Add a 15 inch Velodyne. They will fell the punch from the street. |
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B&W DM603-S2 love to be played loud. They really take off. See HiFiChoice review. |
I think the PSBs would be an excellent choice. |
I have had many speakers in the past few years including Martin-Logan Quest, Duntech Princess, Magnepan 1.6's, and Coincident Partial Eclipse (current). My favorite all time party speakers are Klipsch LaScala's. They really crank with a flea powered tube amp and sound quite good. You would probably need to add 1 or 2 high output subs because the LaScala's don't reproduce the bottom octave at especially high SPL's. Everything above 50Hz can be reproduced at ear splitting levels and if you buy an older pair they can even be used to set drinks on, bonus... |
Horns ONLY, Klipsh La Scalas, Altec A7 or Valencias. LOUD, and good! |
So you wanna party down... get yourself a used pair of Klipsch Cornwalls or Khorns and shake them walls....add a Velodyne sub if you want to shake the neighbors walls and set off car alarms. The Klipsch alone will get plenty loud with bump to spare. |
instead of replacing lovely dunlavys think about building up another pro-dj setup ~$2000 worth solely for parties i.e. some pro JBL monitors with built-in crossovers driven by some huge-ball parasound mono amps...
i bet you'll find a plenty of 900sqft space to place another system. |
I second the notion of a 2nd DJ type system but not with JBL's (Junkie But Loud) Used EAW's JF560's (expecially if you can find the ones made with RCF woofers, I believe the current ones are made with BNC woofers) would be the way to go or you could by new Yorkville's for the 2/3rds the price of the used EAW's (Eastern Accoustic Works) Either one would be more musical than the JBL's. |
Do you live near a city where you can rent smaller concert PA speakers? Since you won't have to live with 'em audiophile detailing is not an issue and you can crank them really loud. Most people in a party atmosphere will NOT be doing critical listening but just want to get down and boogie! |
3ox got it right. Klipsch La Scalas. Older vintage if you can find them. They will play as loud as you can possibly tollerate them and you will never have to worry about them--they are close to bullet proof. |
I was impressed by JBL's Studio 38s. Musical and enjoyable. Not the best for sitting still between them, but with the good amount of bass, musicality of the mids, and non-glaring tweeter, I think they could do a party. |
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DON'T EVER USE HIGH-END SPEAKERS TO PLAY AT A PARTY! Done it twice, lost two pairs of speakers. Do yourself a favor and invest in some EV pro-audio cabinets or something. Go down to Mars or Guitar center and see what they think. They throw a HUGE arc of sound, provide more coverage, and are built like Tanks. Destroyed a pair o' B&W 6 series BTW, as was mentioned before. High-End is high-end, partying is partying. Talk to the guys at the Pro-Audio asylum about this sort of stuff. I'm sure they've got a lot to say. Cheers! |
If you don't want to use subs and are looking for a full range speaker I would suggest:
New: Axiom Audio Millenia M80 Ti ($1,100) - solid Canadian made speaker... check out www.axiomaudio.com
Used: Von Schweikert VR4 II's can be had for less than $2,000 on this site. Nice speaker..full range down to 20 hz |
Use a pair of subs to get the "punch". Use the a high pass filter to protect your main speaker woofers from over travel (run them full range when you listen at sane levels). Use plenty of clean power so you dont clip and trash the tweeters. I use speakers with 5 1/2" or with 6 1/2" woofers and they both play very loud, but your room is much larger than mine. Some speakers of modest size can play surprisingly loud if given lots of {quality) power.
With a room as big as yours, pro sound may be the way to go, but dont discount the subwoofer option. Most PA type systems dont play below 40hz, even if they have large woofers. |
I've use a trusty older pair of VMPS Super Tower R speakers for party use. The crowd's ears will usually give out before the speakers do.
