Speaker went out on my Saturday! Ugh!
- Thread starter Mack Entertainment
- Start date
I dont' think it's 'special' (as in much of a party) wihtout the dance lighting. I include it as a competitive advantage as many don't bother with lighting so it gets me dances.
Maybe I should make it a cheap add on, like $50. Then if they don't want it they won't be leery of calling me? Have to ponder that a bit.
I want fast, simple setups for everything. The less time spent moving/packing/setting up the better IMO. And no DMX is faster (fewer cables and stuff to carry if nothing else).
A couple of the better guys here have rolling cases that are their tables - roll in, open up and plug it in. Done. power and speaker wires, that's it. I have 2 amp cases, box of cords and such, bag with facade in it, and all that needs unpacked, assembled and plugged in. Saving 20 min (x2) per gig adds up to more time to surf the web...LOL
My idea for DMX at the wedding was making all my lights white for the first dance, parent dances, etc. Be able to call up her colors on some lights (washes) and turn off the rest. Then do sound active for dancing, or most of it. Might like to program something slow for slow dancing, kill the laser, etc.
Maybe I should make it a cheap add on, like $50. Then if they don't want it they won't be leery of calling me? Have to ponder that a bit.
I want fast, simple setups for everything. The less time spent moving/packing/setting up the better IMO. And no DMX is faster (fewer cables and stuff to carry if nothing else).
A couple of the better guys here have rolling cases that are their tables - roll in, open up and plug it in. Done. power and speaker wires, that's it. I have 2 amp cases, box of cords and such, bag with facade in it, and all that needs unpacked, assembled and plugged in. Saving 20 min (x2) per gig adds up to more time to surf the web...LOL
My idea for DMX at the wedding was making all my lights white for the first dance, parent dances, etc. Be able to call up her colors on some lights (washes) and turn off the rest. Then do sound active for dancing, or most of it. Might like to program something slow for slow dancing, kill the laser, etc.
DMX is also available wireless .. so you could pre-wire a T-bar or 2, plop them on a stand and connect a power cable .. and DMX would still control it all. I have a single Chauvet Freedom PAR and a D-Fi transceiver (again to play with). My thought was to have 2 light bars that were wireless .. talking to a software DMX dongle through a wireless transmitter. The Freedom PAR has D-Fi built-in.
Might go the Chauvet route .. might go ADJ .. unfortunately, you need to pick a single standard.
Might go the Chauvet route .. might go ADJ .. unfortunately, you need to pick a single standard.
It's your call on how you want to do it. I used to be all about dance lighting but noticed a couple of years ago that I had brides specifically telling me they didn't want club-style lighting to mess up their "ultra-elegant" event ambiance. They especially started downing the "colored dots" look that most of the LED fixtures put out. I still have a number of LED "dots" fixtures but they never see the light of day any more. The Acrobats are probably the most versatile fixture I've run across and a pair of those can fill a very large room.
On the wireless transmitters, I have the Chauvet d-fi units but keep in mind that they changed them up between version 1 and version 2. They're not compatible. I also pre-installed these when I was running DMX and had a handful of times where they didn't work at the gig. While I like wireless, I only use it when it's absolutely necessary and the benefit outweighs the risk.
I know it's been three months but I wanted to update my post here and let you guys know that after taking my speakers to a warranty repair center I found out that the issue I experienced was due to a defect in some of the earlier model speakers they sold over a year ago. They are warranty repairs so they will fix free of charge.
The never ending saga of the evil (aka sh*tty) Mackine DLM8's continues. I used them at one event 2 weeks ago and they ran fine. Then just this last Saturday I'm all setup for a wedding I'm doing and at sound check I hear .....NOTHING! Checked connections all fine. Tried again NOTHING. I disconnected them from the subwoofer and connected them directly to the mixer and still NOTHING! So I check the mixer and everything else and still no sound comes out! So I go get my backups and put them up on the stands and connect them the exact same way I had the Mackie's connected and we finally have music! So I definitely know it's my speakers crapped out again! Still under warranty so they'll be going back, getting fixed, and then being SOLD! UGH!!!
Sorry you're dealing with this but I have to agree completely with your solution. Get rid of them and get something that works.
Mackie made good gear 15 years ago..not I'm not so sure from experiences like yours and reviews of their thump speakers.
Got to hear teh DLM8 at a wedding saturday...sounds OK but not a sound I like - but then the DJ wasn't the best, er, ok, maybe not even mediocre, so I'm sure some tweaking could have been done. They had the tops too low and both speakers beside eachother so i'm sure that's some of it. And they never turned it up much (the venue manager told them to turn it up!) But then maybe they knew turning it up was 'risky'? LOL
Got to hear teh DLM8 at a wedding saturday...sounds OK but not a sound I like - but then the DJ wasn't the best, er, ok, maybe not even mediocre, so I'm sure some tweaking could have been done. They had the tops too low and both speakers beside eachother so i'm sure that's some of it. And they never turned it up much (the venue manager told them to turn it up!) But then maybe they knew turning it up was 'risky'? LOL
It's a shame because I used them for over a year and a half and they were great. They had power, they were light and easy to transport too! The trouble is now that they have crapped out on my twice I have lost my confidence in them as a system I can count on. So they have to go!
I was shopping for a lighter amp, backup and ceremony solution and the yamaha 512 powered mixer was my choice - but way too many reviews mention a power relay failure after a year to 2 and yamaha not being helpful on the issue (out of warranty). Fear of failure of teh gear made me go a (slightly) different direction.
Failure is not an option in our line of work.
Failure is not an option in our line of work.
Ok so this is going to be my last post on this topic but I just wanted everyone to know that it was a factory reset issue that caused my Mackies to stop working at the last gig. If I would have thought of that while panicking 10 minutes before the gig they would have been fine. So they still work but now i'm done with them. So they are for sale if anyone is interested LOL! 