to put it blunt i have a skytec led barrell light (penguin) and its rubbish! brand new and some of the l.e.d's have broke already, i also have a smoke machine of skytec and thats loud and gives out minimal smoke. in my opinion skytec is rubbish. how about you guys?

I'm not rubbish

Stick with brand names you can trust! if you dont know much about a certain brand, then the forums are an ideal place for advice. I have a kam smoke machine, dont care what anyone says, its brill, £85 but wireless remote, very powerful, and very quite. I would'nt go near skytec myself. Even the name "Skytec" says "cheap n chearful".

And that penguin rubbish, you would be better off with ACME LED tango's.

There is always room for budget gear, and definitely room for brand snobbery DJ's.

If the penguin's are rubbish quality, then return them for repair under warranty (or credit).
This is one drawback from buying things online.

If there were purchased from a DJ store, there would have been the chance to checked out the build quality.

I own a pair of SkyTec 15" passive speakers. Admittedly, they are not great - but they did do me for over 21 gigs last year.

I now have 2 x Mackie 450 V2 and 2 x LD 15" Kappa active subs, but will keep the SkyTecs as back-up - they do work, and didn't let me down.

The mantra of "you get what you pay for" is not always true, and there are bargains to be had.
Writing off a complete manufacturer just because they generally cater for the budget end is a little foolish.
No matter what brand of kit you use, there will always be another DJ putting it down and suggesting something else.

kam seems to be a pretty good make from what ive seen and yeh i see what u mean vokf about puting it down being foolish, it just annoys me how ive got a acme led dynarock scanner and its excellent peice of kit (i have also had it alot longer than any of my skytec equiptment) and ive never had a problem with it. i would reccomend acme from what ive learnt so far for budget gear althou people would beg to differ. i think i will be stiking with them until i earn my milloins

I totally agree i had a waudio gigrig 1000 didnt cost the earth but what a bit of kit! never had any problems with it and i ask anyone to find somthing of that value that good!

I had some sound lab and sky tec stuff a few years back and i never had any problems with it. But i replaced them with other brands as they did more than the soundlab and sky tec stuff could do.

But i have kept it just incase!

It's a simple fact of life that you get what you pay for. I've had Skytec speakers before and they were not very good, but they were cheap and at the time in my price range. In fact I recall blowing the main driver and replacing it and it's partner with Eminence - gave a much improved sound. Personally the Peavey's I'm running now are sooooooo much better it's chalk & cheese.

I avoid all budget brands now, for professional performance you need professional equipment, if cost is a problem then you're far better off buying quality secondhand than brand new rubbish. All my quality equipment is still working now, years after purchase, the cheap stuff is either binned or sat in my garage collecting spiders.

Budget gear, but some of it is ok.

Got caught short about 5 years ago and borrowed some skytec speakers from a shop and I thought they were ok.

I used a double cd player a few years back anbd it was poor compared to others I had used.

The lighting I have seen by Sktec was ok for the money.

I think another point for consideration is :
Skytec / Skytronic now own CITRONIC !!!!

Whatever you buy should be up to the job it's made for.
Like has already been said, if it's faulty get it repaired/replaced under warranty.

I haad 6 Soundlab Colourscans for about 18 months and I must say they were impresive and flawless.
I also used to have some Skytec 15" 300W speakers and they did the job for me.

Jim

+1 on the above,especially the bit about "your far better off buying quality secondhand than brand new rubbish" or kit inappropriate for the task.

Good advice about buying decent second hand equipment as opposed to new budget equipment, provided its been looked after and not stolen....always go and look at it first, and see it working. Doing the research to see that the person is actually (or has been) a DJ or in the entertainment business is also a good start, as is engaging in dj related chat with the sellor, if they don't seem to have clue then walk away, it may not actually be theirs to sell

But it has to be said that i've had branded equipment fail and go back under warranty, twice in one respect and some budget gear which is still going since it was bought back in 2000. Looking after the equipment is a must regardless of what you have spent on it and so budget for flightcases and connect it up using leads that wont short out or fail, as a lot of failures are usually user-instigated and as a result of damage or poor maintenance

I only have two pieces of skytec equipment. That is two 4' UV tube holders. And the tubes that came with them went straight into the bin, they were pants. I get more glow off my watch!! I have now put Phillips (?)tubes into the Skyec Holders and they are fine.

