Hi there,

I need to upgrade my speaker system as i have a booking for 200-300 16 yr old school leavers. i dont think for one minute (dare i say it) my prosound system is going to cut the mustard . I would like to go down the active route if possible I have seen two mackie srm 450 v2 and a active mackie sub for about the £1500 mark, is this a good price??? will this also cater for this event, the majority of events i do are weddings and other such parties with not such a large crowd. so ideally after a set up of speakers that can do large gigs if needed but also suitable for smaller events too.

Recently listened to ev force i25 but did not hear any main stream music through them so not sure if they are too bass heavy for weddings etc.

any advice or if your selling a decent system at a decent price just let me know

cheers

Ian

I.M.H.O. you would be better hiring in a larger P.A. to cope with something like you are qouting,however the system you are looking at will cope admirably with your usual weddings etc.
As for price I think there is another thread discussing the costs of this system.

Where are you based as I may be able to help you with a larger P.A.
Just P.M. me if you are interested.

To be fair, if much of your main work was going to be 200 - 300 people then sure, you'll need to invest in a sound system that can easily cope, but if this is really a one-off function, then I'd consider another DJs kind offer and work something out (£££s) between you, or if preferred, hire a system in - the jobs done!

If you intend to invest in speakers appropriate for the majority of your work, Mackie / RCF / EV are great IMO but speaker choice is a personal thing - you'll have to judge for your self.

Personally, I've always listened to a sound system before buying and if really unsure, I've never been afraid to arrange with a fellow DJ to peruse systems. Someone who may be more experienced in the technical side of things can seriously assist and offer 'peace of mind' just before the £££'s part company with the wallet!

Thanks for both the above responses and will bear these in mind. I feel i need to upgrade my pro sound speakers anyway now that i am getting more work. I did a 16th birthday party last year in a equestrian centre and buy the end of the night the amps were not too happy. However i have also had some real compliments of the sound quality of the pro sound speakers, but thats been gigs where they have not had to work hard.

Will bear you in mind if i decide to hire i am essex based but the gig is london.

Thanks again for your advice

hi ian,

i was faced with the same choice as you about a year ago, i needed to upgrade my prosound system as i was getting bigger gig coming in. I do a lot of 18th and 21st so i play a lot of bassy music. I also wanted to go down the active route, and found Mackie to be the best that i could afford. I was going to go for the srm 450s v1 but i went and herd a pair of SR1530z and i liked them more, they are a bit bigger, they have a 15inch driver in them so are a bit more bassy. So i got 2 of them and 2 mackie subs, and they sound really good. the sound system you are looking at should be fine, is there any reason that you are looking at the SRM450 v2? As i think the only way they differ from the v1 is that they are 5 kg lighter.

Hope all is well
mark

[quote name='defcon4' date='Jun 3 2009, 01:05 PM' post='241376']
hi ian,

i was faced with the same choice as you about a year ago, i needed to upgrade my prosound system as i was getting bigger gig coming in. I do a lot of 18th and 21st so i play a lot of bassy music. I also wanted to go down the active route, and found Mackie to be the best that i could afford. I was going to go for the srm 450s v1 but i went and herd a pair of SR1530z and i liked them more, they are a bit bigger, they have a 15inch driver in them so are a bit more bassy. So i got 2 of them and 2 mackie subs, and they sound really good. the sound system you are looking at should be fine, is there any reason that you are looking at the SRM450 v2? As i think the only way they differ from the v1 is that they are 5 kg lighter.

Hope all is well
mark


Hi Mark,

Thanks for your post, glad to see i was not the only one to start out with a pro sound outfit. No particular reason for mention mackie srm 450 v2 other than heard alot of v1 suffered from overheating??? not sure how true that is.
Currently looking at a active mackie sub for future events but considering hire and also had offer of another dj local to me putting his active system (what a top bloke!! ) with my pro sound which would probably cover it.
will also try and get to listen to the sr1530z (how heavy are they??? is it a two man job for theses????


Thanks again for your help

I shall probably make myself very unpopular for saying this but I hate the sound of Mackies

I've heard them used both by bands and DJ's and the sound quality, especially when pushed, never fails to disappoint. They do get very harsh when played loud. For functions such as wedding or parties where loud volumes are not required then they are ok but not the best in my opinion (and I stress in my opinion as sound is a very personal thing).

The overheating problem with the MK1's seems to have been with a particular batch which I have read had an incorrect component installed that cut out when it reached a certain temperature that was lower than it should have been. The other problem seems to arise when they are pushed beyond what they are designed to do so they overheat and cut out. Use them within their design limits and they are usually ok.

I have also seen a lot of reliability problems posted about the Mackie Bass bins. One regular problem seems to be an internal fuse blowing that requires the amp to be removed to get to it to be replaced. Just this week I reading about a bass bin that went up in smoke whilst being used.

A lot of the problems seem to stem from quality control and the SRM450 MKII's have had their fare share of problems although they may have been teething problems with the new design - but one would of thought that they should have been thoroughly tested before being released for sale.

Most of the people I know that used Mackies in the past are now using RCF.

Won't this be due to the fact that the RCF's are more expensive?

I looked at the RCF's instead of my Mackies, but for the same price was 10" speakers, that didn't give me the sound I was after.
I've now got a fairly flexible system, and take the 450's for smaller gigs (ie, my local pub), and take the subs if I need more "umpf".
I don't think the 10" RCF's would cope (from my demo, I wasn't that impressed)

The bigger RCF's were great, and I loved the sound - but out of my price range.