Hello DiyAudio Community
I am a lover for music and a lover for building stuff. I am currently planning to build a portable party box on wheels and with powerful and loud speakers.
But i find it especially hard to pick and buy the right speaker because i currently dont have much knowledge about this which makes me very insecure about ordering.
Should i go for high efficient parts to reach high spl? Like for example: 1 Faital Pro 15FH500 (250€) with 2 Eighteensound 8m400 -140€ per (or FaitalPRO M5N8-80 - 95€ per) and something like lavoce DN10.17 (130€)?
or what would you suggest i'd use? Budget for speakers is around 620€. Im from Germany so parts from companys like dayton audio will be more expensive here.
The box will be used both indoors and outdoors, mostly at smaller parties.
I listen to pop, hip hop, rock, hardstyle and techno.
Because its a box for mostly parties or nights with the boys it needs to be louder and will be played often at around 70-85% volume.
I really like bass but dont want to forget the mids which are also important for me.
My personal room is about 3x7 meters and the other about 4x5 meters.
The speaker size for the sub should be between 12" to 18" and mids should not be bigger then 8".
I am a lover for music and a lover for building stuff. I am currently planning to build a portable party box on wheels and with powerful and loud speakers.
But i find it especially hard to pick and buy the right speaker because i currently dont have much knowledge about this which makes me very insecure about ordering.
Should i go for high efficient parts to reach high spl? Like for example: 1 Faital Pro 15FH500 (250€) with 2 Eighteensound 8m400 -140€ per (or FaitalPRO M5N8-80 - 95€ per) and something like lavoce DN10.17 (130€)?
or what would you suggest i'd use? Budget for speakers is around 620€. Im from Germany so parts from companys like dayton audio will be more expensive here.
The box will be used both indoors and outdoors, mostly at smaller parties.
I listen to pop, hip hop, rock, hardstyle and techno.
Because its a box for mostly parties or nights with the boys it needs to be louder and will be played often at around 70-85% volume.
I really like bass but dont want to forget the mids which are also important for me.
My personal room is about 3x7 meters and the other about 4x5 meters.
The speaker size for the sub should be between 12" to 18" and mids should not be bigger then 8".
Faital Pro drivers are fantastic value, and in a particular sub application, I found indistinguishable from B&C. You can choose a much cheaper compression driver like the Beyma CD10Fe/N (£56GBP) and spend a bit more on the other drivers - I like Beyma for midrange (8MI100 for example), and you really must use an 18" for the sub; perhaps a Faital Pro 18FH510. You will run out of bass far more quickly than mid/HF, especially with your preferred music genre. If you are frugal with the mid and HF drivers, or could stretch the budget just a little you might even manage one of THESE - a real sub!
I buy all my drivers from these guys:
Blue Aran
I buy all my drivers from these guys:
Blue Aran
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Sorry, was a busy day... @MrKlinky thanks for the suggestion and i like the idea of adding the 21" Sub. With 2 8MI100 and 2 DC10Fe/N im at roughly 720 Euros because of VAT and shipping which is okay but i'll have to consider the other costs for the amp etc. so i'll have to do some thinking. For the amplifier i need to know if i need more w then my speaker consumes because some people said that and some said that you dont need to. LMS i heared for the first time but is it neccessairy for my case? Because it seems like they are expensive and i dont want to go way too far with the price at the start.
When you are at this power level, passive crossovers are not practical. You will need 5 amplifier channels and an LMS. PA drivers are not designed to have a flat frequency response, and considerable EQ is always required to make them sound 'normal'.
PA is not simply a pair of speakers which you plug into a big stereo amplifier! To have a good transient headroom you would need the LMS plus:
Sub: 1 x 2000W
Mid: 2 x 500W
HF: 2 x 100w
You can never have too much voltage/power - I run 2.5kW on just a pair of BMS4594 compression drivers, simply for dynamic range. Nothing sounds worse than a PA system and speakers running flat-out at '10'!
