Parade Float

[conanski]

I have been doing a caribean parade float with a DJ customer of mine for a few years, I just provide the sound system and generator and he sources the truck and uses his Pioneer DDJ controller and laptop that he regularly DJs with. The sound system I provide for this is a 6kw passive rig consisting of double 15 mains and double 18 subs, it gets plenty loud but it's not the biggest or loudest rig at this event, but not the smallest either. I have also done a smaller float for another parade with powered speakers... two 12" tops and one 18" sub, and in that case we had one of the biggest sound systems, many of the other floats used one of those all-in-one PA systems like the Yamaha Stagepas. Those small PA systems are really too small to project sound very far outdoors... especially when there are a bunch of other systems blasting away in close proximity, the sound just gets lost in all that background noise.
So the bottom line is it's probably going to cost a lot more than you think to buy the right equipment for this, so renting should be considered if at all possible. With a 2kw inverter generator, a small mixer and laptop, and a cheap wireless mic added to the powered speakers in that "small" system I mentioned above you're looking at about $5k total cost.

[ludvball]

Thanks for the replies!

The starting budget would be $600-1000. I think the goal is to stay around ~$2500 if possible.

We have access to a 5kW and 6kW generator. I have a laptop.

The wireless mics can be phase 2 or 3.

It doesn't need to be the biggest system for sure. It needs to be loud enough that the dance group can hear it though.