speakers / amp

S

slugoffice

ribs !
Joined
Mar 11, 2009
Location
london
hi, basicalllyyyyy, I've finally managed to save a bit of money and was thinking about getting some new speakers
I have a pair of numark tt200s and a behringer vmx300 mixer
currently using some of the worst speakers out there, with a pretty average amp
I don't mind whether I get active or passive (? is that right) speakers, but I will want to get a new amp as well if I get passive I reckon..
I was just wondering if anyone had any recommendations for stuff to buy in the price range of around 300-400 quid, I'm not really sure where to start .....

oh yeah.. cos I need to get speakers for my computer I was wondering whether I could get something to link up my computer to speakers I got for the decks, but I have no idea if that's possible

thanks ! any help would be much appreciated cheers
 
I'm just gettin them for playin the decks
livin at home at the moment but movin out in new year, too loud isn't a massive problem tho lol

the reason I just want to be able to hook it up to my computer is just so I can listen to music n stuff without having headphones on, doesn't really make sense to buy two pairs of speakers..
 
400 quid is a pretty good budget. I got a brand new Nad amp and a second hand pair of B&Ws for that.
 
get onto htfr. soundlab/kam do reasonably priced packages. say about £300 or so. i'm bettin you can pick up a grapic equalizer from a second hand electrical shop for 20/30 quid. then you can spend 80 squid on getting slaughtered.
 
buy a phono lead and plug ur computer in thru ur 3rd channel, then u can spend £390 on a pair of active speakers, as then u don't need the amp, you could also get some cheap speakers off ebay or similar and buy a decent amp, speakers are always the last thing to break on most systems, often never if they don't get abused
 
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slugoffice said:
if I want to connect the mixer to an amp/pa system and it doesn't have phono inputs, do I need to buy one of these? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1m-HQ-3-5mm-J...uting_CablesConnectors_RL?hash=item5884338981

will that have good enough sound quality to play loud?

EDIT: this one probably looks like it would do a better job
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/High-Quality-...uting_CablesConnectors_RL?hash=item1e58c980c6
Click to expand...

No decent amp will have a 3.5mm connection but no phono / RCA, so you won't need that first cable. That second cable takes one 6.3mm out and splits it into mono RCAs, also useless for what you want. If a PA amp doesn't have an RCA input it will have 6.3mm jack or XLR inputs. Find your amp first then, worry about what cables you need.

Personally I wouldn't want a PA system at home unless you have no neighbours and you play ridiculously fuck off loud. One of those Kam packages will sound muddy in the bedroom and lack balls for a live gig. You'd be better off with a hifi setup.
 
the PA is my friends who doesn't use it so said I cud borrow it indefinitely, so buying a cheapish wire could be worth it, but I'm fairly certain it's a PA/amp , so it does both, I used to play keyboard through it in my old band but as I don't know very much about electricals I cud be wrong. and I was gonna use a converter/adaptor thing to change the 3.5mm jack to 6.3, but am slightly concerned this might damage the sound quality..?

wud this work if I had a phono to jack and just put it in one of the inputs on the PA straight from the mixer? and if it turns out the PA doesn't work as an amp, wud I just need to get a jack to jack and plug the amp to the PA?

cheers for help again ! :D
 
If it's a real PA amp it should have more inputs than just a mono 6.3mm jack. Pics would be useful here. I get the feeling it's not suitable for what you want.
 
slugoffice said:
the PA is my friends who doesn't use it so said I cud borrow it indefinitely, so buying a cheapish wire could be worth it, but I'm fairly certain it's a PA/amp , so it does both, I used to play keyboard through it in my old band but as I don't know very much about electricals I cud be wrong. and I was gonna use a converter/adaptor thing to change the 3.5mm jack to 6.3, but am slightly concerned this might damage the sound quality.?

wud this work if I had a phono to jack and just put it in one of the inputs on the PA straight from the mixer? and if it turns out the PA doesn't work as an amp, wud I just need to get a jack to jack and plug the amp to the PA?

cheers for help again ! :D
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Cheap wires are never worth it mate, ever. Feel strongly about that, whatever equipment you've got/getting. Not saying you need the most expensive cables you can lay your hands on, but dont go for lowest priced ones either (y)

Think your getting yourself confused, PA is the name for the whole lot together (speakers, amps, mixer etc).

If the speakers are powered (active), it'll be a case of plugging your DJ mixer straight into them, if theyre passive, your DJ mixer will run to an amp, and then to the speakers. Without knowing what you've got, you wont be able to plan propperly for cabling.
 
slugoffice said:
cheers !

blurr, I've tried puttin my laptop through the 3rd channel but it just always ends up sound horrible :s
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what you need to do is get an extension lead and disconnect the earth. thats why you get the buzzing sound.

its pretty much safe, earth only stops you from getting an electric shock and the chance of getting one off a laptop are pretty much zero as they're mainly plastic.

*edit*
i'll just add to that, it'd be a good idea to mark the extension lead laptop only so noone in your household comes to an unfortunate end.
 
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Its not always mains hum from laptops (although a lot of the time it is), sometimes its a laptops low quality standard soundcard picking up noise from hard drives and cooling fans.

Earthing everything to the same point will help aswel if theres loads of different equipment all connected together.

Balanced cables are also much better at rejecting noise, only usefull if all the other connections in the chain are balanced aswel though.
 
DTR said:
If it's a real PA amp it should have more inputs than just a mono 6.3mm jack. Pics would be useful here. I get the feeling it's not suitable for what you want.
Click to expand...

cheers, yeah, will upload pics as soon as I get hold of it again (tonight/tomorrow) . when I am referring to the inputs, there are about 8 inputs along the front, which have one mic and one jack input each
I'm not sure about the back, in fact , I will search online for a pic of this now
btw the speakers from the PA are passive so I guess it must work as an amp as well..?

okay it's this one here: http://www.firstlineelectronics.co.uk/images/AlphapassiveSystem1.gif
http://www.shopwiki.co.uk/Carlsbro+Marlin+8400+DSP+400+Watt+PA+Mixer+Amplifier
http://www.millennium-music.co.uk/p...0 | Alpha 12 PA Deal/brands/detail/key/p/ppp/

there's 3 links describing it
hope that's helpful !
 
Well, it will work. You will have to use the Tape input unless you want to run your left and right channels completely independantly (I wouldn't bother). You'll need a standard RCA to RCA cable.

Why are you cheaping out though when you already had a £300 budget?
 
that budget went down to about 150 after I realised how many peolpe I owed money to lol
but then it seems like a pretty good deal if I can just use this PA for free for however long so I'm gonna try this out, get paid ina week tho so if this doesn't work out I will buy my own stuff
thanks for the help again really appreciated

I know this probably belongs in another thread
but I bought these numark tt200s recently from a mate, they were workin perfectly, then after a car journey to mine the sound from the right output on one of the decks no longer works, is this an easy fix or am I gonna have to fork out a lot of money? cheers
I have no idea how that cud have happened but I'm guessing a wire has come loose or something..?

sorry bout this I'll stop with my questions soon lol
 
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