Karaoke Forums

Hi,

I have the following equipments for home theater. Now I am going to build a karaoke system, using a laptop.

Samsung 46'' HDTV
Onkyo HT-RC160 - 7.2-Channel Home Theater Receiver
Energy Take Classic 5.1 Speakers

I am looking at the equipments from VocoPro http://www.vocopro.com/products/products.php#Amplifiers. And I am considering 2 alternatives.

1. a mixer (such as DA-X10 PRO or DA-2200 Pro) + the above Onkyo receiver
2. a mixing amplifier (such as DA-3808 PRO)

Which of the 2 methods is better? I know Onkyo receiver already serves as an amplifier, but I am not sure if an amplifier made for karaoke specifically would make noticeable difference. On the other hand, is the mixer in a mixing amplifier as good as the stand-alone mixer?

please advise. if you have better solutions, please also let me know. thanks!

What will you be using this system for? Home? Bar? and what is your budget?

You will destroy your home stereo singing karaoke though it. You may want to consider something that's all in one like a Fender Passport system. Not great, but a good way to start out. Look around on ebay/craigslist, you might find something used at a fair price. Get yourself a quality microphone also.

I'm sure some others could give you a few more options, You've got a chance to start from scratch so spend your money wisely.

Mojo

Again a statement that is untrue since we do not know what kind of home stereo the poster has.

It MAY well be true but then some home systems can be totally powerful enough for karaoke.

ok fred, you gotta better idea.

Mojo

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your time. I am not sure why you said it is unclear what my home stereo is. Below is my configuration. I don't have anything else. I thought they should be enough. Anything missing?

Samsung 46'' HDTV
Onkyo HT-RC160 - 7.2-Channel Home Theater Receiver
Energy Take Classic 5.1 Speakers
Some microphones (I don't know if they are good or not)
PC for karaoke software

Then I am conisdering one of the following 2:
1. a mixer (such as DA-X10 PRO or DA-2200 Pro) + the above Onkyo receiver
2. a mixing amplifier (such as DA-3808 PRO)

It is for my home, in a living room 17*17. My budget is the price of the above 2 choices: about $200-300.

Looking at these, will they still destroy my home stereo?

Thanks!

Hi Mojo,

It is for my home. My budget is about $200-300, i.e., the price of the 2 choices that I gave in the original post, but I can spend more if I need something more.

By "destroying the home stereo", do you mean the speaker or the Onkyo receiver can be destroyed? Both my 2 choices have this risk?

thanks!

i don't profess to be a great guru here but i will say that on many occasions,it has been brought up that home stereo speakers just can't handle the range of live sound,they do not sound as good as pa speakers.
Home speakers as i understand it are made to handle mixed down,compressed finished music.Maybe if you had a way to limit/compress the vocals you would be ok.
Letitrip seems to be one of the very knowledgeable posters here and i seen a post here where he recommended http://www.carvinguitars.com/products/single.php?product=XP800L-PM10&cid=101 I am sure there are others out there,a poster just bought one of these and i think he had nothing but good things to say about it,look for his post,was just put up recently.I was in same position as you when i decided i wanted to go karaoke,i went with an all in one yamaha systems and have never regretted it.
Personally if you are looking for a karaoke system and don't want to spend a lot,you could get something like this plus they are on sale for $499.You are already willing to put out avg of $250 for DA-3808 PRO.Why take the chance on blowing out your speakers,get something that is made to do live sound instead of maybe can do live sound?

Just a thought...

More chance of blowing the speakers - usually the tweeters would be the first to go, but have experienced & others i've talked to have confirmed they've blown the woofers as well. It's all a matter of what your comfortable volume is, apparantly mine is pretty loud where others might find it too loud, I find it just right - and the volume in comparison to live vocals is what the main culprit of failure is. What others may consider loud enough, I am finding myself wanting it turned up - when I blew my speakers (JBL, Polk Audio, Bose), I was using a 100 watt x5 home theater receiver. I now run a complete PA for karaoke (and other things) and no longer would consider my home theater as an option.
I agree with if this is going to be more than just an occasional use setup or you want to have your own in home parties with friends - then work toward getting an actual PA setup dedicated to karaoke.

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