House party speaker help please

[sheppard.brendan]

Hi all

I've been going round and round in circles with stores trying to figure out my ideal speaker setup but hoping for some help please. The sound in store is very different to my setup outdoors.

I am a hobby DJ (house/bass) and play at some house parties, mostly outdoor with no more than 30 people. I have been using monitors but everybody tells me it's a matter of time before these blow, plus there's next to no bass which is crap for what I play outdoors.

I've been looking at a setup of perhaps either 2x12s, 2x12s + 15sub or 1x12 + 15sub. The way I currently play I'm not sure playing mono makes a difference as speakers are pretty much side by side. Open to having 15s also. I feel this would be fine with a single 12 on pole above sub but people often think this is kinda silly without stereo so happy for opinions here. I could definitely buy part now and expand, no desperate rush to buy everything right now but this of course would get me a better package price.

I've been looking mostly at PreSonus, I'd like to buy reasonable quality. I also looked at EV and Yamaha. Parties are residential so im after reasonable quality rather than trying to rock the neighbourhood!

PreSonus Air / EV ZLX ranges I've been looking at. Budget $3kmax.

I'd really appreciate any advice. Thanks in advance!

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[conanski]

I'm going to suggest a pair of 8" or 10" mains with a single 15" sub for starters, once you have a sub larger mains are wasted and no not even 15" mains can produce the kind of bass a dedicated sub does.

I've been looking mostly at PreSonus, I'd like to buy reasonable quality.

These Presonus speakers are a brand new unknown quantity, they look good but so do the new Mackie SRMs which have a terrible reliability record. EV speakers on the other hand are very reliable, I have 6 from the ZLX and EKX lines with zero failure over hundreds if events. Have a look at the EV ELX200 line or the if funds allow the EV EKX or Yamaha DXR/DXS series.

[DJ Bobcat]

Hi all

I've been going round and round in circles with stores trying to figure out my ideal speaker setup but hoping for some help please. The sound in store is very different to my setup outdoors.

I am a hobby DJ (house/bass) and play at some house parties, mostly outdoor with no more than 30 people. I have been using monitors but everybody tells me it's a matter of time before these blow, plus there's next to no bass which is crap for what I play outdoors.

I've been looking at a setup of perhaps either 2x12s, 2x12s + 15sub or 1x12 + 15sub. The way I currently play I'm not sure playing mono makes a difference as speakers are pretty much side by side. Open to having 15s also. I feel this would be fine with a single 12 on pole above sub but people often think this is kinda silly without stereo so happy for opinions here. I could definitely buy part now and expand, no desperate rush to buy everything right now but this of course would get me a better package price.

I've been looking mostly at PreSonus, I'd like to buy reasonable quality. I also looked at EV and Yamaha. Parties are residential so im after reasonable quality rather than trying to rock the neighbourhood!

PreSonus Air / EV ZLX ranges I've been looking at. Budget $3kmax.

I'd really appreciate any advice. Thanks in advance!

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You don’t mention budget, and that makes a BIG difference. I’ve done house parties, and one thing that’s always an issue is space and access. Even if you use a smaller 15” sub and two 8” or 10” tops on stands, that’s a lot of gear for a house party of 30 people or so. Usually it’s kinda hard to get a lot of gear in and out of some homes. A good option is a small line array system like a Bose L1 Compact, Electro-Voice Evolve 50, or RCF EVOX5. You’d only need one for a normal house party, and any one of those would give you plenty of bass for a house party.

[sheppard.brendan]

You don’t mention budget, and that makes a BIG difference. I’ve done house parties, and one thing that’s always an issue is space and access. Even if you use a smaller 15” sub and two 8” or 10” tops on stands, that’s a lot of gear for a house party of 30 people or so. Usually it’s kinda hard to get a lot of gear in and out of some homes. A good option is a small line array system like a Bose L1 Compact, Electro-Voice Evolve 50, or RCF EVOX5. You’d only need one for a normal house party, and any one of those would give you plenty of bass for a house party.

Sorry I went back in after posting and added budget, about $3k. I'm in Australia so things are usually a bit expensive.

I mostly play house parties at my own place so valid points about space but not an issue at present.

I have listened to the arrays and found the sound nowhere near as good as stand-alone hence why I had pondered the idea to make my own version by buying a sub and a single speaker. Again though, sound in confined showroom would alter my judgement and not be a true reflection of my real life outdoor usage scenario. Array may well do the job but hard to tell (like with TV's in store!).

Bose out of my price range.

I could buy a DBR10+DXS15 or Air10+Air15s for about the same cost of an array...

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[sheppard.brendan]

I'm going to suggest a pair of 8" or 10" mains with a single 15" sub for starters, once you have a sub larger mains are wasted and no not even 15" mains can produce the kind of bass a dedicated sub does.

