Karaoke Forums

The thread about multirigging which included some posts on the cost of putting together a rig (minus the cost of music) got me to thinking. I don’t think I had ever done a complete inventory/cost recap of my system, although I have started to a few times, just never finished. Frankly I was somewhat surprised at how much I have invested in my system. Now before I say how much I have invested in my system I want to say I know I could put the same system together for a lot less $$$ through “making wise purchasing decisions”, eliminating redundancies and eliminating some items that rarely get put to use (perhaps only put to use once). I guess what surprised me is on the major stuff I did my homework and due diligence before purchasing but on items $100 or less I did not, and all too often later ask myself “what the hell were you thinking?” My bad.
Do not ask me for purchasing advice!

Okay now the numbers: This would be for my complete system, not just for karaoke, but let’s say for a full wedding reception with lighting that also wanted karaoke (which is another topic altogether).

$10198.00

Now I also know that many DJs have even more than that invested because lighting can be very expensive once you start to include up lighting, gobos, high end lasers etc. (I do not have any up lighting, gobos or high end lasers)

Of the figure above there is at least $300 worth of asst. adapters, a number of cables, rf modulators and other small ticket items that sit in a storage bin to probably never be used again. There is also another $400 worth of non-essential items that get used rarely and could/should be eliminated, and another $200 worth of non-essential items that get occasional use but I would still want. Probably another $100 in cables above and beyond backup cables that could also be eliminated.
In the past all bigger ticket items I no longer used I have sold on Craigslist, but all that I have now that is not needed, while when tallied up come to 3-4 hundred dollars, are too small or of limited interest to bother trying to sell on Craigslist. Now I give what I can of these items away whenever the opportunity arises.
Please tell me I am not alone in the “collection” of unused, no longer needed small ticket karaoke/DJ system items.

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Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

I probably have close to $8000 in audio/video equipment.

Of that, probably $1000 sits in my basement, and will never be used again.

And another $1000 only gets use 1-3 times a year.

So yes, you are not the only one hoarding equipment.

Most of us keep things because we have room to store stuff. We buy stuff we think will make us more money. That's when we should rent the extra equipment for the one time use. I wish I would take my own advise.

When I decided to host 7 years ago, I went out and purchased quality from day 1. Out of my original purchases I still use about 95%. However I too bought a lot of redundant equipment including singers monitors (5 identical, 17" 4:3 ratio), several cdg players (6, almost unused anymore), cables galore (hundreds of feet), adapters (75+, lots more than I need but VERY handy to have), laptops (3, but I prefer my oldest one), chairs (4, necessary for bad hips and knees), and stands. There is so much more than I can even remember, and every room in my house has something SPARE in it.

If I had to guess $7000, because most of my purchases were not spur of moment impulse buys, and were great bargains. When I was in search of my bulk music purchases I would frequently acquire some of my spare gear for pennies on the dollar. I need to sell some gear but what? I might need it some day (hoarder 101).

Total retail cost of the hardware of my main system, not including wiring/accessories or software:

Mics (4): $400
Mixer: $1000
DJ Controller: $400
Rack Case: $400
Amp: $700
Power Conditioner: $250
DBX Driverack PA: $400
Main Speakers (2): $1400
Subs (2): $1100
Monitor: $500
Computer: $750

So that's $7300 retail cost for the main hardware. Probably another $200 in wiring, another $500 in accessories, another $400 in software. Also two more smaller systems (wedding system and mobile DJ system) at home that are probably worth about as much as this main system when summed together.

HOWEVER, I buy alot of my stuff used! I pay extra attention to get quality used stuff, but of the $7300 retail cost of the hardware items above, I actually paid $4975 total, buying about 1/2 of it new and about 1/2 of it used. I bought the DJ Controller, Amp, Driverack PA, Main Speakers, and Computer all used, at an average discount of 64% off retail. I've had all of those components for 3+ years. The computer is starting to get a little buggy, but everything else is good as new!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

I'm willing to bet you have more than that in cables, dollars add up quick when it comes to cables. Trust me, I know, I think I have a cable fetish!

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Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

True....a $30 cable here, a $10 cable there....and by a rough count there's somewhere around 30ish total cables flying around my main system between speakers cables, extension cords, mic cords, XLR interconnects, USB cables, S/PDIF cables, RCA cables, and VGA cables. It's probably closer to $400-500 in cables retail.

Speaking of (OFF TOPIC!), this past Saturday I had a patron fall down drunk and grab at one of my Speakon cables on the way down. Luckily???, the Speakon broke at the connector instead of this guy pulling down the whole speaker stack. HOWEVER, when I told the guy he owed me $30 for the broken cable, his best answer was "f*** you, I spend alot of money in this bar," which was the wrong answer, and I was then up in his face in front of 5-6 of his buddies. Manager runs over, I insist this guy gets kicked out, manager doesn't kick the guy out because he's one of the owner's buddies (owner wasn't there, though). They even keep serving him.

The music is shut down for about 15 minutes as I rewire the speaker to get the show moving again. 30-45 minutes later, homeboy falls backwards into my speakers, putting the whole stack on the floor. I'm up in the manager's face this time, since this is basically his fault at this point. He still won't kick them out, but tells him and his friends they need to go to the other side of the bar. Luckily nothing broken this time, but the music is down for another 30ish minutes while I regain my composure. I'm in a sh**ty mood the rest of the night. I'm down $30 for the night and the manager is making me the fool.

