Karaoke Forums

Hello,

I'm a novice but i care about quality sound for a budget, i have a system include:

source: PS3

Intergate amplifier: Onkyo a-9555

Speakers: monitor audio silver rs6

My wife love karaoke and i love to set it up for her but i don't know what would be the best way to approach it without spending too much with many more equipment. So i wonder if i can just buy a mixer and a microphone, what kind of mixer analog or digital.....would the sounds will be synz or it's gonna sound like 2 seperate sources?.....

any help would be appreciated.

Sweet and simple. No.

Yiou will need some pro audio gear. A mic, Mixer and amp or powered mixer and pro audio speakers.

You will kill your home audio equipment in about an hour of use as it's not made to handle the signal from a microphone.

This board is pretty oriented to pro karaoke setups.

If you give us an idea of your budget, we can probably help some. No one here will recommend you use your home stereo speakers, because the end result will (very likely) be damage to them. I blew mine to start with, I know that.

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

As has been said earlier, you definitely DON'T want to use your home stereo to broadcast Karaoke.

I have learned this the hard way. I have an really nice 7.1 Onkyo surrond system with JBL speakers that I used for Karaoke at a few house parties.

First of all, the Onkyo kept overheating and shutting down after an hour or so of pushing it hard in stereo mode, and secondly, I blew my surround speakers as well as 2 sets of 15" stereo home speakers.

On top of everything else, the system, which sounded pristine for music, sounded like crap with singers going through it.

SO.... save yourself some headaches and get an inexpensive PA system. For home use, I would suggest something like a Kustom Profile One (1), or a Fender Passport PD-150. These are in the $400 range.

I don't know anything about using a PS3 for Karaoke, perhaps you are using a PS3 program? At any rate, if you decide to go all-out Karaoke, you might find an inexpensive CDG player at www.acekaraoke.com and pick up a couple of corded behringer XM8500 mics with cables. These mics are half-way decent and only run about $20 each.

For home use, a system like this would be more than adequate IMHO.

What's your budget? Do you guys already have a nice selection of discs?

Here's a fun karaoke player that will turn any computer into a karaoke player:

http://www.karafun.com/

The demo is fully functional, and it will play off discs or compressed wmv, or mp3 format. Its actually pretty neat, and great for home use.

Now all you need is a portable PA system (which ususally has a built in mixer), and perhaps an audio interface.

If you're computer already has an S-Video out than you can run it to an existin TV with S-video input.

If you don't have an S-Video card for your computer they are relatively inexpensive and easy to install. I mention this, because so many people have "old" computers around the house. Why spend $150 on a player when all you need is software, and maybe a minor hardware upgrade?

Let me also point out that with digital trasintion, TUBE TVs are cheap as heck on craigs list. I picked up a 32" TV for $50 the other day. Perfect for karaoke.

_________________
Good music, good friends, howling good times!

I would opt for a stand alone PA system for home use, or buy something a bit more pro orientated.

The playstation 3 is fine for playing karaoke, but I've seen it hesitate on playing the highlighting graphics. Home dvd players will do that too. Just because it says it can do it, it may not be a great experience.

THe PA system would allow you to hook up your mics, most have an aux input if you still wanted to use the ps3 to merely play the cdg. And you don't have to worry about blowing your home stereo!

i'm a computer tech so i have lots of newer generation computer + laptop, i have lots of karaoke song and...can you convert regular song to karaoke btw?
what's a PA system? I plan a budget of 500, for everything.
thanks

Just to add to the stories of not trying to do karaoke with any home audio equipment, no matter how "good" the equipment is. My first crack at doing karaoke was with my $1000 home stereo speakers. Blown in 3 months. Next set of studio monitors - blown.

Other than blowing perfectly good stereo or home theatre speakers (which don't sound good for karaoke anyways), you also want it to sound the best it can within your budget. Best to use professional MICs, which use XLR cables. XLR cables need to go into a professional mixer with preamp/GAIN capability to amplify the MIC signal to something usable ("mic level to line level"). The mixer then outputs to a professional amplifier (or has a built in amplifer) to output to professional speakers which will not blow and sound good. On a budget, you may be able to get away with "prosumer" all in one karoake mixer/amplifer/effects box, but you still need good pro speakers.

mchin99

That would be true if they cost less, but I find most of the VocoPro / AS2000 / RSQ garbage costs more than the equivalent in pro audio.

I am not a real fan of the Fender Passport / Peavey Escort / Yamaha Stagepas systems. If I had to pick one I would go with the Yamaha, but an 8" speaker just sounds too cheesy to me.

If I had to fit in $500.00, I would go with:

* Single Tapco Thump / Mackie SRM450 / Behringer B212A, used or new for $280 or so.
* Yamaha MG82CX mixer, $150
* Pair of Behringer XM8500 mics for $40
* three Whirlwind 20' mic cables, $30

That gets you sounding reasonable for $500. If you later decide to get into it more, you can use the powered speaker for a singer monitor speaker and get better mains.

