Karaoke Forums

I have recently upgraded my music system, and I'm beginning to work on my karaoke.  I have good sound with regular music, but I traditionally don't have the greatest karaoke sound...I also made the mistake of buying one of the "all in one" boxes that plays dvds, cdgs, etc....it sounds pretty bad.  My new system is a rack system, and I know that the JVC triple tray is not really rack-mountable...but quality-wise- is the Numark as good?  Is there another you'd recommend?  Is a karaoke mixer necessary to get the best possible sound?  Is there one you'd recommend?  Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks![/b]

Can you give us an idea of what you already have and how you plan to use the equipment?  Is this for home or professional use?  Do you do mobile shows or is it mounted in a more permenent surrounding?

Given all that, you generally get better sound if you use a mixer.  This allows you to add effects and balance the music and mic levels as they change from song to song and singer to singer.

As for which mixer to get, there are lots of variables and it depends on what you're looking for, if it requires rack mounting, etc.  The Mackie DFX-12 and CFX-12 is popular with many of the people here on the board - I've recently ordered a Mackie Onyx 1620 myself.  I also have a SoundCraft Compact 10 but it's designed for recording and not live sound.  The DFX-6 seems like a good option for the home user but budget and end use is unknown so any of these could be a bad option until we know more.

The triple tray RSQ can be rack mounted by attaching it to a rack mounted shelf.  Not the most elegent solution in the world, but you can pull the feet off, drill holes in the shelf, and put the screws back in through the shelf (and a small washer) to hold it in place or use a strap of some kind to mount it in place.

I've heard good things recently about the Numark 25 CDG player on this and a few other boards.  A couple people here have bought them and had good results but I don't own one myself.  I'm considering buying one to add to my system but have some other purchases that are more important to me at this time (eq, compressor, mics, etc).  Numark generally has a pretty good reputation for reliable equipment.  Not the 'best' in the world, but far from the worst.  If you already have the rack and space to mount the Numark I'd probably lean towards it only because the cost is about the same between the two and the Numark has more functionality if you plan to do any DJ work.

If you can give us some more information it would be a big help in starting to determine what would be a good cross section of equipment that might work for you.

Thanks for the quick response!  I'm going to be using this in a mobile rack unit.  I do private shows, and I have 2 shows a week in bars, so I'm moving things around a good amount.  This will be my second full system when it's completed.  My biggest problem with my old system was the karaoke sound, so I'm trying to improve that situation.  Right now I have mackie speakers (not the best, but not too bad), a gemini mixer, gemini cfx-50 player (which I really like so far), ART 351 equalizer, and a mackie 1400i amp.... now I'm working on the karaoke.  I'm just trying to do get the best sound possible on a limited budget.

The JVC is a very good player, have one myself (not in use anymore, moved to Hoster/PC based) but I bought a rack-mount shelf for the JVC and that worked 100%. So there's your solution in a rackmount JVC.

What model Mackies?  Must be the C300 if you are running an amp with them - nice amp as well?  Nothing wrong with those speakers given all the rest of your components are up to par.

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