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Hi guys and girls.

heres my set up laptop into behringer u control external soundcard in to behringer PMP3000 mixer amp in to Peavey Pro15 passive speakers x 2.

i use a shure pg58 wireless mic and my singers sennheiser e825 mics.

i am currently saving to improve my rig as i am starting to get busy but am not in a position to splash out on new speakers,amps etc at the moment.

are there any fairly reasonable add ons i can use to improve the sound either music or vocals

FYI i am based in the UK

thanks in advance

It is my opinion that a Powered Subwoofer might be a next logical step to add a fuller more professional aspect to your set-up even though you are using 15 inch speakers despite the fact that they can be cumbersome to bring in and out of venues on a regular basis. It is hard to explain but you can actually "Feel " the music better and your patrons will appreciate the more completeness of your sound. Yorkville makes a lot of different models that get good reviews according to your budget, but as with everything else their are many companies thet make good equipment.

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Man Must Know His Limitations -Clint Eastwood

I agree. More equipment to lug around but subs would make the biggest difference.

I agree. More equipment to lug around but subs would make the biggest difference.

I'll break this into two parts. This part, that will actually be my opinion on the answer to your simple question. Ok, rack mount fix up sound things not in any particular order.1) Aphex 104 or 204 Aural Exciter, 2) BBE 482i, or probably any of the last two or three revisions,), 3). DBX 266XL Compressor, 4) 31 band EQ. What I think will help you the most, see below.

WARNING I tend to ramble sometimes, and remember, I mean no disrespect and I am only telling you this to give you something to think about if you are planning on expanding and your ultimate goal is to have the best sound you can. Please don't fall into the trap that so many others have before you. I was even guilty of it way back in the beginning, and have a basement full of "this will do that and that will do this" In the basement to prove it. In the long run it just doesn't pay to buy marginal equipment and then buy all kinds of gadgets to try and make up for your equipments short comings. That doesn't mean you have to buy the best of everything. There is a lot of mid-level gear at reasonable prices that you can truly build on. In reality your mixer, even though the ad prints in huge letter's 1200 watts, Those are "on an extremely good day with everything maxed out" conditions. The bottom line is, the pre-amps and Eq sections on Behringer mixers just aren't that good. I will say you did match your speakers well to your mixer being they are four ohm you will get the most possible out of what you have. I've been through many boards in my life, and when you finally get your hands on one with good pre-amps and EQ,s you will be thinking to yourself that you wished you knew about these a long time ago. So if your eye is truly on the future, as Tommie has suggested, your money would probably best spent on a GOOD sub, this will help alleviate some of the stress of your current amp in trying to produce those low frequencies that are really eating up your power and give you something to build on in the future. If you really are thinking long term you may want to look into a DBX Driverack instead of the 31 band EQ and Compressor mentioned in part one as the Driverack is a total speaker management device. Good luck.

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Quickness of mind will deceive the eye

As an owner of the PMH3000 (prior version of yours) I agree with LondonLive that it is underpowered. I do think it is usable for karaoke and can give decent sound. I run a Yamaha-based setup too, and while it is a bit better there is not that much difference. The speakers make the most difference.

Of his list, for karaoke, I would select the compressor first. It will not be easy to add a sub or any other of the items to your signal chain. In the case of a sub, you won't really have any way to cross it over. You would have to go to an aux-fed sub and somehow roll off the lower frequencies to your mains.

While you could go out of the Main L/R and back into the power amp insert, it is messy and I have not had real good luck with that on my PMH3000. I now use my PMH3000 amp only for the monitor, and use an external EP2500 amp to drive my speakers. (With the DriveRack PA LondonLive mentions for crossover/aural excitation/equalization/gating.)

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

thanks for the suggestions regarding the compressor.

stupid question but how do you rig it up.

do you go into the compressor from the soundcard then out of the compressor in to the amp.

sorry just not sure

I hope it is not stupid -- it was the first question I asked here 2.5 years ago.