PA is not simply a pair of speakers which you plug into a big stereo amplifier! To have a good transient headroom you would need the LMS plus:
Sub: 1 x 2000W
Mid: 2 x 500W
HF: 2 x 100w
You can never have too much voltage/power - I run 2.5kW on just a pair of BMS4594 compression drivers, simply for dynamic range. Nothing sounds worse than a PA system and speakers running flat-out at '10'!
A lot depend on how many people your parties will attend. I've build garden party systems that go to 110dB RMS cleanly (enough for a 20-50 people outside or double inside a space), but for larger groups you soon need a lot more. Dub soundsystems (my sector more) run often 8x 18" in scoop horns as subs alone for a few hundred to a thousand people outdoor, that is mostly arround 25kw (or more) for subs alone.
But a good setup for arround 100ppl can be 2x18 subs, 2x10" mid and a compression driver taking care of everything above. The subs depends a lot on the alignment, horns, reflex, transflex, tapped horn, ... they all need other parameters and you need to find the right driver for it. Mids are mostly sealed or reflex and tops are compression drivers in horn with a wide dispertion. sometimes they add a smaller horn supertweeter above it (but mostly not with good result).
If i would build a set like that i would probally use a tapped horn, there are some good designs here documented. Dub soundsystems mostly use scoop horns, but they are very coloured (good for dub) in sound and only work in groups of 4. A reflex is the easiest, but not the most efficient way.
For midbass maybe the Faital 10PR310 (from 100 to 1500) in a reflex, and above a Faital HF-108 in a 90x40 or 90x50 horn (like the RFC HF94), it could also be a bigger driver off course. But this is a driver i know and it can handle quiet a lot if you cut it at 1500Hz with dsp.
For crossovers use a dsp (aka LMS). A decent cheap one is the DBX Driverrack. It's certainly not the best, but good sounding, easy to use and reliable. And get decent amps, where especially the amp for the sub is best rated at 2x the power of the speaker, to avoid sacking by overloading the psu. Crown and QSC make decent power amps that does not cost a fortune and are reliable.
But there are man ways to do it. Look arround what the people in your scene use, and the chance is big that they have the most efficient system for that kind of music. A lot of dj systems are really tuned to a certain style of music today, some like a lot of sub, others prefer a strong kickbass, others want a bright sound... rave/freetek systems look very different than systems used for techno and dub soundsystem very different than those or those used for hiphop. They all want other deviations from flat for their music. When i was still working in sound rental, i (and my collegues at that time) eq'ed the system very different with our dsp then for each type of party, and that was a big part why we were popular for suppliying soundsystems for those.
So first you need to know what you exactly want, how loud it has to go (what place you need to cover with it), how it should sound and what your budget is. Then only you can start planning how to build it.
But a good setup for arround 100ppl can be 2x18 subs, 2x10" mid and a compression driver taking care of everything above. The subs depends a lot on the alignment, horns, reflex, transflex, tapped horn, ... they all need other parameters and you need to find the right driver for it. Mids are mostly sealed or reflex and tops are compression drivers in horn with a wide dispertion. sometimes they add a smaller horn supertweeter above it (but mostly not with good result).
If i would build a set like that i would probally use a tapped horn, there are some good designs here documented. Dub soundsystems mostly use scoop horns, but they are very coloured (good for dub) in sound and only work in groups of 4. A reflex is the easiest, but not the most efficient way.
For midbass maybe the Faital 10PR310 (from 100 to 1500) in a reflex, and above a Faital HF-108 in a 90x40 or 90x50 horn (like the RFC HF94), it could also be a bigger driver off course. But this is a driver i know and it can handle quiet a lot if you cut it at 1500Hz with dsp.
For crossovers use a dsp (aka LMS). A decent cheap one is the DBX Driverrack. It's certainly not the best, but good sounding, easy to use and reliable. And get decent amps, where especially the amp for the sub is best rated at 2x the power of the speaker, to avoid sacking by overloading the psu. Crown and QSC make decent power amps that does not cost a fortune and are reliable.
