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I need some guidance in my first home karaoke system purchase. I want to buy a high quality system primarily for the purposes of karaoke in a family room setting (25 ft * 30 ft). Will at times also use keyboard instead of recorded tracks. Expected number of people in a karaoke party are 10-25. I want very good effects like quality reverb and also want to record easily onto my laptop. Also would be playing karaoke tracks on my laptop. I don't expect to be playing outdoors. I have some flexibility on price, provided quality is very good, however I don't want to spend more than $1500

After reading through a lot of posts here and doing some research I think I need a good mixer and powered speakers, shure SM58 mic, but I have some questions

1. Mackie Pro fx8 mixer or Yamaha MG82cx. Which is better? The mackie has USB but the yamaha does not. However, from what a salesman at Guitar Center told me, the Yamaha seems to have better reverb and DSP than Mackie. Any other models I should consider?

2. Regarding speakers I am confused as to whether to buy a pair of SRM450 or go with 8 inch JBL sudio monitors and a subwoofer. What other speakers should I consider? What kind of speakers will sound good in a family room setting?

Would really appreciate your thoughts and any guidance you give on the above questions and more generally on high quality home karaoke systems.

SM

Mackie versus Yamaha mixer, not much difference honestly. Neither boasts a particularly spectacular effects unit, however both are reasonably good quality. The Mackie's USB interface would give you another option for connecting your laptop for both recording and playback. It also has faders instead of rotary controls for the mix, which is a personal preference of mine. The Mackie additionally has a 7-band EQ on the main mix which while small is still better than having no EQ control at all. The biggest advantage of the Yamaha is the built-in compression, although my experience with it is that it's better than no compression but not nearly as effective as a regular outboard unit. Ultimately I think I'd probably sway a little more toward the Mackie.

For speakers the SRM-450's would be pretty well overkill for the space you've described. The JBL monitor setup that you mentioned is the route I think would work best for you and would also be more cost effective to boot. That doesn't happen too often that the cheaper route is the better one.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

Thanks very much for your comments. I really appreciate it. I do have some more questions. With regard to speakers I will go for the the monitors and subwoofer. My questions are

1. Mackie also has a 8 inch monitors, how do they compare with JBL and Yamaha.

2. You mentioned that both the Mackie and Yamaha mixers I am considering have good quality but not spectacular effects. for high quality vocal reverb do i need to buy a separate unit, and if so what brand/model and price would you recommend given that my total budget is at max $1500

3. If I want to simultaneously play karaoke tracks (mp3s) from my laptop and record the final mix with vocals onto the laptop, how would I do that. Would I need to use the headphone output from the laptop to the mixer using 1/8 to RCA and an USB cable from the mixer to laptop for recording?

4. A somewhat lame question (given the times just trying to save some money here!) - is there a way that I can use the monitors and subwoofer also as a part of 5.1 home theatre system such that while doing karaoke I use only the monitors and sub and while playing regular music CDs I can use these along with regular surround speakers. I am thinking maybe I can hook up the receiver to the surround speakers directly and then to use the monitors and the sub use the receiver's pre- amp out to the mixer. Can this be done using rca cables?

Again, would highly appreciate your comments.

Although if you go with the monitors, you are pretty much locked into where you can play them. The 450's you can have a nice little system to take to outside parties or or halls for your own private party/getogethers. The monitors wouldn't be up to that kind of use.
The Mackie 8" monitors are killer in the studio, I personally would not use a monitor for regular 'pa' use.

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The JBL LSR series are going to be (and this is my opinion based on experience) a higher quality speaker than the Yamaha's or Mackie's. The Yamaha and Mackie models will do a fine job, but ultimately JBL is JBL and for the price difference involved, I think definitely worth it.



I think you'd be happy with the on-board effects of either one. The Yamaha's are based off their SPX series effects and while somewhat limited compared to say and SPX-90 or something, they're still good. Mackie just spent a bunch of R&D revamping their on-board effects units. Again not top of the line but still good quality. If you're really interested in something better, you could look at a TC Electronics M-One which you could find used for around $200, but for what you're doing that's probably not necessary.



That's the way I would recommend doing it. That would give you the 3-band channel EQ control over the input from your laptop.



The last question is a little tougher. A digital console (instead of the MG or ProFX) would be able to process the surround signal and send it to the individual speakers, however they run in the area of $2300 or better. Depending on your surround sound receiver, if it has pre-amp outs for the front channels you could run those into the 2TR input on the console. You'd still need a way to get the signal from the sub channel out to the sub (that'd be a tougher task) and you'd have to have rear and center channel speakers connected to the amp on the receiver. I'd have to have to know more about your overall setup to be able to give you more specifics on this.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke