Carvin S600 Stagemate

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tunes4046 said:
would you be so kind as to list these other options
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- 1 Roland BA-330. No bluetooth, but it's functional, portable and versatile.
- 1 EV ZLX112P and a Black & Decker Electromate. Or any >$700 powered speaker with a a Black & Decker Electromate.
- One of those ION Block Rocker things. It may be "pro-sumer" gear, but it'll sound as good as the Stagemate at a fraction of the price.
 
B-Sharp said:
- 1 Roland BA-330. No bluetooth, but it's functional, portable and versatile.
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It's also a giant billboard with "ROLAND" plastered across the front. What bride wants that in her ceremony pics?

- One of those ION Block Rocker things. It may be "pro-sumer" gear, but it'll sound as good as the Stagemate at a fraction of the price.
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Prosumer? Ewwwww... where's the pole mount. This looks like one of those DIY Karaoke machines.

Not trying be the pessimist but those don't seem like viable options. This Carvin Stagemate looks nice!
 
The Roland is the only contender when it comes to number of channels and built in effects. Depends on one's needs, but mine would include those criteria. The idea is to have one lightweight unit that doesn't need power from an outlet or a mixer added.
 
Gaffle said:
It's also a giant billboard with "ROLAND" plastered across the front. What bride wants that in her ceremony pics?
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Well, if you set it up next to the bride, then yes, it's going to show up in her ceremony pics. If it's really a concern, you can pry that Roland badge off (just like I pried the Carvin badge off of my original Stagemate).

My ceremony system includes a Bose L1 Compact... way over the $799 price of the Stagemate and not at all useful without power, but the sound/weight of it is ideal.

The ION thing is never something I'd personally choose, but I've heard it in a real-life application and it's sonically better than a Stagemate's sound.
 
I am stupid brave enough to bite early, so we shall see ..
 
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Carvin is exhibiting here at the DJ Expo in Atlantic City, so I had a chance to hear the new S600 Stagemate.

I stand by my original comments. Although the speaker is nicely sized with a pretty robust mixer section, there's just no escaping the fact that it does not sound very good.
 
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B-Sharp said:
Carvin is exhibiting here at the DJ Expo in Atlantic City, so I had a chance to hear the new S600 Stagemate.

I stand by my original comments. Although the speaker is nicely sized with a pretty robust mixer section, there's just no escaping the fact that it does not sound very good.
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If your ears aren't damaged and you're not being overly biased or subjective, Bummer... but for ceremony music and nuptials, isn't this system more than adequate? Also having remote music capabilities + battery powered, I wouldn't expect the world from this speaker; I'd just appreciate it as a Swiss-Army tool in my sound arsenal.
 
Gaffle said:
If your ears aren't damaged and you're not being overly biased or subjective, Bummer... but for ceremony music and nuptials, isn't this system more than adequate? Also having remote music capabilities + battery powered, I wouldn't expect the world from this speaker; I'd just appreciate it as a Swiss-Army tool in my sound arsenal.
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Here's the thing - I really wanted to like this speaker, just like I really wanted to like my first Carvin Stagemate. It's compact and attractive. The mixer panel has every kind of input and output I'd ever need. But... I want it to sound good for more than just a recording of a string quartet and some wedding vows. It may be good enough for that to some of you, and it's well worth the money for magicians and people who give seminars day-in and day-out and need to bring their own PA system, but it's really hard for me to justify spending $700 for it when it just doesn't sound good playing at the volume level I'd need to cover a cocktail hour with 100 guests.

My ears aren't damaged, and my only bias is that I owned a Stagemate 400 for three years and was embarrassed by the poor quality of its sound. This new Stagemate really isn't a huge improvement in anything but the looks department.

Here's another portable ceremony speaker option that I also had the chance to hear. The battery is optional and it only has two channels of inputs, but the sound quality is much better and the companion app gives you an incredible amount of control over your sound, feedback elimination, reverb and more. Sound-wise, this blows the Stagemate away.
 
I listened to it as well and liked the sound. Not a whole lot of bottom from an 8" woofer fed with maybe a 150w amp section, but it sounded very crisp when I heard it.

Not sure I would need the extensive mixer section, and the bluetooth receiver was having some dropouts from the Carvin guy's phone, but there were lots of bluetooth being used there, so maybe it wasn't fair. The wireless mic sounded ok.

Price went up though, $799 for the battery version ($719 show special), $699 for the AC version and I believe $349 for the extension speaker which is driven off a separate 200w amp in the powered section.

I didn't hear the Mackie that Bendan listen to, but I saw it and it is butt ugly. I can't imagine setting that up for any client .. maybe a backyard picnic.

I'll post in a separate thread my take on what I saw and heard.
 
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steve149 said:
...I didn't hear the Mackie that Bendan listen to, but I saw it and it is butt ugly. I can't imagine setting that up for any client .. maybe a backyard picnic.

I'll post in a separate thread my take on what I saw and heard.
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Mackie... clowns. This thing is not PA gear, it's more like competition for THIS.

Where's the pole mount?
 
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steve149 said:
I listened to it as well and liked the sound. Not a whole lot of bottom from an 8" woofer fed with maybe a 150w amp section, but it sounded very crisp when I heard it.

Not sure I would need the extensive mixer section, and the bluetooth receiver was having some dropouts from the Carvin guy's phone, but there were lots of bluetooth being used there, so maybe it wasn't fair. The wireless mic sounded ok...
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What do you mean by "the wireless mic"? Do you mean with the speaker using it's wireless mode... it sounded ok? As far as the Bluetooth, if you experienced drops there, you'll experience them everywhere. You have to plan and expect worst-case during a ceremony as you don't want dropouts ruining the moment. 20-30% of the ceremony guests may have some sort Bluetooth device enabled so I'd, more than likely, lean on the wireless capabilities of this unit, if not wired.