These Presonus speakers are a brand new unknown quantity, they look good but so do the new Mackie SRMs which have a terrible reliability record. EV speakers on the other hand are very reliable, I have 6 from the ZLX and EKX lines with zero failure over hundreds if events. Have a look at the EV ELX200 line or the if funds allow the EV EKX or Yamaha DXR/DXS series.

Thanks for the quick response. Smaller speakers sound great!

Budget is around $3k so the more expensive line of both EV and Yamaha are over my budget if I buy a pair. Single dxs8 or elx200-10p would work, just unsure if for my use its worth the step-up from the DBR range, but assuming you'll say to spend as much as I can afford?! EV doesn't offer smaller than 12 in their budget range it seems.

I guess my budget would allow an array as per other suggestion, double 10s in budget range plus sub, or single premium 8/10 plus sub.

The people I've spoken to rave about PreSonus, also found great reviews. They do offer 6 year warranty so that should give me some assurance right?

All those brands are available to me easily from local shops so I'm not stuck to any brand, I just want bang for buck, noting I'm not a professional but don't want to play on crap speakers 😉


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[conanski]

What you get as you step up through the lines from EV and Yamaha is more output SPL(for the most part.. there are other differences like the change from plastic to wood boxes but that's not as noticable), the entry level models like the EV ZLX and Yamaha DBR still sound really good they just don't go as loud as their bigger brothers. When I demo'd the new EV boxes I felt the bottom 3 lines(ZLX, ELX, and EKX) all sounded pretty much the same, it wasn't until we got to the ETX that I could hear a pronounced difference in character. EV and Yamaha have also made it easy to mix and match their speakers with not only their own products but other brands by including the crossover processing in each speaker, Yamaha has a simple switch with a couple selections while EV has an extensive list of presets for other EV boxes as well as generic options. IMO there is nothing wrong with using a lesser top with a better, that actually provides a good balance in output. I regularly pair ZLX tops with EKX subs and both speaker systems reach limit at about the same time.. which makes sense... moderm music genres typically contain more bass so a sound system generally needs more powerful subs than tops. I like having a brand matched system and there are good technical reasons for doing that, but I have also used my Yamaha DXR's with those EV subs and that system also works and sounds really good.

[sheppard.brendan]

Sorry I went back in after posting and added budget, about $3k. I'm in Australia so things are usually a bit expensive.

I mostly play house parties at my own place so valid points about space but not an issue at present.

I have listened to the arrays and found the sound nowhere near as good as stand-alone hence why I had pondered the idea to make my own version by buying a sub and a single speaker. Again though, sound in confined showroom would alter my judgement and not be a true reflection of my real life outdoor usage scenario. Array may well do the job but hard to tell (like with TV's in store!).

Bose out of my price range.

I could buy a DBR10+DXS15 or Air10+Air15s for about the same cost of an array...

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Just thought I'd mention that by saying I can get a sub and speaker for the same money as an array, I'm not suggesting it's as good 👍

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[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Just thought I'd mention that by saying I can get a sub and speaker for the same money as an array, I'm not suggesting it's as good

That depends on the array. Most are way overpriced for what you get. Also, an array only replaces a top, you still need a sub to go with it.

[sheppard.brendan]

That depends on the array. Most are way overpriced for what you get. Also, an array only replaces a top, you still need a sub to go with it.

Thoughts on single top with sub?

Any opinion on brand and speaker choice?

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[sheppard.brendan]

What you get as you step up through the lines from EV and Yamaha is more output SPL(for the most part.. there are other differences like the change from plastic to wood boxes but that's not as noticable), the entry level models like the EV ZLX and Yamaha DBR still sound really good they just don't go as loud as their bigger brothers. When I demo'd the new EV boxes I felt the bottom 3 lines(ZLX, ELX, and EKX) all sounded pretty much the same, it wasn't until we got to the ETX that I could hear a pronounced difference in character. EV and Yamaha have also made it easy to mix and match their speakers with not only their own products but other brands by including the crossover processing in each speaker, Yamaha has a simple switch with a couple selections while EV has an extensive list of presets for other EV boxes as well as generic options. IMO there is nothing wrong with using a lesser top with a better, that actually provides a good balance in output. I regularly pair ZLX tops with EKX subs and both speaker systems reach limit at about the same time.. which makes sense... moderm music genres typically contain more bass so a sound system generally needs more powerful subs than tops. I like having a brand matched system and there are good technical reasons for doing that, but I have also used my Yamaha DXR's with those EV subs and that system also works and sounds really good.

Thanks for all those details, really helpful.

Would you mind letting me know what you'd buy then with my budget? What's your opinion on single VS double top for my small-scale use?

Would a DBR10 + DXS12/15 be sufficient?

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