Karaoke Forums

OK so this isn't a question and only loosely ties to the subject matter, but I know we get a number of people on here looking for suggestions on home Karaoke rigs, so I was thinking this might at least spur some ideas. My wife and I just purchased our first home. The lower level has a huge family room that we're going to make a combined family and music room. My goal is to have our complete home entertainment area plus our music play room (a complete band room) integrated in this one large room. The challenge I've been working on is coming up with a single audio system that will support both the PA needs of the instruments and mics as well as the surround sound requirements of a home theater system. After a lot of research and frustration, I think I've found a solution that's reasonably affordable and meets the needs of all involved. This should be pretty close to the ultimate home entertainment room when this is complete. Here's the system I'm designing.

The heart of the system is the Denon DN-A7100. It is a 7.1 surround sound pre-amp/processor. I handles HDMI switching for two sources as well as other audio and video inputs from a ton more. It also features XLR L&R inputs for another source. On the output side it has 8 XLR outputs representing the channels of the 7.1 surround ouput. It's a rack mount unit that will go in the rack with all of my processors and the console.

I haven't totally decided yet on the speakers but I'm leaning toward the JBL LSR series powered studio monitors for all 8 channels.

All instruments, mics and our computer will plug into my console (a Mackie CFX12 for now at least) and the main mix from the console will run to the Denon Unit.

We also have a 101 Disc CD Changer that I'll run through the console as well. This will allow me to have EQ and compression if needed on the CD player. It will also allow us to play along with some CD's we've recorded of different backing tracks.

The BluRay Player and U-Verse receiver will run to the HDMI inputs on the Denon.

The computer will also have a VGA connection to the TV for playing videos, karaoke, or whatever else through there. I don't have surround output from the computer and I want to use it for Karaoke so it will have to go through the console rather than directly to the Denon preamp. I'll also have the 2-TR output running from the console back into the computer through an M-Audio interface for recording purposes. Longer term I hope to use a splitter snake to allow me to do multi-track recordings on the computer.

So when all is said and done what we end up with is a room and rig that is respectably capable of hosting a band, karaoke, recording session and home theater all in one neat little package. It may take a while to assemble the whole rig (finances will need to come into place slowly) but when finished should be well worth it.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

I would use somthing thats not a near field monitor. I wouldn't be happy with dispersion.

I'd go with EV ZXA1 - MSRP - $499

http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/elec ... nter_namm/

Actually the neutral off-axis response of a near-field monitor is exactly what I am looking for. Think about your typical family room for a minute. All the seating is generally on the outside edges. Now mount the speakers in the corners and you end up with a lot of off-axis listening positions. The room is 15x30, so definitely not too large for the LSR series monitors. Plus, the LSR series is one of the few that have the proper shielding required for a center channel speaker mounted near the display.

Those EV's are very cool though and I have to admit the thought of an almost 5,000 watt home theater and PA system (after you add the sub woofer) is extremely tempting.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

Tony, the audio part sound awesome, whats the video end look like?

Mojo

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"It looks just like a Telefunken U47 !"

Video will be: a Toshiba 52" LCD, Onkyo BlueRay player, AT&T U-Verse HD (the Wii and an old VCR/DVD combo will probably be connected too).

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

I originally plan to build a delicate home theater with karaoke gigs. Took me 4 years to build. Beer and food on recliners... Karaoke was not supposed to be in an enclosed 21'x14' room anyways. I am building another section of the basement to host karaoke parties.

Had I do it over, I would have my theater in an open space. 7.1 sound is not going as good, but... it's hard to get the wife to agree on 2 big screens. 118" anamorphic perf screen is used in my theater (front PJ).