Karaoke Forums

HI folks, After reading so many of these posts I have come to the conclusion. If I use my already existing home entertainment system
(Denon $800 reciever, $ 1200 in speakers subs rears center, Sony DVD Player $350.00, Sony 100 CD Player $200.00) and puchase for example the JVC-XL MV303 triple karaoke player I can destroy my speakers and even if not, have a horrible sounding karaoke experience.

My goal is the following, HAVE FUN!!!

I enjoy singing as much as my 10 and 13 yr old children do. I have sung with bands and a few well know Christian Artists. Every time I'm with friends and there's Karaokee, they make me go up and sing a tune or two. At home when we host parties again I'm asked to sing a few jingles. After reading these posts, I seem to want to go with a all in one system because I do not want to cause any damage to my existing home theater system. But then again, I here that these systems suck for the money.

I guess one of my most important questions is can you have the Vocal part of the sound go to a seperate vocal monitor and then the music go to my home system. Are these players capable of this function, or does all the music go to one set of speakers?

My initial investement would be $500 to $ 600.

Please HELP!!!!

Your home reciever should have 2 sets of speaker outputs. Buy a second set of speakers (designed for live music - which karaoke is semi live with vocals) & connect them to the 2nd outputs while turning off your main theater speakers. You will yield better sound overall & less chance of blowing the speakers.
Peavey makes a cheap set with the "PR" series. You can pick up a pair for about $300. With the JVC trip tray for about $230 at karaoke.com, this will be right in your price range.
musiciansfriend.com
americanmusical.com either one of these for the speakers
karaoke.com for the player. For home use, you probably wouldn't need the triple tray player. karaoke.com has the single tray JVC SV22 for $207 & it comes with a 12 disc pack that has a bunch of decent music made by Priddis. This will save you a little $$ & give you some music to start your collection to boot!

In answer to your question, you can't send the music to a certain system & the vocals to another system without purchasing more equipment.

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Would these be satisfactory? Peavey PR110 Pro Lite 10 Inch Speaker Enclosure found at american musical supply?

By the way, I want to thank you for your advice, its much appreciated!!!

Dan

I would probably opt for "at least" the 12" but lean more toward the 15" for better bass response. The 10" would probably be fine but you may find there isn't much in bass response since they are more designed to be used with subs.

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Dan,
I pretty much agree with Lonman but I have to put my 2 cents in.
First, how much power does your receiver put out?
How many watts at what impeadence?
Most pro amps go down to 4 ohms, and a few go down to 2 ohms.
Most home receivers go down to 6 ohms and a few go down to 4 ohms.
I agree with Lonmans recomendation to get a single drawer player, but I don't care for Peavey. I think that Peavey is over priced for what you get, and overated. I like Carvin. Carvin's 10" speakers run about $140. Thier 12"ers run $200, and the 15"ers run $250.
There are many things to consider when buying speakers, like size, weight, power handling, etc. I would recommend that you stay away from 3-way speakers, and stick with 2-way speakers.

Lonman will not stear you wrong.

Knowing how much power your amp puts out is rather important.

I must mention that the mic inputs on karaoke players are a joke and you should think about getting a small mixer. Cheap ones start at about $50, but I wouldn't go there.
The biggest problem with a players mic input is that you cannot turn the mics up louder than the music. Getting enough mic will be a problem if play your music softly, or if you have a cheap or long mic cord.

You need a mixer to give you tone control on the vocals.
The first thing that you will notice when using the average mixer is that you won't have any "echo", (true echo is a bummer, what you really want is reverb). An effects, (efx), mixer will give you this.
Musiciansfriend has a very nice Alesis 6 channel efx mixer for $150.
Go to www.musiciansfriend.com and search for product #630157.
This mixer has a 3 band, (HI, Mid, Low), parametric EQ for each channel and a LED level set indicator.
The level set indicator will allow you to set the mic and music level to match one another without needing to listen to the mix.

The mixer works like this:
1. Turn up the music on the mixer to where it should be according to the mixer's LEDs.
2. Adjust the mics the same way.
3. Turn the mixer's main output up 1/2 way.
4. Turn the amp up to the point where the sound is about as loud as you will ever use it. If this is more than 3/4 of the amp's max volume, turn the amp down and turn up the mixers main output instead.

Running the amp at 2/3 of its max volume is ideal.

Ya gotta mic?

By the way,
A mixer is the piece of equipment that Lonman mentioned that would allow you to send the music to one system, and the vocals to another.
But why? Doing this would not only require a second set of speakers, it would require another amp, (or powered speakers). Separating the music from the vocals is the last thing that you want to do. You want to mix them instead.

I think that I understand where you're comming from.
You have a beautiful sounding home system that you want to utilize for the music, but, you don't want to ruin it with vocals.

I can't tell if the Alesis mixer that I was telling you about has the capability, but a mixer with monitor control can send a signal with strong music levels, and soft vocals to your system, and send a signal with soft music levels and strong vocals to a second system, (like a powered speaker).

Post the power output from your receiver and give Lonman and I a couple of days to stew things over and get back to you. We've both been through this before, and the biggest problem is fitting your budget without telling you to buy junk that you'll out grow in a week or that you can't use
in conjuntion with an upgrade made at a later date.

Ya gotta mic?
Expect to spend at LEAST $50 for one that isn't carp.