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

Not without a ton of work and special software and equipment. You'd need software to supress the lead vocal, and then a karaoke editing software package to sink the lyrics with the music... very time consuming.

_________________
Good music, good friends, howling good times!

I shudder when I hear this word
To be fair, their analog stuff like xenyx mixers are acceptable.
Their DSP stuff (anything with a computer chip inside) can be seen as extremely affordable guised prosumer stuff, or expensive landfill material, IMHO.

For affordable mics, I like shure pg48 or pg58. Good sounding, rugged. But for alittle extra, go for the shure SM58 and it will never disappoint, and you'll want it anyways after awhile...

mchin99

I owned a PG48 mic, and gave it away to a 12-year-old it was so bad. I owned a Behringer XM8500 mic, and bought three more.

YMMV. And note, I love the Shure SM58. Just not the PG stuff.

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

I use an Onkyo SR705 for my home theater system with smallish JBL speakers (model number eludes me right now) and I have a karaoke setup for the receiver. I run my laptop directly to the LCD screen for the display but I run everything (sound, mics, etc) into an Yamaha MG82CX and run that into an input on the Onkyo receiver. Thus far no complaints, great sound from the setup, no overheats or anything over time and no speaker damage.

<edit> I do use the Berhinger XM5800's at home and they're perfect for the application.

I did choose the Yamaha board with an eye towards the compression so screamers never nuke my speakers and I am fastidious on mixer on first and last.

I still haven't heard a good reason why my home theater system sounds fantastic when playing music and but should be lousy for Karaoke.

Because recorded music is compressed by definition. Vocals have a very large dynamic range. Note that the compression on your MG82CX will help but not entirely mitigate the problem.

If you rein in the system enough to avoid damage to the speakers, you are going to lose that dynamic range which makes something "live". It won't sound as good.

_________________
[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 all the help guys.
So far i got this:
Mixer: Yamaha MG82CX : 150.
Mics: Behringer xm8500 : 40/pair or Shure SM58 : ?/pair
Mic Cable: 30.
Thats' a total of $220.
Ok now what else do i need for a reasonable PA system, i don't Want to spend too much...maybe 1k max. i would prefer something i can do movie with if possible.
BTW would it be better to spend money on a better mixer or Speakers? what would be a worthy upgrade for the MG82cx and how much will it cost?
thanks again

May be a topic for a new thread, but it may have something to do with the tailoring and limitations of a system for different purposes. For example, a guitar amp/speaker is tailored for the frequency response and peaks of guitar. Use it for vocals and it sounds bad, will blow the speakers, because it is not made to handle and sound good for live vocals (believe me, this idiot has tried). Same with home theatre which is tailored and designed with limitations suited for that purpose, like more bass response. Vocals funadmental frequency may only go to 1k, but harmonics go much higher. You need good frequency response across the entire range in a soundsystem as well as be able to handle sustained peaks for good sounding live vocals is my thought..

mchin99

Personally I don't know if you can get a much better mixer for home even if you're spending bigger bucks but that's just my opinion. If you're going to spend make sure you get the best bang per buck out of whatever you're going to use for PA. The only active speakers I have used are Mackie and I have nothing bad to say about their performance. I don't personally like plastic cabinets but it certainly makes them lightweight.

Speakers, for sure. Speakers (and microphones) are the biggest difference-makers in a karaoke setup.

If you go to one K, I may change my mind on what makes sense for you. At that point, you can probably find a used Yamaha EMX312SC powered mixer with BR12 passive speakers for $750 or so. (I can see that you can buy it new and shipped for 469.00 + 203.00 + 203.00.) That would make a great-sounding home system that is easy to set up and put away, and is good enough for some small- to medium-sized parties (50-125 people) in a medium-sized room.

If you wanted a bit more power, you could step up a bit to the EMX512SC and the S115V speakers. You can buy that all new for $1200 and probably find it used for less. That would give you gig-worthy power for about anything that would come down the pike.

There are many, many, choices. We have had long threads about whether a powered mixer and passive speakers make more sense, or whether it's a passive mixer and powered speakers. There is no one right answer in my opinion. If I had to lug the gear night-in and night-out without my van, I would probably pick the Yamaha EMX5016CF powered mixer and S115V speakers. Great features, versatility, and compactness while still having enough thump and volume.

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

Contrary to what everyone is saying, yes, you could use your home system for karaoke. First, note that you'll have to take cautions because you could of course damage your equipment...

Get yourself a mixer with a compresser or an external compressor. If your mic has a limiter, you'll be safe It will never sound has good as a pa system but do you really need one

The problem here is your mic, the music is an mp3 file, DO NOT use a mic without protection, that's all

Have fun

When I blew my $1000 home stereo speakers, I was using compression. Ya I think limiter a good idea. Hopefully can figure out the real limits of a set of speakers and get the right settings and still sound ok

You could definitely use home stereo speakers for karaoke. Mine lasted 3 months.
I guess if you can keep getting replacements from Goodwill, that are not already blown, you can keep it going

Then build a Wall-E to stack them all up for you...but then I digress

mchin99