# Speaker setup for a DJ gig



## saini14

hi everyone,

i'm new to the site...:wave::wave: but i was hoping i get get help with what sort of setup do i need for a live Dj performance at friends party, i do have a Yamaha HTR 3063 now i asked him to get me speakers the big JBL PA speakers, or DJ speakers as they are called here, now i'm not sure if my AV amp will be able to handle them :scratch::scratch: or should i ask him to get a amp aswell. cheers in advance to anyone who would respond


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## bribowsky

Hello, and welcome! 

First off, I will say that I am no dj, so you can take my comments with a grain of salt. But... Most pa's are built with efficiency in mind, so it doesn't take much power to really get them singing. JBL especially. Power shouldn't be a concern.

What I don't know is the type of connections they take. Find that out, and if they match up with what you already have, you're golden. Otherwise, you will be needing some adapter cables to get you hooked up.

Either way, once you can connect, the Yam should work just fine.


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## Mark Techer

If you can use pre-outs to a separate power amp, then do that.


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## robbo266317

Welcome aboard.

Cheers,
Bill.


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## BillOquin

I remember once a friend of mine borrowed his big brothers Peavey PA speakers so we could have some music in my yard for a get together. These things were huge with 4-15" and a tweeter horn you wouldn't believe! Anyhow, I hooked them up to an old Optimus receiver with 25 watts per channel and used an old cassette player for the tunes. We had a lady from three blocks away call the police to make us turn it down! This was Saturday morning at 10:00! Yes PA stuff is definitely made for efficiency! Your Yamaha should drive them with no problems.

Enjoy the party! Save me some cake!!!


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## Veronica

*SERIOUSLY hope that I have replied BEFORE you spend money on inferior Chinese imported junk speakers.

Some notes from my own system design guide:

5.	Loudspeakers (sound reinforcement)

a.	Cabinets. 

Most DJs use plastic wedge speakers. Note this is the second worst speaker cabinet acoustically speaking. 

Plastics and plastic composites. These ring too, though not quite as bad as the metal ones. Guess what most display speakers and studio monitors are made of? You guessed it: plastics. These ring too though the levels to make the ringing audible is higher, the ringing is still present. Remember though most of the sound comes out the front, the driver transducer does create waves inside of the cabinet/backbox which hits the cabinet and reflects back into the driver. 

iii.	A better choice is a resonant wood such as Baltic birch plywood cabinets. In many cases there is not a great cost differential in cabinets this is one place NOT to cut corners. A good (13 layer 1" birch ply) cabinet will last a lifetime. HELLO? A LIFETIME. In a wood cabinet a driver can be replaced. Two wires and a few screws, most anyone can swap a driver. 
iv.	Cabinet shape also plays a role. A symmetrical cube would cause cancellation within the cabinet. A better choice is an asymmetrical trapezoid or some other variation that creates unequal reflection/resonance. 

b.	Driver horn and waveguide selection. Note room size, shape and situation. We want to put sound on the audience and NOT into glass windows, reflective walls, the ceiling or floor. 
i.	Drivers, horns and waveguides can be made in any shape that we desire. We can use a different dispersion pattern for horizontal and vertical, each could use 40 degree, 60 degree, 90 degree or 120 degree for EACH in any combination. Most installs always use the store bought 90x90 or 120x120 mass produced junk instead of getting custom cabinets from a company like Renkus-Heinz which costs about the same or just a few dollars more.
ii.	Waveguide shape includes more than just the dispersion pattern but also the actual shape of the horn. Why do most companies make a square or rectangular (constant directivity) horn while a very few make a round or oval (complex conic) horn???? There is a HUGE difference in sound between them, how can we determine which will sound better? 

For the techs: Constant Directivity Horns lobe, distort and cancel, which complex conics do not. 

For the non-techs, visualize a square or rectangular container filled with water. Drop a pebble in the center of the container and watch the concentric circles go out until they hit the walls and what happens? The signal distorts into an unrecognizable mess. Reproduce the same experiment with a round or oval container. Concentric circles go out hit the wall and come back in a concentric manner. NO DISTORTION. Ever see a square tuba, trumpet, saxophone, French horn, etc? NO? WHY NOT? Because they would sound AWFUL. 
So why do MOST speaker manufacturers make this terrible sounding horns? 

Think about it, years ago when amplifiers were inefficient tube amps, large venues lacked the power needed to get sound reinforcement levels high enough. Along came the constant directivity horn which sounded so awful that people would cringe and ask to turn it down. 
In todays world of highly efficient solid state electronics there is simply no need for such awful sounding noise makers. DO NOT USE constant directivity horns EVER anymore. There is no longer a valid reason or excuse to use them.

iii.	Co-entrant versus coaxial. Coaxials are side by side, co-entrant are stacked on atop the other to provide a single point of sound. Co-entrant does sound better and has less cancellation/therefore better sound. Unfortunately this is not always possible as clusters and arrays may be required, but at least we can make the determination based on strategic balance based on situation. Where possible, look for co-entrant solutions versus coaxials. 

iv.	Clusters and arrays are used for specific situations ONLY. They should be LAST resort, but there is a valid justification to use them often enough to merit their existence. 

*
That is my design guide for speakers (after I took out the metal soup can ceiling speaker bashing as the worst sounding offenders in audio). 

Pictured below: A US-made 1996 Renkus-Heinz MR-122 Asymmetrical Trapezoidal Baltic Birch Ply cabinet with a 12" LF Driver and 11" 90x90 Complex Conic Horn driven by dual 3" compression drivers. LF and HF are Co-Axial. Some of the newer designs use a co-entrant mid/high three way cabinet. Also a newer trend is to have 2 or 4 smaller LF drivers when using switchmode amplifiers as switchmode amplifiers completely lack dampening factor by decoupling the output of the amplifier from the driver (via low-pass filter) which makes for sloppy and muddy bass on a larger driver such as the 12" pictured. Larger LF drivers like this 12" offer tighter bass response when driven by a Class A, AB or G amplifier. This brand is called the "Rolls Royce of Pro-Audio" by DIYAudio.com but price-wise new are a bit more than plastic wedges, but used are lots cheaper. (I would rather have these used than Chinese plastic ANYTHING). Mine are NOT for sale EVER, get your own. (Even better if you get the newer ones as there have been improvements as mentioned above).


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## Voxman101

Renkus-Heinz ROCKS !!! or EAW


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## SmithAudio

Where did the OP go? :dontknow:


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