Hello, where should I start? I'm thinking Void, Martin Audio, Funktion One, Danley (maybe)?
I appreciate your help.
18 comments · 90% upvoted · other discussions
The best advice I can give you as someone that is in this industry is absolutely do not do that lol. If you’re going to spend that kind of money I would recommend an l’ acoustics or a d&b audiotechnik but I would still recommend not doing that. The reason why is unless you have a repair shop as well or you yourself are an electrical engineer and able to repair the speaker boxes amplifiers crossovers and processors on a regular basis quickly you will be in trouble. The repairs on these high-end systems can get very costly and there’s only a handful of specialty shops in each area that can actually do these repairs. For that most of the parts, the drivers capacitors etc. for these products are mostly on back order or coming from other countries in there can be long waits. In addition it’s not a very lucrative business, if you have 100 grand you’d like to invest in some thing I can show you about 15 other things you can do to actually make money whereas this is not something that’s going to be great for you. Just my honest advice take it or leave it good luck either way
If you’re going to spend that kind of money I would recommend an l’ acoustics or a d&b audiotechnik
He's about $900,000 short of a full L-A or d&b rig.
Weird, we don’t make a system that costs $900k and anything in that price range he could spend wouldn’t not be a “rental rig” for clubs and halls as he’s suggesting to party promoters. A $900k + rig would be for running events at stadiums and arenas and even then it would be a struggle to need to spend more than $650k. For what he’s describing he’d be set with a 6x6 rig (6 top boxes, 6 mains), 2 side fills, decent digital mixer (Allan and heath or Midas) I’d recommend getting much cheaper powered monitors (electro voice or sum audio) matched amps, processors and crosses. Then of course a bunch of cable. All in he’s looking at about $50-70k depending on brand and model. With this he’s have a system that could be broken easily into a 2x2, 4x4 or 6x6 system for smaller to larger gigs. He’d have enough juice to push a 1000-2000 person room or could be smallEnough on a 2x2 to work a small party or conference room type of thing. Again, I don’t think this is a good business for anyone that can’t do their own repairs and has a vast knowledge of electrical engineering. But, if you’re going to do it, this is the way to go. Versatile, moderately priced and tops of the line for its class.
Where are you located? These guys have one of the nicest speaker setups ive heard in the US midwest, you might contact them and see what a package would run:
I third HSD. They build some 🔥.
HSD all the way!!!
But overall, I would recommend Danley
I work with a couple Danley systems in LA doing parties, and imho they’re some of the best boxes you can get for this kind of work.
Sound good for basically any style of music, very good pattern control which is huge in shitty untreated warehouses, the synergy horns mean you’re getting lots of good coherent, aligned output from less boxes.
And less boxes is crucial if you’re starting small, because it means you don’t need to build a whole 5 way stack (and have the crew for it) to get good, full dance sound
Specific recs: - I would strongly recommend the Danley amp — it’ll be a big chunk of the budget but you can run a (small) whole FOH system off one amp, with all the factory presets, which sound great and will make your life so much easier. Most systems I setup just need small tweaks from there
TH118XLs are some of my favorite subs I’ve ever heard. They go low, tons of output, kicks just have that grunt and force other subs can’t match. You can probably do 200-300 people with two… if you can fit 4 in the budget I’d get 4 (you can chain 2 per amp channel)
Tops: a lot of people like the SM range for lightness and pole mounting… imho the SH synergy horns sound better though. And that’s the tech Danley is famous for. Plus the synergy horns array incredibly well, so if you get more boxes to get wider coverage, you can add them in seamlessly If you can only get 2, I’d say SH60s would be wide enough for many cases. (And I’d say buy extra subs before buying extra tops) If you can get more/will possibly be setting up in very wide rooms, 2x SH50 per side will go very wide but still be useful on there own Or, a lot of what I run is SH46s — these are best with multiple, since they’re only 40° on their side. But gives you lots of control to keep sound only on the audience
Unless you already own/operate a substantial (& successful!) rental business, buying a 100k system to rent out simply isn’t plausible. You need a lot of supporting infrastructure, staff, resources, connections, etc. to make something like this possible.
For that cash, I'd ring L'Acoustics. Or Void. Then, fly and meet them.
Get some danley’s or lambda labs.
One thing to think about is what other systems are in your city — if you’re buying the same type of system as someone who’s already invested 500k to a million it’s going to be hard to compete/stand out
But also, having at least one company running the same gear locally means you have someone to subrent from if you get a bigger gig…
Also the music scene in your area — if it’s geared towards certain styles, you may want a system that you know will nail that sound
You should think very carefully if this is really what you want to do, if you have to ask reddit what to buy I fear you will be known as the guy with all the gear but no idea
Independent-Split588 [OP] 2 points · Jan 2023
opinions won’t hurt
shaggydnb 6 points · Jan 2023
The most impressed I've been with a system was this summer stood at a outdoor stage listening to a pair of danley horns up on cranes with 4 subs under the stage, amazing coverage and control. I doubt your budget will stretch to that tho.
fun_fact_2019 3 points · Jan 2023
I can suggest you to think about some custom made or DIY projects. With such amount of money you can build a system that would be way better that commercial one. Because the price ratio is very good.