If they can't even get a decent UV tube.....

I've never had Skytec equipment - I only discovered the name after it was mentioned on the forum.

Sooo true now there is none of the British build quality, the only thing is the design on some of the products.
Buy quality second hand, they will last just as long as the cheaper stuff.

If you want British Build quality then it is going to have to be VERY second hand, bordering on antique even , as its been a looonnnnng time since anything electronic has been made around these parts.

Even if its assembled in the UK, then you can bet that most of the internal parts and even the PCB assembly have been done in the far east

Just before Xmas, I stumbled upon a pristine condition Citronic SM450, but the original version, dating back from the days when they rolled off a production line in the UK. Finding a basic, but entirely honest and reliable piece of kit like this, is a bit like the DJ version of sliding into the comfy handbuilt leather seat of a 80's Bentley or Rolls Royce and it reeks build quality. I wonder how many of the cheap throwaway tat of today will have been looked after and be in pristine condition and attracting the same interest on Ebay when its 15 years old?.

But then again, nowadays most new Djs to the business seem to expect to be able to buy a complete disco for the type of price that some of us older DJ's were paying just for the SM-450 some 15 years ago, so we are back to the blame for the flood of cheap goods flooding the UK and putting people out of jobs being levied squarely onto the consumer - if nobody bought it, it would no longer be here, its just supply and demand.

About 8 years ago their lighting range was very well priced and good value compared to Abstract, Martin and Constella and probably worth a try. I picked up a couple of moonflower scanners in 2002 for £120 a pair compared to the abstract equivalent of about £250 i think and they did the same job. I jused them once and flogged them.

i had some skytec speakers, would not recommend them at all. a lot of there gear looks and feels cheap. poor build quality on a look of lights especially. then again you get what you pay for

I own some Skytec speakers myself, and mainly use them for kids parties only. I do carry them round over gigs but purely as a backup.

It is true you get what you pay for, but atm the average kids party is only paying £95 for two hours so I can't quite justify buying some Bose L1's just yet.

I have used them during a charity Monday night gig to! (I admit it!)

I have a pair of QTX Sound 15" active speakers which I believe are exactly the same as the skytec ones and I think they are fine!!
I bought them 2nd hand off a friend so could see them working,and was impressed with them at the time so offered the money and took them off him.
I have a few skytec/soundlab things and admittedly some of it isnt great but is good for a beginner DJ until they can afford some quality!!


I have a pair of QTX Sound 15" active speakers which I believe are exactly the same as the skytec ones and I think they are fine!!
I bought them 2nd hand off a friend so could see them working,and was impressed with them at the time so offered the money and took them off him.
I have a few skytec/soundlab things and admittedly some of it isnt great but are good for a beginner DJ until they can afford some quality!!

I also believe that Soundlab Vastos at only £15 for the light they produce is ideal for kids parties. I use four of them on a tbar and its sufficent for most community centres/church halls/blah blah blah.

I have a couple of the vastos - they're not bad for the price they are. Look much better with a bit of fog! :)

Can get easily washed out though by other fixtures...

David

wow every one is hatting skytech lol i just brought a pair of skytech moving heads (second hand) off another disco company (£185) and i have got to say once i rigged them up to my 512 system i was pretty impressed 6 months of use at various family and friends partys (getting experiance) and no problems :)

Skytec is a bit hit and miss... I've got a t-bar stand that doesn't stay up anymore... (think its been left in a school cupboard somewhere!).

I've also got a skytec PRO-1000 power amp.. and it wasn't pretty inside... Its alright as power amps go, but i've just repaired a few dry joints on the main boards and found a couple of slightly dirty internel connectors (now fixed)... I've had this amp about 3 years now.. and as a primary amplifier driving a pair of Peavy Pro 15's (Mk2). Yes the amp is underpowered (250w RMS per channel), but I look after the gain structure between source and amp, plus my DSP8024 acting as a limiter does its job properly!

Cheers,

David

I think Skytec equipment is very poor quality, my friends have got Skytec and RCL subs and speakers and they sound AND look garbage.

The RCL stuff is pretty rubbish, and I wonder if its designed (or named?!) to sound a bit like a much better and known speaker company :)


Cheers,

David