Karaoke Forums

Im just curious if anyone has tryed one of these out yet? They look like an awesome monitor, but a bit pricy at over $250 and 150 watts from a 6 inch speaker seems like overkill. any other options for something similar but affordable??

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the voices arent real, but they have some good ideas

Try the Galaxy powered HotSpot.
http://www.zzounds.com/item--GXYPA5X140
I would only use these type monitors (Mackie included) if the room for a standard floor wedge wasn't available, otherwise i'd probably opt for a powered Mackie or JBL speaker for the monitor.

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Im looking for something smaller for transport reasons. I would be really reluctant to buy any JBL. I think they are highly over rated, and the powered mackies I have heard I did not like. however in this size range im not looking for great sound , just something a singer can here themself , or the background track on. ever try matching timing with a background vocal you can't here?

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the voices arent real, but they have some good ideas

I am a full time DJ and I do Karaoke. I do about 50 weddings a year and I've used both Mackie and JBL POWERED SPEAKERS. About Mackie, if you have or can get a pair made in Italy, they are a good Speaker but built in China they a very big paper weight. I went back to JBL and have been extremely happy with them 10inch and 15inch. Another advantage you have with going wtih a JBL powerd is that it has a built in High and Low adjustment for sound on it and your able to plug a mic or instrument into it. If you are doing a bar or bigger I suggest not using any 10inch speaker. reason being is that any strong singer will clip the speaker risking it to blow the horn. If you have good sound people will begin to be regular singers wherever you are at. Hope this helps. Keep in mind these are my experiences with these products. If you need to no more go to the Speakers forums, thats how i found out Mackie is no loger being built in Italy. Also go to your local Music store and look for the sound your looking for, not the sound they are trying to convince you of.Have a great day!!!

I understand what your saying , But im looking at these as a MONITOR  it does not need to fill a room, only help people standing behind the mains here there vocals and a bit of the background.  The srm150 mounts on a mic stand to get it up so it does not need to be as loud. the thing is the size of a shoe box and 150 watts! the sound will not be fantastic, but pretty decent im thinking.

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the voices arent real, but they have some good ideas

I really liked the Mackie SRM150 on a mic stand as a monitor.  It is way overkill for what I was doing, solo acoustic guitar and singing but it was really an amazingly good sound for that small a package.  I was sitting in with a friend doing a set while he was out closing on his house in fact, so I was using his entire system.  It was all Mackie, all new and it sounded fine for that.  It was a busy patio bar, he had two of the SRM350s and a CFX mixer, I thought it all worked great, plenty loud enough and decent sound for what we used it for.  It wouldn't have been my choice for a full band but for that kind of parrot head music it was perfect.

As far as overkill though I never had it past 2 on the volume.  I own a small Roland Cube monitor that sits on a separate mic stand it works fine for me.  I keep it a bit behind my sight line so I don't get feedback through the guitar top and it works great and I haven't had any problems hearing with it either.  With decent mics, I am using Shure Bete 58 or Sennhieser 835s, I don;t have any problems keeping the sound stream off the mic pattern either.  It is much less expensive and full featured but the Mackie sounds better.

The tiny monitors are great but frankly i don't like them on the mic stand, they are a bad visual if the adience is looking at the back of them I think.  I prefer them on a separate stand but that's just me.

BSR

I would probably mount it on its own stand. I would possibly use a clamp on adaptor to hang it on my TV stand under the TV so it would not be a visual issue. in fact i believe it would look much better than the "rat hair" covered monitor on the floor.

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the voices arent real, but they have some good ideas

Yeah, below the TV is a great idea and yes, I don;t like the look of the wedge monitor either but mostly I was just referring to the sleek look of the micstand being sort of ruined by having that big lump kind of far up on it, it just looks like it's out of balance even though it's really not, and it kind looks weird to me.  I am seeing lots of the little monitors now days though but having tham just off to the sides or on separate stands looks better enough to me to make it worth hauling in one more stand, just my opinion though.

As far as working I really love them, way less sound level for much cleener more focused sound.  I mean you can get the sound right where you need it from a couple of feet away instead of four or five feet away, that equates to less stage sound bouncing around to deal with while still haiving plenty of usable foldback.  Way easier from a soundman standpoint, which is the standpoint I am in in most of the time myself.  

Do any of you hosts use the in-ear monitors for your own stuff?  I don;t particularly like them but i know a lot of performers are using them.  Maybe not a big deal for the folks doing a couple of songs a night but ear protection is an issue for folks doing this night after night all night long, no?  Some of the highend systems are supposed to be amazingly good and super accurate and they give guys in bands the ear protection they need to avoid going "huh" a lot in their later years.  I don;t even have an ipod because I just hate things in my ears but I have to admit that I do worry about sound pressure levels on stage when ever I am doing any kind of show.

BSR

In ears are the way to go for musicians! BUT like everything else , if you buy the cheap garbage, that is what you get! (a GOOD set is around $600) also a sound guy who knows how to set them up is required. also one who can set the gain ONCE for the night.  messing with the gain and monitor mixes after the band starts playing is reason for ten broken fingers for sum dumbaz sound guy who dont know what hees doing. I worked lights for a band who had a sound guy who "knows everything". I would watch him mess with gains, then say he didnt do anything that would change the monitor mixes. (what a jerk!!).

I see these mini monitors as the next best thing to in ears. obviously in ears will not work for karaoke.

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the voices arent real, but they have some good ideas