You get an insert cable:

http://www.zzounds.com/item--HOSSTP20

The black (TRS) goes to your microphone channel INSERT jack. The gray goes to the input of the compressor, and the red to the output of a channel of the compressor. The compressor should be set to 2:1 ratio, -10db onset, and auto attack/release for starters.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Seeing that you're from the UK, this UK based company sure makes nice active subs

http://www.kxaudio.com/products.asp?ProdID=KX1.2

This sub also has a crossover for your highs

I'm sorry, the biggest sound improvement would be to save up for a new amp. The current speakers should have an amp pushing about 400 watts per speaker @ 8 ohms. This mixer only pushes 215 watts per channel. Start your expansion by getting a good amp - one that pushes 400-500 watts per channel into 8 ohms would be my first choice. You do not even have to change out your current mixer as it has outputs to connect to an external amp.
You will hear a big difference in sound quality!

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

I agree, as I said the PMP3000 is underpowered. The OP said they didn't have budget to change out amp. If they do decide to wait, I agree it could be the single best move and is a better move than a sub in this case.

The speakers are 4 ohms though, and the 400w of the PMP3000 are a halfway decent match to the 600W program of the PRO-15 speakers.

If the budget is lower, and immediate improvement is wanted, the compressor is going to make the most difference with the least effort, in my opinion. Long term the amp is going to help a lot, and it can be configured to run a passive sub along with those speakers in mono. The QSC RMX2450 (or the clone, the Behringer EP2500) can run those speakers at 2 ohms / 1200 watts, which is a perfect match.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

SO they are. See what happens when you assume!
Well even so, the amp would make a greater improvement over any of the other things at first.
However, unless he plans on keeping those speakers, it wouldn't make sense to get a new amp at this time since most cabs are 8 ohms & if he just bought an amp for those speakers, he would need to most likely get a new amp when/if he decides to upgrade the speakers.

Add compressors on the mic channels & a BBE Sonic Maximizer into the main inserts.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

I've often wondered if you have read what others have had to say before posting comments. I guess this would answer that question.

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Quickness of mind will deceive the eye

Honestly, no I do not always read what others have to say. I will respond post by post usually, so in this case I went to the OP. If it matches what others say it's just re confirming others thoughts.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

I see this BBE Sonic thing come up quite often... What does it do

It basically takes the highs mids & lows & realigns them so they can project out better. Also gives a little tonal control in the bass & mid/highs (presence). It can make a very big difference.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Thanks, and where should it be in the chain, before the EQ meaning the music and vocals will be processed

I run mine through the main insert on the mixer - but if the mixer doesn't have an insert on the main output, I would put in the last in the chain from the mixer to the amp (if you use a crossover, before the crossover) or powered speaker.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

To my understanding ,the BBE Sonic Maximizer achieves it's effect by dividing the sound into lows mids and highs. Then it delays the mids and the lows even more so you hear the highs first, then the mids and finally the lows. We are talking nano seconds here. Basically it is tricking your ears, your ears hear the nice crisp highs first, then the mid tones before they hear the harder to distinguish lower tones so you perceive the sound as having more presence.The most popular analogy when describing the BBE is "it is like removing a pillow from in front of your speakers". The BBE does really work but if set improperly can make your sound a bit harsh. It also have a bass boost into it.



It should be the last thing in the chain, after the EQ.

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Quickness of mind will deceive the eye

Basically it can be explained this way. Run a pure 1khz sin wave through an amp and look at it with a spectrum analyzer. There are even and odd harmonics which are multiples of this frequency. The dominant ones are 1/2 and double the frequency . Compressed audio puts (holes) in he sound and attenuates the harmonic (harmonizing) effect of the overall sound. An audio proc can be used to restore and generate some of the harmonics lost due to compression. On older recordings that were processed with gear that had lower frequency response on the lower and higher extremities it make a drastic improvement even with wav files or coming from a cd.. I can play old old big band stuff and blow minds.... With a BBE 362 and an Aphex 104 which are used with the main inserts and receive a fairly constant level of input.. Another advantage is I do not use an separate EQ for in most venues it is not needed.

outside where reverbs are not a factor is the time to adjust a system, then indoors keep close to these settings.

The link is no longer viable but I had a link on Prosound web that showed in HHH stadium the last unit from the mixers to the amps was an Aphex 104. The BBE improves compressed whereas the Aphex adds to bass with no taxation on system or speakers and when properly adjusted lifts vocals or sounds in the mud to a level that is heard above the rest.

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