correctly, a XLR to XLR cable is balanced, while one pin is postive, one is negative, and one is ground, so both wire in that cable picks up same noise, which helps because voltage difference isn't changed by noise.  

So does that mean 1/4" to 1/4" wire is not balanced? and even if i connect my speaker with Speakon to 1/4" cable is not gonna help because one side is balanced and the other side is not balanced, is this correct?  Because the speaker from Yamaha only has 1/4" phone jack, not dual input Speakon and 1/4".  So I should just use 1/4" to 1/4" cable with enough gauge?

You typically aren't going to need a balanced speaker cable - they really don't even exist (home theater systems tend to need them more it seems - ONLY reference to balanced speaker cables are in home theater forums) for the most part.  Balance everything else if needed, but unless you are having ground loop hum, you probably won't even need to balance the system - XLR-XLR mic cords I would always recommend.    Just keep all cable runs as short as possible for an unbalanced system.  Mic cords - 20-25'.

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I think your best bet now is just to order one of the packages.. or seperate pieces if you really want piece it together.  Run everything you get in the package first.... test out for hum sound.... mic sound, speaker sound etc... whatever you're not satisfy with THEN make extra purchases...  I am glad you're asking questions that I want to know answers to also.. but don't you want to buy it before your gf changes her mind? just kidding

i am pretty much set about the yamaha package, i am just hesitating about buying a ebtech hum exterminator or not, seeing you(philli1025) and many other people having the humming noise, i sorta want to figure it out before i purchase the package.  It might sounds stupid, but if i buy the hum exterminator along with the package, i save 7 dollars shipping ($99 dollars above for free shipping.) (i know it sounds silly, cuz i am buying something worth over 750 dollars, but .......just try to keep the reasonable cost down)  But yes, i am going to buy the yamaha package, and the stereo phone jack to 2 1/4" jack cable just like how Lonman suggested in your topic, but i just don't want to buy something i might not need (the hum exterminator that is....)

Wait on the hum eliminator until you know if you'll need it or not.  Not all systems have the ground issue - it also depends on your house wiring.

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yea... you should probably wait... you can always order mic cables, speak cables... o rsomething ELSE to boost it for free shipping....

   Gotta watch my phraseology around you, eh Lon?  Okey Dokey.... What I meant was that it may be possible to spend too much for a system that, in a small room, may never be utilized to even a small part of it's potential.

    For instance, if I only had a 10x10 foot room in which to set up, then buying a 2000w amp, big boy speakers, and monster subs may be a bit of overkill, and a tremendous waste of money.  The argument, of course, would be that you wouldn't have to upgrade when moving to a larger space in the future, but if those plans aren't for the very near future the money IS wasted.....IMHO, of course.

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

Or if you want to take that system ouside or to a family gathering in a larger hall.  Not saying that the speakers have to be dual 15" quasi 3 way speakers in you living room or anything (although have seen it), all I was saying is if a speaker calls for a certain wattage, you should still try to match the amp accordingly.  More power doesn't necessarily mean it needs to be loud, but it will mean cleaner & fuller sound at regular listening levels as opposed to an amp that isn't sufficient & then you need to turn it up & it starts distorting.

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Is this a consensus regarding Behrenger ?   Are they in fact starting to get their act together and turn out a more reliable product ?    If-so,  it does make a difference in whether or not one might ponder them for home use, because in the electronic market a brand that isn't respected one year, might be well respected 4 years down the road.  Just curious.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

I don't know if you can call it consensus, but there are an awful lot of live-sound pros using their products at this point. The EP2500 amp is everywhere, and some of the EQs and other processors are used a lot. Behringer support gets high marks from almost everyone, and the reviews are pretty good.

For light home use this is good to know.   Thanks !   If their CS gets decent reviews this is a good sign given the volume of equipment they sell, at least for light & sporadic home purposes.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Thanks for all the help, I mean without you guys' help, I probably would not have make this decision in another year.  I have finally order the Yamaha package, i will be waiting for it to come.  Thanks everybody again, i really appreciate the effort, will keep you guys posted when it arrives.