So I've got a question!

Look at my speakers and amps, and can you tell me - is it a good combination or not?

JBL MRX515 (pair of main speakers)
JBL MRX518S (pair of subs)
JBL MRX512M (four stage monitors)

Crown XTi 1002
Crown XTi 2002
Crown XTi 4002
Crown XTi 6002

The second question is pretty basic but ... Which amp should we use for which bit of speakers? I would like to have 4 separate mixes for 4 stage monitors. Don't worry about aux outs, got enough of those.

Thank you

What else I think - maybe it will be better to get Crown XLS Drivercore Series four amps insead of Crown XTi 2 Series four amps? Because the biggest gig we get is about 550 people and usual ones are about 250 - 300 people. Crown XLS amps should be cheaper. Completely confused which amps to pick for my speaker gear.

You imply you've already bought this kit? If so then your 6002 is far too big as is your 4002 and the 1002 is a bit underpowered. Ideally you should buy 4 x 2KW amps (I.e. 8 individual 1000 watt channels) the tops and monitors are all 400 watts continuous and the bins 500 each so you are best running power amps with roughly twice the RMS power of the speakers. If you haven't bought it makes no sense to buy separate amps and speakers when you can buy active versions with loads of protection circuitry to look after your drivers for virtually the same money. Also as I said in your other thread, I would stick with 512m's and not bother with 515's, they'll sound better with the bins (we run PRX 518's with PRX 512m's for tops and monitors, they work great together and if a top goes down you can just work with one less monitor and maintain your FOH sound)

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Turn it down lads (but only a little bit)

The thing is - i have bought speakers listed above, but i don't have amps. I can return speakers and get a full refund, it will cost me just 20 quid for transportation expenses.
A lot of people tell me - the active circuit is better in practice, so I think I will go for it.

If I take your band as an example - do you think it is a good idea for me to do the same thing - to get two PRX618S's as a bins and six PRX612M's (two of them as tops and four of them as four separate stage monitors with separate mix for each)? It should cost less, less boxes to carry, less time for the setup and many more advantages.

I will get Behringer X32 as well in a week hopefully.

From experience with the active stuff I'd go for those rather than passives (and my own rig is XTi's and passive speakers, I just can't afford to change at the moment) Lots of advantages to actives, not least being perfectly matched amps and speakers, but also the built in speaker protection. We use JBL's and Mackie's for small-medium gigs and they all work well, the JBL's are better but more expensive. If you are in a position to return the speakers and buy PRX's I would definitely go that route. The X32 looks great, too big for me, if they built an X16 I'd considers it but instead I've just placed an order for a Mackie DL1608 which should do the job nicely for me.

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Turn it down lads (but only a little bit)

Thank you for the great tips
I will definitely go for JBL PRX series as you suggested!

How long do you use Mackie DL1608? Did you ever had any faults or problems with it, and how far does the wireless iPad control works? When I will be able to afford a backup mixing desk I will consider Mackie as well.

And last question About the sepakers - Are you just assigning main outs from Mackie to your PRX subs, than the parallel connection from subs to the tops, and four monitors will be getting signal from the aux sends? Isn't it?

Cheers

Personally I prefer passives for FOH. Less weight when you're hoisting them onto poles is always good. Also if you're outdoors then it's much easier to cover up a rack of amps than an entire speaker. (Sure you'll cover the speaker up to stop the drivers getting wet, but can you 100% guarantee the binbag will keep the rain out, when there's a mains connection under it?)

I don't have the DL1608 yet, they are not shipping from the US until mid/late August. Lots of YouTube vids though.

Basically there is no comparison between the X32 and the DL1608, the Berry is a full spec digital mixer in the Soundcraft Si/Yamaha LS9 style. The DL has a much reduced feature ste, with no physical controls other than gains and headphone volume and relies entirely on the iPad for control. For my needs (pub band and small functions) it should be perfect and I'm in the lucky position of working for a PA hire company and being able to borrow more sophisticated kit when I need it.

Whatever mixer you end up with send FOH from the main outs to the subs and use the crossover HPF outs from the subs to the tops (NOT the parrallel outs) as these remove the low bass that the subs take care of leaving more headroom for the higher frequencies, sub bass uses a lot of energy which is why your subs are as/more powerful as/than your tops so you don't want to be sending that to the tops.

6 aux sends On the DL allow me to have up to 6 monitor mixes or, say 4 plus 2 extra FX units..

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Turn it down lads (but only a little bit)

Quote grab:

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Personally I prefer passives for FOH. Less weight when you're hoisting them onto poles is always good. Also if you're outdoors then it's much easier to cover up a rack of amps than an entire speaker. (Sure you'll cover the speaker up to stop the drivers getting wet, but can you 100% guarantee the binbag will keep the rain out, when there's a mains connection under it?)

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Agreed, it's not all pluses with actives (twice as many cables each for one thing) but the 512's are pretty light and no problem lifting them onto poles. I suppose it's the active speaker protection which does it for me in the end. Fewer blown tweeters :-)

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Turn it down lads (but only a little bit)

Just one thing, I would get the PRX618S-XLF subs instead of the PRX618S.

The price isn't a big jump, but the power is doubled and you won't regret that at all!

That's the other thing about active - the upgrade path can be expensive as you need to get both amp and speaker together. If you can more power than you need upfront, that should give you kit a bit of a boost as it starts to show it's age.

I ended up getting 2 X 615M's and 1 X 618s-XLF about 12 months ago, as I was playing smaller gigs than you and liked the flexibility of not taking a sub if it wasn't required. If I had my time again, I would have got the 612's.