Karaoke Forums

Thanks All up front.
I'm a parent and high school teacher trying to turn $1000 into a decent wanna-be club Karaoke system. I already own a JVC 303 trip tray and some Peavy mics. I need a amp with a mixer or both a mixer and amp. I used this forum to get some of this info and a local music shop here in Santa fe NM.
For amp and/with mixer
1) A Mackie 406M powered mixer. Rated 500watts at 2 ohms. What is that at 8ohms? I would guess about 90 per channel. Price $400 on Ebay in excellent condition. $500 - $550 (local store) new.
2) A Mackie DSF12 mixer $260 and a seperate amp (many on Ebay that seem decent for $250, (Peavy, Mackie and Crown) How about some suggestions here. Thanks

So I could do the amp/mixer for just over $500 Now onto the speakers>

My local shop has Peavy TLS-2x with 12" woofers for $400/pair. It has Peavy TLS-5 with 15" for $500. I feel like I should have the 15". I can't afford any Mackie speakers. And the Peavy SL2 are just out of my range. Any one know much about these speakers. If I rob the kids piggybank (this is an addiction) maybe I could afford Yamaha S115IV @$630/ pair.

Yea it's pretty easy to bust the budget. I started out with a $500 limit.

I am torn over wether to get the seperate mixer and amp or a Combo like the Mackie 406M. The 406M has 3 equalizers where the 406M has 2. Not sure if that is important. The 406M sure is easy to move and not that heavy. But if I go for separte components I can likely get more power and future flexibility. I am not sure if the 406M has enough Power. It does for these speakers but there's that wanna-be part. You know the part why we are all addicted and glaring into these online forums to help us figure it out and improve our performance, weather as a KJ or singer.

Wanna-be Karaoke, where is thy sting?
in my wallet for one
in my children fighting over spanish or english
in my students shoving to control the audio equipment

But of course the Honey is more important
We forget it all when we sing and move to the front of life

Help me out please with your advice. - I already work in an insane asylum!!!!!!!

Peavey 620 with 15 in peaveyspeakers less than a grand..........still using it as a back up.

Webrabbit, e-mail me rellis96@comcast.net. I'm in Albuquerque and can probably give ya some help.

I recommend the Fender P-250 for $599. There are 4 differant Fender passport systems to consider. There's the: P-150; PD-150;P-250; and the PD-250. I believe that the P-250 will give you the most bang for the buck.
I don't think that the increase in the features that you will get with the PD-250 justifies the increase in cost. A major feature of this system is the fact that it is self contained, with the speakers snapping onto the mixer/amp protecting it and the speaker's face, and the fact that it only weighs 69 lbs., (If this is too much for you to load, you can allways detach the speakers and load the mixer/amp and then reatach them).
Don't get "Peavey happy". Stay away from the Escort ststem. If you look at the differance in power between the Escort and the Passport sysetms you'll see what I mean. The speakers that the Excort are a joke, which makes me question Peavey's ethics. The Passport speakers were designed by BOSE.
I recommend that you look at the 832 systems. These systems feature the 832, 2-way speakers with 15" drivers.
My strongest recommendation for you is the P800-832, 8 channel mixer for $1070 or the P800-832C with a built in road case for $50 more. With 8 channels you can mic the band, (2 mics), mic the choir, (2 mics), mic 2 lead singers and 2 backup singers or 1 lead and 3 backups, (4mics), add canned music via the tape input, AND run an outboard sound processor or any other line level audio sourse via the return. It has 333watts X 3 @ 4ohms. 333watts for the left side, 333watts for the right side, and 333 watts for the monitors. Each amp has 2 ouputs that you can plug 2 8ohm speakers into bring you down to 4ohms.
The 832 speakers have 2 sets of input/outputs. One set takes 1/4" plugs, and the other takes Speakon plugs. This allows you to connect another speaker without you having to go to the amp to do it. If you do this with an 8ohm speaker you will drop down to 4ohms so you cannot add another speaker at the amp. You can add another 8ohm speaker at the amp or at the 832, but you can't do both!
The P800 and the P1200 mixers also have an XLR output for the left side, right side, and monitor, that an addional power amp can be connected to if you REALLY want to pump up the volume and add other speakers or a subwoofer, (this also works with powered speakers).
8 channels is enough for a small rock band. 3 guitars, drums, keyboard, three singers. This is not to mention the tape input and the EFX return, (the tape input and the EFX return won't have tone control).
The drummer should have a gadjet like a signal flex, ($37), to mic more than one drum. With 8 channels, 4 singer/musicans will have 2 channels each. Stereo audio sources like CD, tape, and karaoke players take 2 channels unless you go to mono with a y adaptor, (about $2).

I know that this is a rather long winded post, but there's a couple of other people that I would to give this information to.

Good Luck!
Kojak