I see you own a pair of PRX612's and DSX12's. Would you say this Stagemate600 sounded anywhere near the clarity of your tops?
 
Many things go into picking a ceremony system- in this case I think it's battery powered.

Me, I want quick setup/tear down and inconspicous helps too. I've yet to see a ceremony outside with more than 100 people, often fewer. YMMV of course but here bigger weddings seem to end up inside - the outside ones I feel are budget oriented and don't want to pay a church $500+ for an hour's use (I've seen them ask upwards of $1500 here).

My yamaha stagepas 600 fits in two rolling bags, complete except stands and wirless mix (might be able to stuff it in there too if i had to). Packup and be outta there in under 10 minutes, one person rolling it all away in two trips, or two people in one trip (rather have one person in one trip..maybe with the stands in a bag with shoulder strap).

I have an inverter and gel cell batt that will run it for 100 minutes, plenty for a ceremony. I would think a mixer, mic and two PRX612s would such that dry in short order.

And it's good enough to be a smaller system or backup for my big setup.

An 8" top I"m not sure is gonna be able to do double duty - backup, smaller gigs. Sufficient for a ceremoney I would think, so that comes down to what you need/want that fits your plans, budget, etc.
 
Gaffle said:
Mackie... clowns. This thing is not PA gear, it's more like competition for THIS.

Where's the pole mount?
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The pole mount is available as an option. And while its exterior may not be as rugged as other options, it has more low end than that Carvin speaker and full remote control via the Mackie FreePlay App. Sure, we're comparing apples to bananas here, but at almost half the price of the Carvin Stagemate, you'd be foolish not to at least give it a look and listen.
 
If you use VDJ the $10 remote app works great. I just setup my phone (android) as a hot spot and the PC (win 7, cdj 8) and an ipad mini and bingo, volume, songs, searches, etc from anywhere in the hall. Should be able to use this on saturday for the outdoor ceremony so that nobody will be at the mixer/pc to be seen (ceremony from the crowd's POV is a lake). testing it all tomorrow outside here to be sure it works and everything is packed and makes the trip. My $50 android phone runs all night, and any songs i might need can be fetched off spotify, or bought and DL'd to the ipad so the main PC isn't tasked with anything that might cause an issue.

A wireless controllable mixer would be the next cool thing I suppose.
 
Gaffle said:
What do you mean by "the wireless mic"? Do you mean with the speaker using it's wireless mode... it sounded ok? As far as the Bluetooth, if you experienced drops there, you'll experience them everywhere. You have to plan and expect worst-case during a ceremony as you don't want dropouts ruining the moment. 20-30% of the ceremony guests may have some sort Bluetooth device enabled so I'd, more than likely, lean on the wireless capabilities of this unit, if not wired.

I see you own a pair of PRX612's and DSX12's. Would you say this Stagemate600 sounded anywhere near the clarity of your tops?
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There is an optional UHF wireless receiver module that plugs in on the lower part of the rear mixer panel. The Carvin guy had the corresponding HF handheld and was talking through it. It uses the same components as their standalone UHF mic, so there is a bodypack available as well. I would never use Bluetooth in a paid scenario .. it's just a neat feature that would be nice for casual events. There are enough other ways to connect a music player to the unit.

As to clarity .. it was tough on the expo floor. I had to get fairly close to the unit since the Carvin linear boxes were firing right in front of it. I wouldn't use these as a main system replacement, but it would seem to compare to a pair of 8" or 10" mains by themselves. If you have a sub, no need for the battery power so might as well get a regular top (like the nice Yamaha DXR10).
 
B-Sharp said:
The pole mount is available as an option. And while its exterior may not be as rugged as other options, it has more low end than that Carvin speaker and full remote control via the Mackie FreePlay App. Sure, we're comparing apples to bananas here, but at almost half the price of the Carvin Stagemate, you'd be foolish not to at least give it a look and listen.
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But then you'd be like Canute with his Bose Wave Machine he used for small events ... it just doesn't feel right, regardless of performance.
 
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steve149 said:
But then you'd be like Canute with his Bose Wave Machine he used for small events ... it just doesn't feel right, regardless of performance.
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I agree 100%. My ceremony speaker is a Bose L1 Compact. I have no need for a new Stagemate, Mackie or anything, really.
 
B-Sharp said:
I agree 100%. My ceremony speaker is a Bose L1 Compact. I have no need for a new Stagemate, Mackie or anything, really.
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The Compact is a perfect small event speaker .. I'm just not ruling out the new Stagemate yet. I guess I'm still hoping for a decent performing box you can set up quickly on 2 poles and without cables, be up and running in minutes .. it''' come at some point.
 
steve149 said:
The Compact is a perfect small event speaker .. I'm just not ruling out the new Stagemate yet. I guess I'm still hoping for a decent performing box you can set up quickly on 2 poles and without cables, be up and running in minutes .. it''' come at some point.
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My opinion, an 8" isn't going to be anything to write home about. I have the powered EV ZXa1, which claims to be 800 watts. It's pretty anemic. My current ceremony rig is a powered Behringer head that claims 500 watts at 4 ohms. With a single 8-ohm speaker, it's usually plenty for a ceremony, although it has to be pushed fairly hard. If I stack a 2nd speaker and push the load to 500 watts, it sings pretty good.

I don't see this speaker as anything to compete with our main rig tops, nor do I want it to compete. If it has even decent power and the little plug-in lav mic works without drop-outs or interference, then this rig is gold for ceremonies.
 
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