Best PA for outdoor dance/ trance events

[phazerave]

I am looking to buy a pair of live powered pa's to use for outdoor events, say in wooded areas or outdoor festivals. I just want two for now so I want to get speakers that are loud, and full and have a good low range, im playing mostly dance/ trance music with some DnB "bassnectar" style stuff. can anyone help me?

[scottdemarko]

For Medium Sized shows (100-300 people)
I'd go QSC series all the way...

QSC K12's (Rated at 1,000 watts)
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/K12/


QSC KSUB (Also rated @ 1,000 watts)
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/KSub/


Of all the speakers I have used recently this has been the best sounding and portable setup I have used.

For a large audience, you might consider looking at the PRX535 JBL system with a PRX518 Sub.. That would be good for 300 people. Beyond that I'd probably consider going passive

Feel free to give someone a call here at Sweetwater to discuss your options in more detail. I am sure one of our qualified Engineers would love to go over this with you. 800-222-4700

Rock out.

[brockolious]

I second Scott's recommendation.

I write my own horrid trance, and visited a local music store. Blasted my stuff through their 2 QSC K12s and two subs, and then the usual JBL Eon and Mackie SRM system.

QSCs blew me away. The tops didn't have that ear-piercing high-mid agony when you pushed them. Just really sounded nice.

The subs were big and boomy, and they didn't "whump" or sound tubby. Sorry for the generalities, but I was impressed. If you have a lot of bass drops in your DnB, those can more than handle them.

Grab them from Sweetwater, though. The tech support is great, and you deal with one salesperson. They stand behind their stuff.

Here's my crap if you're interested:

www.reverbnation.com/michaelrancourt

[scottdemarko]

Thanks for your reply Michael! Your Reverbnation page looks really cool.

[Landon]

Another option would be the Mackie HD1521 http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/HD1521/ and http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/HD1801/This setup would be good for 400+ venues. If you need any more than that, you may want cranes and line arrays lol.

[jems357]

i do at least 3 outdoor events a week if not more and i would defiantly go passive i use qsc plx amps mostly 1202's because they are rock solid at 2ohm per channel which is 4 8ohm speakers per channel or 8 8ohm speakers per amp. my speakers are a brand called Wright they are locally built they are only 150 watts each they are not heavy on the bass they have a 15" and a heavy horn in each. the reasoning is lots of high and mids and then i use 2 or 4 bass pins depending on the # of people that the bass has to travel thru. my bass cabinets contain a 18" sigma woofer that i only send 200hz to 30hz. the reason i don't go any lower is it requires to mush power to produce those freq's and outside you can't tell if they are there or not. i do use a 3402 plx for the bass cab's only because i picked it up at the pawn shop for $50 a steal. the mid cab's i stack 2 verticly on top of the bass cab's one is about perfect height for thoes that are sitting and the other is for those that stand. the qsc plx series of amps have been discontinued for a couple years now but ebay is a great place to find used ones but be careful some will advertise them as new and charge new prices when they are a couple years old the first 4 numbers of the serial # is the manufacture date. they are light weight for the power and are bullet proof. mine are rained on sitting out in the direct sun getting sand blown inside all the time and only lost one only because it was thrown in a tote powered up and the tote filled with rain water. my fault.

usally with a passive system it is cheaper to add to it and usually more flexible. it does have more parts involved and takes more time to set up and tear down. I use active qsc kw153 active speakers for the band when they are in a indoor setting and well id like to get the active bass cab's to match but the $ needs to biuld up first so in the mean time i use my passive bass cab's and they sound good together. i do have to give some of the credit to the presonus digital mixer. i have ran an analog mixer for years and recently bought myself a Christmas present. i have used the 153's outside and they just don't throw the high's as far and are not as wide so i need 4 of them when i could be using 2 passive


sorry for rambling but in short for outdoors i would definitely go passive

hope i could help

mitch

[carsonduke]

Mackie HD sound great for Trance. I produce Hard electronic and they sounded great!!

Yamaha DSR also sound amazing!


Carson McClain
Sweetwater Sound
800-222-4700 x1302
Fax 260-432-1758
Carson_mcclain@sweetwater.com