Hi - I wondered if anyone had any advice on ultra-compact PA speakers. I'm touring with a duo (harmonised vocals, cello, guitar, kick drum, occasional didgeridoo - quite a full sound). We've Mackie SRM350s, but could do with (a) more punch (b) smaller speakers (perversely, I know), as travel space is severely limited.

We've been recommended RCF TT08-As as the only ultra-compact speakers which will sound like a full PA by themselves, but they're at our absolute budget limit. Also looking at the QSC K8. Trying before buying won't be an option, unfortunately, because of where we live. Others looked into include KV2 E6, Nexo PS8 and HK Audio Lucas SMART, although - from the figures at least - these seem to have much less output (and the HK includes a bulky sub). HK's Elements system looks great, but unfortunately would blow our budget.

I wondered if anyone's had experience of any of these, and whether they'd do well in a noisy pub / medium sized hall? We'd ideally like the option of using just the speakers, but adding a sub when space allows. Speaking of which, are there any (ideally inexpensive) ultra-compact sub-woofers which are worth having? Any other systems which might fit the bill?

Thanks! Ru

d&b E3 maybe .... very small and have a lovely sound to them. Its the cost thou :?

Check them our though !

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PA Hire Surrey
Lighting Hire Surrey

You're really not going to deliver a full quality sound for kick, didgeridoo and cello from compact speakers in noisy pub or medium sized halls. I'd be thinking a minimum 15" pair as standalone or satellites plus sub.

I enjoy the QSC K12s, lovely speakers, but they wouldn't do the bottom end, so the K8s plus sub would be the minimum, probably similar to the HK system.

I get away with Eon G2s for ceilidh stuff but they wouldn't sound as nice as a QSC or HK satellite systems.

Bob

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www.bickerton.co.nz

Am guessing he's not talking about your every-day pub though based on the type of music there playing..... (small country side pub comes to mind)

So with a little EQ @ 78Hz - 85Hz you could get a fair amount of kick/sound out of a small pair of cabinets.

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PA Hire Surrey
Lighting Hire Surrey

Thanks for these.

Quote TSH-Tim:

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Am guessing he's not talking about your every-day pub though based on the type of music there playing..... (small country side pub comes to mind)

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It's pretty standard Friday/Saturday night pubs, maybe 40-200 people - but a whole range of things, right up to some fairly big halls. The SRM350s do okay, maybe sound a bit thin, but we get reasonable bass out of them. With our blend of instruments tbh we've found most rock-orientated setups sound completely pants: boomy and muddy - for our lineup the SRM350s were much the clearest and nicest-sounding cabs in our price-range at the time. They don't punch through crowd noise very well though.

We played a gig in Spain in a pretty big outdoor space, amplified only by a couple of TINY wedge-shaped speakers. Really wish I'd taken a note of what they were! - they were no more than a foot high, and sounded astonishingly detailed, balanced (definitely didn't need bass cabs!), sweet, and LOUD. They also had the weird trick of sounding as loud 30m away as they did up close.

At the moment (probably from ignorance?) I'm thinking our options are: (a) 2 speakers which would at least *do* as stand-alone, with an optional bass cab where space permits, but the bass cab would have to be ultra-compact (b) A more integrated system with really tiny passive satellite speakers (with less bass extension?) plus a permanent / slightly less compact bass-cab/amp, e.g. the HK LUCAS.

Has anyone used the LUCAS? How much grunt does it have compared with e.g. a TT08-A system? Anyone have any other suggestions? Is there a cheaper equivalent to the HK Elements system which would do a good job?

Cheers! Ru

Oops - I meant the LUCAS Smart, the small one!

Quote Rustrings:

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We played a gig in Spain in a pretty big outdoor space, amplified only by a couple of TINY wedge-shaped speakers. Really wish I'd taken a note of what they were! - they were no more than a foot high, and sounded astonishingly detailed, balanced (definitely didn't need bass cabs!), sweet, and LOUD. They also had the weird trick of sounding as loud 30m away as they did up close.

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If it was Spain there's a good chance they were DAS speakers - see dasaudio.com. They produce some very good stuff.

HK Lucas is excellent IMHO although some people don't like the sound. SMART may be a bit underpowered for your needs, but you do get a lot of bang for your buck. If I could justify the spend....

Thanks - it might have been the Aero 8A - same shape, anyway, although its dimensions are bigger than I recall. Not much response at the low end though - only 95Hz (I think the didge's lowest base tone is lower than that).

Quote Mike Stranks:

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HK Lucas is excellent IMHO although some people don't like the sound. SMART may be a bit underpowered for your needs, but you do get a lot of bang for your buck.

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Thanks Mike. From the LUCAS specs, the system looks quite underpowered, certainly compared to e.g. the 750W I think the TT08-As offer. Is it that simple though? I don't really understand how power in Watts translates to perceived loudness: I get the impression that some systems sound louder than supposedly more 'powerful' ones because of their design. The LUCAS Smart system for example looks like it would be blown off the stage by a pair of Mackie SRM350s in terms of loudness, but is that true?

If you can, compare the "sensitivity" rating. That'll tell you how efficient the speakers are, and therefore, how loud they'll go with the same power. Hard to say with active speakers, as they tend not to include that figure.

For instance, a D&B rig is amazingly efficient and so needs less power to go loud.

Also, bear in mind that the sound quality will probably be better. It's not just the volume that you need to think about.

I like the QSC stuff, though the ones I encounter here are the K10s and K12s.

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www.exaviormusic.com
www.manninmusic.com Music Teacher, Isle of Man

Quote TSH-Tim:

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d&b E3 maybe .... very small and have a lovely sound to them. Its the cost thou :?

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Thanks for the above d&b recommendations. Been trying to read up on d&b kit/setups, particularly the E3, but haven't been able to find much apart from hire company websites. Looks like the E3 is passive though , which might not be an option space-wise unless it can be rigged to an amp in a bass-bin?

Cheers

d&b cabs need to be powered from their own brand amplifiers. Which aren't even remotely cheap. If you're looking at RCF TT / QSC level, d&b will be far out of budget.

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There's nothing we can't face... Except for bunnies

You can run a whole E3 / E9 system off one D12 (££££'s) or a P1200 which are around £500 used... (your need to find one with the right cards)

I would say active is your best bet but if your after a very sweet sounding system which will hold its money then d&b

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PA Hire Surrey
Lighting Hire Surrey