PA vs Powered Mixer: Differences?

[SKYflyer]

Is a powered mixer just a PA and a mixer combined?

So are the only differences that a powered mixer will have more inputs and the ability to do stuff like use equaliser settings, whereas a PA will only have a small amount of inputs?

Thus, having a PA and a mixer, one would have the equivalent to a powered mixer?

Are there any other perhaps hidden advantages or disadvantages to having a PA with a mixer vs having them combined as a powered mixer? (other than the mere convenience of having both devices as one)

Thanks.

EDIT: wait a minute... there must be more differences than i thought between a PA and a powered mixer. This quote further deepened my confusion: "The problem with buying a new PA head is that you need some kind of preamping between your keyboards and the amp. That will mean an additional expense unless you buy a 'powered mixer'."

Does this mean that powered mixers have some sort of preamping inside? I thought that the line level signals that were supposed to be inserted into powered mixers or PA's meant that they were already preamplified...

[mr.rich]

well a pa is just a name for all the peices put together to make a live system. your mixer, amps, speakers, outboard, monitors, mics... all add up to the pa. but a powered mixer just lumps the mixer and amp together in one thing.

that quote is pretty odd to me as well. i dunno why you would need an amp for somthing just to turn around and run it into another amp unless the signal was really damn weak. all actual console mixers should have a pre, this is your trim.

if your trying to build a small pa id say to get a small board, a couple amps, a couple wide range cabinets and a couple monitors.

mics>board>amp>speakers.

aux send>amp>monitors.

ive never really used a powered console live that sounded very good.

[BadAE]

PA nornaly means a set of FOH powered by an amp that is feed by a mixer.Thus, Mixer, power amp(s), and your FOH speakers.You may have other things in between your FOH and mixer, but this set up is the basic.

A powered mixer is a mixer that have a power amp bulit into it. All mixer have preamp and it need not be a powered mixer. Powered mixer are good only for indoor and small vanue. It is good for band practise where you dont need a lots of power: it basicly is use for vox and your keyboard. It have an advantage of compactness.

[SKYflyer]

BadAE, you used the term "FOH" a lot in your post... what does "FOH" mean?

[mshilarious]

Originally Posted by SKYflyer

BadAE, you used the term "FOH" a lot in your post... what does "FOH" mean?

FOH is Front of House; it means the main speakers for the audience, as opposed to the monitors for the band.

[AudioBond]

Yeah... I'm gonna hafta go ahead and second the opinion that a powered mixer isn't really the way to go... For small applications, they get the job done, but if you have even the slightest inkling of wanting to expand, you will only limit yourself... Get yourself a mixing console (doesn't hafta be a big one... you can find a lot of smaller, affordable ones out there...) a couple of power amps, some decent full range cabinets to start and try your best to work a graphic EQ into your budget! These things will save your neck! You'll prolly want a 1/3 octave EQ... that's pretty much the standard. Later on you may want to add a crossover and some subs, but that can be the "expansion" I mentioned earlier... this way you aren't locked into X number of inputs that are connected to a specific amp that you may outgrow sooner than you realize etc... you can get more/bigger cabinets, subs and crossover, better amps, a better/larger console etc... as your requirements grow. And yes... the basic setup would be Mics > Console > EQ > Power Amp(s) > Cabinets.

I may be WAY off on this part... but... I haven't run into too many powerd mixers that have inserts on them either... this is key for adding compressors/gates etc... More things that you may wish to add later down the line.

Hope this isn't too confusing! haha! Just let me know if it isn't clear and I hope it helps!

later!

-Chris