Good times.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Using a previous post as a template

Shure Super 55: $200
GTD Mics (4): $350
ZED 12FX Mixer: $450
ZED Rack Ears: $30
Rack Case: $400
Power Conditioner: $150
2 x ELX115P: $1000
1 x ELX118P: $700
WINTVPRO (Wireless HDMI): $100
Computer: $450
Software $100
Cabling $300 - $1000 (depending on length of runs and if HDMI is hard wired or remoted)

$4200 - $5000

I will sometimes buy an EQ, Compressor or other hardware after the fact as needed, but the above is a basic system for us. Lighting obviously adds cost $1000-$2000 depending on what is needed (including lasers and all that fun stuff).

The other thing I am spending a little extra on right now is standardizing all systems. I currently have 2 x Yamaha Mixers in the field and I want to replace those with the ZED and use the Yamaha's as backup.

I have one venue that is not using the EV PA's (using some old passives)

I have 1 laptop that doesn't match, but it's replacement arrived last week and I just have to move information over this weekend and put it in productions.

There is a lot of additional cost for the business as a whole for back up hardware, spare books, banners, advertising, music, etc that I don't break down by system but instead put into separate inventory buckets.

I too have a bunch of old equipment in my basement and a spare bedroom. We are doing spring cleaning here at my place and Craigslist going to be getting lit up pretty soon.

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-Chris

Well just doing a quick rough estimate. I figure I have about $5,200 in my main system.
And like the rest of you I have several totes full of cables, cords and misc. items that I don't use very often. I have never been one to buy low quality cheap sound gear. I want gear that will last and sound good. I know that I haven't got everything figured in but not sure if I really want to look at every receipt.

In the $10,198.00 I posted above it includes everything except music. It includes karaoke & DJ software, all cables, extension cords, power strips, light stand skirt, one time charge for books, one time charge for Songbooks Live, rechargeable batteries and chargers, rack lights etc. etc....everything except music.
Just wanted to clear that up as my number seems high compared to some of the others who I believe are just quoting the cost of their PA system.

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Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

I just did this for insurance purpose. The equipment I currently have at the show runs around $7800. That is not full retail on alot of the piece, but what I could most likely get replacements for if needed. Full retail was pushing close to $11000.

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

I have no idea. All I know for sure, is that if I had to start from scratch and re-purchased every bit of music I had, plus the equipments, and cords it would probably cost me at LEAST $20,000.


My biggest expense when I was hosting, not including the music, was everything i kept spending on books, pencils and cords. I did not cheap out on the cord that I bought.. those alone probably cost me $1000 total.

-james

...Although I only run one system/rig, that system/rig consist of a variety of speakers and amplifiers, plus all of the other goodies (mics, cables, cross-over, compressor, etc.) A wide variety of setups based on the venue size. By just doing a little scratch pad figuring, it comes up to an embarrassing, just under $21,000.00 (Does Not Include Any Music). Plus I still have several thousand dollars worth of other amplifiers, mixers and speakers collecting dust is the basement (actually they're actually boxed up and or covered). Time for some listings on Craig's List!

...The above figure also include: Light Fixtures, Light Truss & Stands, a $1100.00 5'x8' Covered Trailer, Printed Books, 8-Road Cases (Stanley Tool Boxes with added padding $60.00 from Home Depot), 2-Homemade 50"x24"x24" Speaker Case/Speaker Stand Boxes, 1-Homemade Rack Case , 3- Homemade 2'x6' stage sections (All Homemade speaker cases, Rack Case and Stage Sections are coated with 2 coats of Black Bed-Liner Paint), 2-Laptops and Software. Am sure I'm forgetting something!

...If I had to do it all over again, I think I could get by with around $10,000 or less for small to medium plus size venues and be happy! Which would include a few lights but no need for extra cases, stage or trailer. I have a van!

I think if I were to put together another setup I could probably get almost equally as good of sound with about $5000.

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

...Am sure you're probably closer to a realistic figure than me but I'm so bad about underestimating! Seems like I always find little things I want to add or think I need!

When I started out (in July of 2000), I had taken out a loan for $25K. $20K was for my 1st car, and the other $5K was earmarked for all the Karaoke equipment I needed to get. Out of the $5K I allocated for equipment, $400 was used to fill in the gaps of what I was lacking in music (at that time, it was Country music). The rest ($4,600) all went towards the hardware.

my entire setup minus disc's is less then $1500. and another $2000 for my 2700+ disc's.

but remember i'm an electronics tech so I like to purchase broken and then fix it for cheap.
like my Antares autotune avp-1 got it for $45 then cost me $12 to fix the bad lcd display.
got both my Mackie amps m800 & 1400i for $0 and then a good cleaning of knobs and switches on the back and they both work great. both of those had no audio.

only thing that I buy new are mic's and speakers. everything else i'd rather just buy broke and fix it myself.

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It's all good!

I don't even want to think about how much I have invested in equipment. Active now:
Bose L1 2B
Bose T1
Fender Passport 500
2 Crown amps (1 @ lake house)
2 Carvin PM15s
1 Carvin 18" sub
Scarlet audio interface
Berringer mixer (lake house)
4 Carvin PM5" (lake house)
1 M Audio 250 watt sub (Lake house)
Drive Rack PA+
Voice Live Rack
2 portable racks
6 wireless mics
countless wired mics
cables cables cables
5 Light fixtures

. That describes me exactly as well.

the part that makes me a little sick if I think about it closely enough, is that if I take everything that I had spent on karaoke in the last ten years and had saved it instead,with the interest it would have been enough to go on a world cruise in style and perhaps record in a professional stuido.. Two of my lifelong dreams.