PA System question... ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dogbreath
  • Start date Start date
Dogbreath said:
My family up in Montana want to buy a portable PA system to promote the bros CD.
They're thinkin something like this...
http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-YAM-STAGEPAS500-LIST

500 watts should cover a medium sized church, right? Seats around 500 people.

Or should they look at a bigger system?

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

What's the instrumentation?

500 watts seems a bit light. Churches are pretty tough venues....lot's of high ceilings, pews full of sound absorbing humans...weird shit, man.
 
125 Watts will cover a medium sized church.
This unit will do that easily and provide a great mix.
 
Jim Lad said:
125 Watts will cover a medium sized church.
This unit will do that easily and provide a great mix.
Click to expand...

If it's a singer with a CD, sure. If they're hanging mics on drums, running keys and instruments into the system and multiple vox, 125 watts won't push the monitors much less FOH, IMO.
 
Yep . . . it should be fine.

While it is true that some churches are an acoustic challenge, it is also true that most congrations are well-behaved, and will listen quietly.

However, your chances of good audibility are improved if you DI the guitar and make sure that vocalists have good mike technique.
 
Much appreciated gents. :)

May try n talk em into somethin a little bigger anyway...like maybe an 800 watt sumpin or other.

Thanks guys ;)
 
Dogbreath said:
Much appreciated gents. :)

May try n talk em into somethin a little bigger anyway...like maybe an 800 watt sumpin or other.

Thanks guys ;)
Click to expand...
not a bad idea to have more than you need.

And I don't think 125 watts would handle even vocals in a 500 seat church. Like TeshaBlue said, churcheds are tough environments for PA. I've seen full size systems have a hard time making speech intelligible.
 
Been a soloist for more than 30 years so I come at it from a very different angle.
Churches generally have better acoustics and a quieter, more appreciative audience.
Nor do they want to be blasted by volume.
500 seats though?
Hard to know because folks sit on pews usually but you're getting up to Cathedral with those numbers.
Blessings! :)
 
Well that clears things up a bit.
Those are 400W passive speakers, right?
And the others are 250 watts for each speaker.
So that's half the power I thought but still good enough.
I use an MP8 which has 4 125W outputs and that was what my 125W comment was based on.
So... Your first choice was fine and will do the job in my opinion but "Yes" if I was them I'd be looking at the other system. Particularly if they intend doing socials, halls, etc..
 
Jim Lad said:
Well that clears things up a bit.
Those are 400W passive speakers, right?
And the others are 250 watts for each speaker.
So that's half the power I thought but still good enough.
I use an MP8 which has 4 125W outputs and that was what my 125W comment was based on.
So... Your first choice was fine and will do the job in my opinion but "Yes" if I was them I'd be looking at the other system. Particularly if they intend doing socials, halls, etc..
Click to expand...
well if it has 4-125 watt outs ..... isn't that 500 watts?
never mind ..... went and looked it up ..... 125 watts x 2 at 8 ohms .... that's 250 watts.

edit: there's actually a bunch of PA's designated MP8.
So I can't be sure what yours is putting out but I bet it's between 250 and 500 watts.
I've used an awful lot of PA systems all the way from installations in churches to band use and I consider 125 watts to be almost nothing for PA use, even in soft settings.
 
You made me look.
It's a Yorkville Micromix MP8.
I've been using this amp for 10 years and had it in the shop for the first time in March.
It has two 150 watt amps each of them having 2 speaker outs.
Does that mean only 75 Watts per channel?
I'm using two 100 Watt speakers, occasionally hook up a monitor and once in a while have added 2 more speakers. I've played some pretty noisy pubs with this gear and always had plenty of volume.
I don't think I've ever pushed the master volume past 7 nor any individual channel above 5 or 6.
This is too funny. I remember the guy telling me it was a 125 Watt amp when he sold it to me.
I've only now got round to looking at the back. :)
 
it means it puts out 300 watts. 150 each of the amps ... and each amp has two parallel speaker jacks, ..... it would be 75 watts per speaker out IF you're using both jacks. If you use say two speakers total, one to each amp .... then they would get 150 watts each.
 
If you use say two speakers total, one to each amp .... then they would get 150 watts each.
Click to expand...
Wow!
So that's twice as much as I've been using.
Thanks Bob.
edit AMPLIFIERS:
Frequency response........................................+/-1.5 dB, 20 Hz to 20 KHz.
Gain................................................................................................. 30dB
Input sensitivity......................................................................... 1.4 VRMS
Distortion...(at 90% Power)................................................ 0.06% at 1KHz.
Minimum load per channel............................................................ 4 Ohms.
One channel driven max power into 4 Ohms............................. 170 Watts.
Both driven into 4 Ohms, max power, 1% THD...... 145 Watts per channel.
Both driven into 8 Ohms, max power, 1% THD...... 100 Watts per channel.
Total maximum output power, 1% THD (A+B)........................... 290 Watts.
Maximum power consumption................................................... 550 Watts.
 
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