Thoughts/Suggestions re: My Idea for a Country Club PA

[audiomagnate]

Here's what I'm proposing for a PA system to be used outside (actually inside a big tent) at my local country club for small live gigs and for canned music and announcements during dinner service and weddings. I already own most of the components on hand, and the budget is extremely limited. They system will not be exposed to weather, but will be used outdoors in the tent and later on a covered deck that's open on three sides. I want the club to be able to offer its use as "house PA" for small live bands, which vary from solo singer with an acoustic guitar or four or five piece country bands. Now they bands bring small portable PA speakers.

I need supertweeters and a small amp (or two if I want to go active on the supertweeters) to complete the system.

The system would consist of:

Speakers:
JBL 4648 (2 x 2226h) 100dB, 35 to 800Hz
Emilar EA175 1" compression driver+ Emilar EH800A 800Hz "Bowtie" Horn, 800-8,000 Hz
Some sort of very cost effective supertweeters for 8K and up (piezio's?)

Amps: BGW 620B for the JBL's
Something cheap/low power and rack mountable for the horns/super tweeters

Crossover: Gemini 1000x (3 way, 12 dB/8ve)

EQ:Behringer Feedback Destroyer

Board/Mic Preamp: (for canned music/announcements only bands bring their own board, cables mics etc) Behringer Xennyx 502

Notes: The 4648/Emilar/BGW/Gemini combo sounds awesome with a pair of JBL 2405's on top in my basement, but there's no budget for those tweeters for the PA.

 

[dotneck335]

The best way to make an improvement in your system is to BI-AMP it. That single change will make the most difference for the buck. A bi-amped system for PA is MUCH MUCH cleaner.

 

[chris661]

Old thread, but there you go.

I'd swap up for a DCX2496. Probably the biggest upgrade you can make to any budget-end PA system is to have proper control over your EQ, time alignment, and crossover duties. With an analogue crossover, have you set 700Hz or 800Hz? Fine if you're going between tops and subs, where being 10% out will shift you from 100Hz to 110Hz, but a bit more critical when compression drivers are involved.

Also look at upgrading the high-end at some point. A good 1.4" or 2" driver can do 800Hz all the way up without a problem. A 1" driver running down to 800Hz might be risky, IMO.

Chris

 

[wg_ski]

Also look at upgrading the high-end at some point. A good 1.4" or 2" driver can do 800Hz all the way up without a problem. A 1" driver running down to 800Hz might be risky, IMO.

Chris

Emilar EA175 1" compression driver+ Emilar EH800A 800Hz "Bowtie" Horn, 800-8,000 Hz
Some sort of very cost effective supertweeters for 8K and up (piezio's?).

The CD only does 8 KHz? If that's a phenolic driver it will be perfectly safe at 800 Hz (even for a 1" exit), but require said supertweeter. The wide bandwidth 1" drivers ( Ti, poly diaphragms) can't take it and need a 1.5k cross at a minimum. That being said, the HF will be the limiting factor in the system - compared to the JBLs. You can only get so much blood out of a stone.

 

[Robbie42]

improving your existing boxes

Hi there,
I second the recommendation of the Behringer dsp / xover unit. For super tweets, the B&C DE35 bullet is a super bargain, and highly recommended, for amps to drive the emilars (lovely old horns and drivers!), and tweeters, look on ebay for a couple of old BGW 100's or 150's, or AB international 714, all are lovely sounding, rugged, a great match for your existing gear, and cheap!