Help wanted: Choosing active PA speaker

Yep, the Thumps are nice. As the name suggests they are pretty solid on the low frequency end. Prices are decent new and you can probably pick some used ones up for an even better price.

Dynacord is not a bad brand either, although I have never listened to their A-line. What size are you contemplating?

Greetinx.

Yeah, the Thumps being 15″ you can probably get away with no sub. So the trade off is bigger speaker/no sub. Or smaller speaker/sub. Especially an 18″ sub is pretty bulky (I know, I have one). I am also a little worried. 400W (assuming RMS and a digital amp) is on the low side for an 18″  sub. They have an awful lot of air to move and that takes energy (=amp power).

Tough call.

Greetinx.

Not everyone :-). I just agree that for the money, for a starter, the Thumps are pretty decent and “boomy” speakers that won’t break the bank (just your back lol).

I switched from 15″s/no sub to 12″ HD1221s a few years ago and never looked back. 6 months after getting those I added the HD1801 sub and that’s I’ll ever need for my gigs. The few times I play bigger than that I rent.

I got myself a Renault Kangoo to transport it though. Much less hassle than getting everything in a regular car (especially the sub).

Greetinx.

Hi,

My advice: don’t get all that PA gear, unless you plan to get into serious rental. It takes up money, space and you can only use one set at a time. And, especially as gigs get bigger, the variance in what you need will grow exponentially.

I’d stick with the full 12″ kit (especially if you have 3-4 tops and 2 subs), as it will cover all your needs up to probably 200 people. If you do a gig for more people, just rent what you need (extra) and have it delivered and picked up. Let’s say you calculate your gear at 4% of it’s value (high rental level) as the price your customers pay for gear (and you better make them pay the right price for the gear 🙂 ).

That means you have to rent out every single piece of gear at least 25 times to just break even! This is not taking into account storage cost, financing cost, repair and upkeep (granted, not that much on speakers) and such. So let’s say 30 times. That’s well over half a year playing EVERY Weekend once.

If you have that many gigs, I’d still consider hooking up with a rental company and working out a deal with them. I get 25% margin on rental gear. I charge my customers what they would have paid if they rented it themselves. So, gear get’s brought and picked up, I don’t worry bout storage or big enough transport and I don’t finance a thing. I have my own 2x 12″ top 1x 18″ Mackie HD set for my regular smaller gigs and all other occassions I rent, don’t even bring my own Mackie’s.

It’s fun to have lots of nice gear (and the fun starts with the buying), been there, done that, but from a business point of view, as any rental company owner will tell you, it’s not wise to buy if you don’t have the frequency and quantity of use for it.

Just my bit of experience speaking here.

As far as the speakers go. You picked a decent set in the price range I think. The EV’s being about 50% more expensive than the Thumps (and a bit more modern in design and technique) it’s not really fair to do an A/B on those two, especially as the Thumps are ment (as the name indicated) to be boom boxes. Lower volume listening on PA’s is not something I do. Sound levels are either background music, in which case nobody is listening and the level of conversation will drown out any chance of quality sound. Or it will be loud enough for dancing. Hardly ever feel the need for something in between where people just listen to the music quietly :-P.

Greetinx.

Good choice on the EV’s, soundwise i liked them almost as much as the Yamaha dxr’s. For my application I was afraid they’d get beat up. Great price on those

So, I now have in my possession, 2 ZLX 12″ powered tops, and one ZXA1 Sub. I may get a second sub later, or may get the first of my upgrade system and not use 2 subs, just the small one or the big one. I plan to get a 3rd ZLX 12″ top for backup and to sometimes use as a monitor. I may go ahead and get the second ZXA1 sub to have a pair, going to give myself some time with it but so far I’m happy, and it should do nicely with the types of gigs I can imagine doing in the near future. I have 3 small kids and had company over the weekend(gear was delivered Friday), so haven’t gotten to listen to them a whole lot yet, or blast them at all really, but I am more than happy with these EV speakers, and the price was pretty fair I think. They look nice, and the covers should help keep them looking nice and a little safer, and they scream ” we mean business ” …. LOL Just one with the sub, or by it’s self, is pretty decent and loud in a small space, the pair without the sub is pretty nice sounding too, can’t wait to try them in other spaces. I’ll chime back in with more input once I’ve had some more time with them. Keep shining folks, Moonshadow

I vote a no on the Mackie Thumps. Ever since the Mackie company had a change around in management some of their stuff has been sub-standard. They like to advertise how “light” their cabinets are nowadays. Bear in mind, a light cabinet means light speaker and amp, and a light speaker and amp almost certainly means it will break down on you if driven too hard. If you want value, get a workhorse speaker like the Mackie SRM-450 (the first model) if you can find them, or some from another reliable brand. My father is an old school audio guy and he always said “Spend money good one time, never spend money again”