Best lightweight mobile PA setup for my DJ wife who plays a range of music

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Best lightweight PA systems with subs

  • EV ELX200-10P tops with ELX200-12SP 12" subs

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • RCF ART 708A MK4 and 12" SUB 702-AS II

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • EV EVOLVE 50

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    6
Why lift it overhead? Forget a stand and place the unit on the floor, on it's side at a 45-degree angle up. Making floor contact will help the bottom end anyways.
No .. no .. we have been telling Mix you can't have speakers on the floor (except for floor monitors, but that's a special case). The HF unit really needs to be above peoples heads at 2m/6.5 ft. :)
 
50 guests or less? ...A single speaker on a stand is fine. Alto TS312 is also what I recommend, and honestly, she can go with a single 10" speaker and be fine.

I would actually recommend the Bose S1 for this. Battery powered in the event she has no power, or the outlets are too far away. It get's PLENTY loud for 50 guests or less. It won't have a ton of bass, but will sound great.
 
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Why lift it overhead? Forget a stand and place the unit on the floor, on it's side at a 45-degree angle up. Making floor contact will help the bottom end anyways.
I had not thought of that, I didn't want to get the mids and highs absorbed by the dancers bodies but maybe given the separation between people this is feasible.
 
50 guests or less? ...A single speaker on a stand is fine. Alto TS312 is also what I recommend, and honestly, she can go with a single 10" speaker and be fine.
I really think she needs more bass than this. She's not playing Top 40 to a wedding crowd, in the Chaos/Fire section of her set there is EDM with really fat bass, or high intensity acoustic pieces with lots of percussion. There is no alcohol at these events, and the desired outcome is to transport the dancers into altered states of consciousness through the music and movement, sound quality including bass is a crucial aspect to arrive at this result.
 
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I really think she needs more bass than this. She's not playing Top 40 to a wedding crowd, in the Chaos/Fire section of her set there is EDM with really fat bass, or high intensity acoustic pieces with lots of percussion. There is no alcohol at these events, and the desired outcome is to transport the dancers into altered states of consciousness through the music and movement, sound quality including bass is a crucial aspect to arrive at this result.

Do you have a Guitar Center or something similar near you? it sounds to me like you guys really need to hear what you want up close and personal. She can also give it a little lift and see if the weight works for her...

cc
 
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The Laws of Physics are really working against her. Good bass requires big, and big usually means heavy.

I'm going to offer a different solution.
1) Get the largest/heaviest powered sub she can handle.
2) Get two 8" powered tops
3) One 8" mounts on the sub with just a pole, the other goes on a tripod.
 
The Laws of Physics are really working against her. Good bass requires big, and big usually means heavy.

I'm going to offer a different solution.
1) Get the largest/heaviest powered sub she can handle.
2) Get two 8" powered tops
3) One 8" mounts on the sub with just a pole, the other goes on a tripod.
To go with this...add wheels to the sub and she can roll it in with ease

cc
 
I dunno...I mean I am doing a wedding for 110 today. No Sub. A pair of 12s, and I know they will offer plenty of sound for this wedding, and I will head even more head room to crank it up if I desire, but if I run my pair of Alto TS312 speakers at very loud levels I am almost always told to turn them down.

How much does she earn on these "dance" events that she does? I just don't see the effort in bringing in a big sound system worth it for this. I can't say I ever used a Sub for an event for 50 or less guests.
 
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Have you considered the Yorkville NX55 and LS200 conbo? My wife and daughter can both easily move them. They are reasonably light and very full sounding
 
Have you considered the Yorkville NX55 and LS200 conbo? My wife and daughter can both easily move them. They are reasonably light and very full sounding
Unfortunately, very few places carry Yorkville down here .. though, to date, my Yorkville Unity was my best sounding rig.
 
Unfortunately, very few places carry Yorkville down here .. though, to date, my Yorkville Unity was my best sounding rig.

I forgot it's not as readily available in the US as it is up here. Long and McQuade owns Yorkville and they are everywhere up here

Heavy too.

The Unity's are pretty heavy but the NX55 are only around 40 Lbs the LS200 is spec'd at 55 Lbs but I think it's closer to 45 or just real easy to carry. The new 55s are rated 1000 RMS and 2000 peak
 
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I think it would be hard to come up with a solution better than the J8. It comes in right around that 50 pound mark.

You're hearing that a single 12 inch speaker might be adequate. And it would certainly put out enough volume. But the OP has indicated multiple times that sound quality matters. If that's true, I think a small sub is the only option... and it would be hard to beat the RCF for sound/weight in this category.
 
Thx everyone.

I’ll have to do a little digging around, I am not sure we have a Yorkville distributor in Australia.

Castors/trolly is a great idea. Will have to see what she can pull out of the car.

Recouping $ is a secondary concern at this stage. What we want to achieve is give people a great experience so they come back next time and we build to an audience of 100+ over the next few years.
 
Thx everyone.

I’ll have to do a little digging around, I am not sure we have a Yorkville distributor in Australia.

Castors/trolly is a great idea. Will have to see what she can pull out of the car.

Recouping $ is a secondary concern at this stage. What we want to achieve is give people a great experience so they come back next time and we build to an audience of 100+ over the next few years.

im not sure how her business works... do you have to rent out spaces to do it? or do the clients rent the space?

would it be cost effective to rent your own space and do a perm install? hang a sign? do multiple classes a week?

cc
 
im not sure how her business works... do you have to rent out spaces to do it? or do the clients rent the space?

would it be cost effective to rent your own space and do a perm install? hang a sign? do multiple classes a week?
We hope to find a space in the future and settle on that, in which case a permanent install could be possible, I had not thought of that, thanks for the idea. She will also do the occasional session elsewhere so something portable is required for the first 6m or so until she builds up an audience.
 
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I voted with the other 25% for the EV ZX system.
I use the 12" tops with the dual 12" subs.

If my old, fat, lazy a** can haul them around...
you KNOW they are easy to deal with.
 
I think you should focus on what’s best for your typical crowd today, then worry about adding on later.

I don’t pretend to to about her business, but I know there’s a lot of great small speaker options that will provide crystal clear music with enough bass for those crowds. Everyone will have their opinions on how much exactly is enough, kind of like picking a favorite color.

She should get the best really portable speaker she can afford...or the business can afford. It needs to stand up to the road and still sound great. I don’t care how tough she is, lugging around heavy speakers and subs will make it MUCH LESS desirable, especially when she goes somewhere else and hears great sound coming out of a small speaker, and then wants to go BACK to the store.
Personally, I’d go with a l1 compact, s1 pro, or an EV.

But just for reference, you mentioned you thought the L1s was lacking. In my experience, that one is WAY more than you need.
 
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