Looking for a DIY PA system for my sons Garage Band

[airframe]

Hello all, My son has a garage band but lacks a PA system. Could any one suggest a good set of box designs and a SS amp design that we could build, probably looking at 100 watts, would need to support 2 mics, hopefully nothing to complicated! Any takers ?

[Enzo]

If you really want to do it yourself, make sure to use musical instrument speakers, NOT home stereo speakers. Pro audio speakers are lot more efficient - that is a lot louder for a given signal level.

Depending on how loud you need to be and how large the room, a pair of basic two way speakers makes sense. A single 15" or even a 12" and a horn in each box. Crossover as appropriate.

Power amps are power amps, though pro PA stuff usually has more protection, roadability, and performance features than stereo gear.

Mixers are simple enough, how many channels and how fancy do you need?

But really, I would recommend looking into some used commercial gear first. You could spend hours and hours and a lot of money building something that you could have goten for a lot less all ready to go. A powered mixer - mixer with power amp all in one - and a couple speaker cabs, and you're ready.

In Canada, you ought to be able to find some good solid basic Yorkville stuff for not a lot of money. Even the older Traynor (made by Yorkville) stuff ought to be available and still working. And certainly American brand Peavey offers a lot of mixer for the money. I don't recall the Yorkville model numbers, but in the Peavey line I'd check out some box mixers. Powered mixers in a cabinet like a guitar head. The XR600 series has been the worlds most popular powered mixer for years. The smaller XR500 or XR400 might be enough for you.

Look up Peavey XR600 (it comes in several versions, plain XR600, and then the b,c,d,e,f versions too.), XR500, XR400 on ebay or google to get an idea what they are selling for these days. Look at the local music dealers who sell used gear. Check the want ads in the paper.

[Variac]

To clarify a bit, Pro PA drivers are what you want.

Guitar drivers are musical instrument speakers, but have special characteristics that make them not so good for a PA system.

I made some for my son's band using the Selenium WPU 1505 woofer and the Ti 205 horn driver I think. The models have changed a bit. but that brand is good value. I got them on sale at Partsexpress.com whom I have no association with. As Enzo said, a two way with a horn and 15" are a good start. Stay away from piezo horn drivers or tweeters. Some can use them well for certain purposes, but not you (or me) Their main virtue is they are cheap but usually sound horrible.

He is also right that used might be the cheapest way to go. BUT I got a lot of credit for making the speakers for my son, who really appreciated it, and it was a good father/ son project. They sound great IMHO. I had my 53rd birthday party recently and they saved my "good " stereo system.

We drive them with a 110w/ ch Hafler which is too weak in most people's opinion , but he plays jazz so the levels aren't too high.

Generally the pros drive speakers with more powerful amps, because if it starts to clip, there goes the tweeter.... But if you don't crank it so it distorts you can do OK.


Maybe someone will see this thead now that I bumped it and steer you to some cabinet sites.

[sreten]

Hi,

http://www.musicyo.com/product_specs.asp?pf_id=368



Is the mimimum sort of thing you need, 4 channel with reverb.

/sreten.

[airframe]

Thanks all for the input, I will clarify a bit here. The bad consists of 4 guitars with there own amps and my son the drumer. There biggest issue is voice. The venues they play at are very poor for PA voice setups., so essentially they need speakers and an amp for this purpose only. For now they can manually mix guitar amps to the appropraite sound level. Then come the question of feedback with different sources, that happened at the last placed they played. Ideas on all this would be very appreciated, thaks in advance!

[sreten]

Hi,

you still need a PA amplifier, minimum 4 mic inputs and reverb.

The only thing that goes through the amp is voices and possibly other
miked up stuff e.g. acoustic guitar, drum snare, hand percussion etc.

4 guitars eh ? acoustic feedback ? Simple fact is most bands play far
too loud to suit the acoustics for the PA and end up drowning it out.
So it gets turned up too loud and gets horrible feedback problems.

Simple solution is to turn the guitars down and reign back the drums.

Not that young headbangers will have anything to do with the idea.

/sreten.

[Variac]

OK guys,

Lets help airframe out a bit here. HE wants to make his own PA speakers. That's a good thing- we are DIY Audio after all.

I made my son some PA speakers and they sound great, and my son thinks I'm sooo cool. Doing it shows you are interested in HIS interests,

Yes, maybe he could get some decent speakers cheaper by buying used, but he can make some good ones too, and he'll know the condition they're in.Could you look over these designs and give an opinion?

these are the plans that people refer to a lot:


http://www.speakerplans.com

How about the Midtop x15?

I can post mine, but need to measure them and such, and other designs are out there I'm sure! Mine are simple bass reflex 2 way with 15" and a horn.

airframe:
another good brand for drivers at a reasonable price is Eminence.
Made in the US and incredible value.

http://www.partsexpress.com/webpage....WebPage_ID=113

http://www.speakercity.com/Merchant2...ategory_Code=E

The speaker plans refer to pAudio speakers - another quality, reasonably priced driver company.

http://www.speakercity.com/Merchant2...tegory_Code=PA

[anatech]

Hi airframe,
As I was reading this thread I thought of suggesting Eminence which I've used in club settings before. Reliable and just about exactly what you want. 10's and 8's might work good for the vocals.

Plywood for the box to keep the weight down, lot's of bracing. They make inset handles and cloth coving for the boxes. Helps keep the boxes in one piece through all the bumps. Laminated wood will be stronger, and you can avoid using a router that way. I would also suggest speak on connectors, not 1/4" plugs and jacks.

-Chris

[sreten]

http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/PAB-415.html

http://www.partsexpress.com/projects...ens/index.html

some useful info.

/sreten.

[Bob2]

http://www.billfitzmaurice.com/

He's a member here.

Bob