Karaoke Forums

which is better for karaoke.

Stereo is ideal for a living room with the speakers on each side and then there is a sweet spot where the volume is the same for both channels. This usually at an equal distance between the speakers. Using stereo in a large venues is not practical for the sound is only optimal in a small area. Factor in room acoustics and reverberations and the result is a mess.  Also a power alley is produced and  on each side  at certain distances bass frequencys are out of phase and when 180 out cancel each other out. ( the power alley is centerline where no cancellations are taking place and are more prominent  or at least harder to control in stereo mode)

It is best to run each channel into the mono input in seperate channels on the mixer and pan in the middle.  I now run left in with the efx on minimum and the right channel with efx at unity. Then the overall efx gain is easier to set as the right fader is efx gain. External efx are returned as stereo so the room acoustics and reverberations somewhat determine the efx settings especially when using reverb efx. Ideally the stage end of the room should have heavy damping on the walls (foam etc) The idea is to get good sound in all areas.

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We use stereo at all our venues.  All about 2-400 sitting capacity.

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I gotta go with karyoker on this one stero is completely impractical for large venues.  If you are sitting to one side of the room you basically can only hear half of the sound.  I used stereo when I started but switched a couple of months later.  I had a lot of people compliment me on the improvement.

This is a GEAT post.  All KJ's should read.  I was doing DJ work 20 years ago and for most venues I would run mono for all of the reasons indicated above.  It is the single, biggest pet peeve I have with the club where I host on Friday's using their equipment as they run in stereo and there are some serious phase issues for people sitting on the corner/back wall area of the bar.  When someone comes walking up going, "it sounds tiny," they are always shocked when I know exactly where they are sitting.  Ya, no kidding it sounds tinny, move 20 feet and it sounds great - tell the owners to run this sucker in mono while you're moving

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Never ever had that complaint in running stereo.

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It also all depends on where your speakers are.  If it is setup like a typical stage with speakers on both side aiming toward the audience you can get away with stereo a little easier.  If you have an odd shaped room & 1 speaker is in one corner & the other is out of view from the first in another cornet, then mono is the way to go.  I always run mono myself.

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I usually run in stereo.  Haven't had any issues with it.  Agree that speaker placement is critical.  I have done some mobile work in L-shaped halls that I ended up running a 3rd main in mono around the corner.   Linking off one of my stereo mains would not have been sufficient.  But otherwise, I prefer stereo hands-down for larger conventional halls and bars.  Most KJs I know run in mono which is fine for the smaller venues.

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Sounds Great! Entertainment
Bartlett, Illinois

I run my woofers in stereo and my subwoofers in mono.  I feel that the seperated signals are important to overall sound quality, and most of the venues I play in are small anyway so there's not as much of a "dead area."  Subs are in mono though because the human ear cannot determine the location the signal is coming from if it is that low.

Agree - I run one sub off a separate mono zone out.

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Sounds Great! Entertainment
Bartlett, Illinois

I usual run in stereo but I do see the need from time to time to run in MONO as previosuly stated.  QUESTION:  If I do need to run in mono which is better :

A) Set up my Power Amp (Peavey pv1200) to run in mono which I belive consists of connecting the A&B channels together.

B) Using 2 mono channels on the mixer as suggested above

Or is either way okay?

Option A is actually "bridging" the amp.  This basically puts out more power as it it summing both left & right channel together.  If the amp can handle the load of the speakers, then bridging would always be the option i'd choose.  If not, then option B.

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Lon,

Looking at the manual for the amp ,  It lists 2 types of mono modes

a) Bridged - I switch the mode to MONO and just use channel A for output from mixer  -  I just can tell if I use both LEFT AND RIGHT outs from  the mixer to both inputs of channel A or just use 1 mono out from the mixer??

b) 2 channel mono mode -- The mode switch is kept in stereo and I just connect the A&B channels together? --Same question  I'm not clear on what outs from the mixer get used in these applications

Normally for stereo its L&R from mixer to A&B (l&R) on the amp ...

Thanks !

If bridging, just use 1 channel out from the mixer to channel A on the amp.  Then keep everything panned to that output from the mixer.  



In 2 channel mono, continue to hook up as you would stereo, except pan everything staright up (center).  Both channels now receive the same signal.  You don't get no power gain from the amp as you do in bridging, but now both channels are getting the same mono signal.

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THanks!  -  I'll try this weekend and see what it sounds like

As you can see, this is a very complicated issue, and many have their varied opinion to this. But it is really a simple equation. Stereo sound delivers only "partial" input to each speaker. The combined sound, left speaker heard with left ear - right speaker heard with right ear, produces the extacy of true stereo. In any other situation, such as a room full of people that are more exposed to one of the speakers, the beautiful sensation of stereo sound is compromised, and the listener can even be robbed of the completeness of the sound from the furtest speaker.

The question may be, do you really want your listeners to be robbed of ANY of the components of your music? The perhaps obvious answer to this is to present the mix equally to both speakers (or perhaps ALL speakers would apply) so all listeners would benefit from the whole mix in its entirety. Therefore, the rule of thumb, which will work in all situations, (even though there are situations where it may not be the "ultimate" sound) is to go with a mono presentation.

A mono presentation will work in every situation, whereas a stereo presentation will not give complete representation in most performing situations.

Just to follow up I've been running a mono set up the last few weeks using my smaller set up of ( Behringer Powered mixer and Peavy lite weights) not that this matters .  But I have to admit that the sound is more consistant though out the bar running in mono  :yes:  The sound running stereo is far superior if and only if you are standing DEAD CENTER of the 2 speakers ( Thats where I usually checked my mix)  But last week before changing to mono I walked to the far ends of the bar around the corners and so forth and did notice that the sound wasn't as good back there as I thought !   So I'm glad I changed to mono at least in this venue .

Good ADVICE  AS USUAL FROM EVERYONE!

For anyone contimplating stereo or mono just set up your rig at a show and play some Beatles songs (Dj versions Not the karaoke Versions) and walk around the bar. if it sounds like your missing something at one end vers. the other .... theirs your answer.
Djpauly

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