But there are man ways to do it. Look arround what the people in your scene use, and the chance is big that they have the most efficient system for that kind of music. A lot of dj systems are really tuned to a certain style of music today, some like a lot of sub, others prefer a strong kickbass, others want a bright sound... rave/freetek systems look very different than systems used for techno and dub soundsystem very different than those or those used for hiphop. They all want other deviations from flat for their music. When i was still working in sound rental, i (and my collegues at that time) eq'ed the system very different with our dsp then for each type of party, and that was a big part why we were popular for suppliying soundsystems for those.
So first you need to know what you exactly want, how loud it has to go (what place you need to cover with it), how it should sound and what your budget is. Then only you can start planning how to build it.
Three MC2 - a T1500 in stereo for the HF sections and two bridged T500s for each of the upper mid sections (the BMS is a coaxial driver).
6 x Behringer EP2500 bridged for each of the six 18" subs; 4 x Stageline STA-3000 bridged for each of the four 21" subs; 1 x MC2 E45 in stereo for the 4 x 12" lower mids.
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If you are looking for a 8" midrange the B&C 8PE21 is universally loved, is easy to use, sound good and is well behaved, sells for about 120€.
As for compression drivers in 1" variety :
Lavoce has the DF10.144LK for a very fair price.
https://lavocespeakers.com/single-product/?id=212
and the BMS 5530ND is a great performing one.
Faital HF108 does good.
Some measurements from the suggested drivers and a good deal of other 'pro' drivers.
https://www.dibirama.it/home-page/m...-sound-8m400f-mid-range-8-8-ohm-320-wmax.html
https://www.dibirama.it/home-page/woofer/773-faital-15fh500-8-woofer-15-8-ohm-1000-wmax.html
Thanks for all the suggestions so far
A little update to the previous recommendations:
Originally i wanted to go with the LaVoce SAF214.50 but i realized delivering 2000w at 8 ohms is quite an expensive task from my knowledge so i would prefer going with the FaitalPro 18FH510-4 Ohm since its easier to find affordable amplifiers for this range (correct me if im wrong) @MrKlinky
For the mids i probably will go with 2 B&C 8PE21 since they offer great value based on the suggestion of @Arez
Because of my style of music the highs are not sooo important so to be in my original budget of 600€ i'll go with 2 Lavoce DF10.144LK
That way my total comes out to 597€ which is great for me! Let me know what you think about this.
With the LMS i'll probably follow @waxx suggestion with the DBX Driverrack. I found the PA and PX model on my local ebay. Which one should i go with?
For the amps im not quite sure if i should use a gx3 for the highs but would use a gx3 for the mids (B&C 8PE21, 200w rms at 8 ohms) and thought of a Crown XLi 2500 for my FaitalPro 18FH510-4 sub with 600w rms at 4 ohms. Will buy these off of local ebay because some are so much cheaper and had been barely used. Let me know if there are better suggestions for the amps and thanks in advance you are really helping me!
A little update to the previous recommendations:
Originally i wanted to go with the LaVoce SAF214.50 but i realized delivering 2000w at 8 ohms is quite an expensive task from my knowledge so i would prefer going with the FaitalPro 18FH510-4 Ohm since its easier to find affordable amplifiers for this range (correct me if im wrong) @MrKlinky
For the mids i probably will go with 2 B&C 8PE21 since they offer great value based on the suggestion of @Arez
Because of my style of music the highs are not sooo important so to be in my original budget of 600€ i'll go with 2 Lavoce DF10.144LK
That way my total comes out to 597€ which is great for me! Let me know what you think about this.
With the LMS i'll probably follow @waxx suggestion with the DBX Driverrack. I found the PA and PX model on my local ebay. Which one should i go with?
For the amps im not quite sure if i should use a gx3 for the highs but would use a gx3 for the mids (B&C 8PE21, 200w rms at 8 ohms) and thought of a Crown XLi 2500 for my FaitalPro 18FH510-4 sub with 600w rms at 4 ohms. Will buy these off of local ebay because some are so much cheaper and had been barely used. Let me know if there are better suggestions for the amps and thanks in advance you are really helping me!