Your most cost-effective option would be to simply rent a dj speaker setup for the night. 900 square feet with a low ceiling like yours would not take a lot of pro audio to get the boom. A couple of 15" or 18" based Cerwin-Vega/EV/JBL towers with 200 watts per channel would be more than sufficient. |
Fatparrot has got it right. 6 years ago I was looking to go cheap as I could go on my wedding reception and there was no way I was going pay $600.00 for a dejay. I also knew my Naim 250 at 70 watts with Mission 727 speakers would never make any ballroom jump. But smarts prevailed and instead of a dejay I borrowed a friends "run of the mill" multi disc cd player instead of my Meridian 207 Pro player at the time and I rented a pair of large Cervin Vegas to use with my Naim 250 and 72 pre-amp. I loaded it with discs and let it run. It was so loud I never had to crank it full. It sounded better than a whole lot of dancing venues I've been to but guess what? Nobody cared including my self that one night. |
Id say JBL's I have the ND310 dual 10" 3 ways, and they like power and like to be played with authority. Im powering them with a NAD C-370 120 wpc integrated and im sure ive had it as loud as your gonna need b4. Give em a try |
I have the great speaker for you. They are the are the
KLF 20 (10") OR KLF 30 (12") I listened to them at Tweeter and they sounded really pretty good. You can get these speakers with dual 10" drivers or dual 12" drivers for fairly cheap prices. Email me back for details. As far as the sound they are a 3 way design with a horn tweeter horn midrange and the 2 woofers which ever configuration you pick. They Rock and was thinking about getting a pair myslef to do the same thing your talking about. You don't want good speakers getting stuff spilled on them or people pushing in the dome tweeters
Thanks ROCK ON |
120 people? That is pretty huge! That many people packed into 900 ft is going to soak up all the energy you can throw. I'd say some big horns or pro-sound types would be the way to go. Party on dude! |
LOL, i guess my idea of "good" speakers isint the same as yours lol. I always thought the Klipsch KLF 20 and 30 were really nice!. Those things are like 8-1000 dollars if im correct. I wount spend that much for party speakers, id just get some CV's or something i could use as planterboxes if they got ruined lol.
Happy Listening |
Maybe I'm missing something here, but to me it would seem the obvious choice for your party/"wild dancing" needs, i.e., "...speakers that will really fill this room with booty moving magic," would be to petition the audiophile gods for clemency and then either buy (used) or rent (from a local party center, DJ, DJ company, etc.) a pair of professional DJ monitors. Occasionally, you can come upon a good deal at eBay such that you can then turn right around and pump them back out after the party and recoup most, if not all of your investment. |
Greetings!
You have certainly gotten quite a few responses on this. I have had an "outdoor" system for many years. In the old days when I started this hobby there was no distinction between "pro" and home sound. The system consists of a JBL E140, 2420/2370 mids and 2405 tweeter. Any high quality "pro" 15" system will work fine (EV, Altec, JBL, EAW and of course the ultimate TAD) It's best to biamp the system with as much juice going into the woofers as you can afford (min 350 w/side). Only use pro amps--they are cheap and virtually indestructible. Check out the deals on e bay You'll be amazed--musicians are always running out of $. Have fun!
Will Parker |
i second the pro jbl. i have sr jbls in my theater. they will rock loud and clear. i am running a combo of tubes for the uppers . with a tube preamp .and a krell for the bass. |
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For a PARTY I would just get an old pair of KLISPHS or CERWIN VEGAS and if anyone spills a drink on them I wouldnt have a care in the world.Cheers steve. |
Thanks for all the advice... I've started looking for a subwoofer. The klipsh option would be my first choice, but somewhat more expensive (and larger footprint). I hope to try the system out on the winter soltice. |
If most of the party is spent dancing or standing, consider a high mounted monitor (at ear level) in conjunction with a cornered subwoofer. This will make a major difference. Have a good time. Charlie |
So, now that we've solved the speakers problem... when's the party ;-) ? |
