A dual purpose amp for passive monitors and small PA?

[coloradojay]

I am starting to research getting some real monitors in my humble ghetto studio. Originally, it made sense to me that bi-amplified monitors were adventageous, since the amps where made for the speakers and, each speaker had it's own amp, so it seemed like the best way to get good flat frequency response (which is a debatable statement, but made enough sense to me).

In my jam space we are using the same home receiver bose 101s and radio shack subwoofer , for monitoring, and vocal PA through the board. Needless to say this setup is less than ideal for monitoring, and also with all of the Guitar and Bass amps we've accumulated now, the Vox are totally drowned out. So now a small amp and PA speakers are on my short list of needs now too (right behind monitors).

The question- is there a good amp out there that I could use to run some low-end monitors (like the alesis 1s or event passives), and also has enough balls use alternately for running some small PA speakers like some JBL 12s. I'm thinkin maybe that I could "kill two birds with one windshield" on my limited gear budget, and be half way to a new PA solution, if there is a suitable amp.

Is that just a bad idea? Should I stick with the original plan of going with active monitors, and then get a seperate rack amp for small PA application. Are the amps that are good enough for monitoring generally more fragile then ones designed for live sound?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can lend.

 

[TexRoadkill]

Usually a good PA amp will be around 600-1000 watts or more. A usual monitor amp is only around 100-200 watts. You can use a bigger amp but you have to be VERY carefull or you will spend more on replacement tweeters and woofers than another smaller amp would cost you.

I prefer buying powered gear these days. I still use NS10s with a hafler for monitoring and have a pair of the 15" JBL Eons for PA speakers. You can get the older style powered Eons for less than $400 each now that they have a new model out.

 

[coloradojay]

Thanks Tex. I actually hadn't even considered powered PA speakers, since I've never used any, but that is an interesting idea. Good point about using an overpowered amp making it easier to blow expensive nearfields, I didn't think of that either. Those eons would more than fill my jam room. We had 2 JBLs with 2-12s and a horn with a Mackie 1400 (or some such), for a while, and it was like 4 times louder than we needed, but was usable for live stuff too.

Are there any issues you can think of with using your Hafler amp to drive some small crappy PA speakers, or home stereo speakers (other than the fact that it may be underpowered)?

 

[TexRoadkill]

Being underpowered is much worse than being overpowered. You can even blow the speakers by clipping the power amp and sending out a spiked waveform. (don't ask me to get anymore technical than that)

If you have to get one power amp to do it all then get a bigger amp then you need. You might find a good deal on a used Hafler, Crown or QSC amp. They are usually pretty dependable.

The Eons are great for a small rig. I just use mine for jamming and they are perfect for that. For bigger gigs you can even add a powered sub.

You may also consider getting some sound treatment for your room. Trying to do live vocals in a small loud room is a bitch if you don't have alot of absorption on the walls. If the room is really shitty than no amount of power on the PA will help because you will constantly get feedback before you can even bring the level up high enough to be heard. About $100 worth of 703 rigid fiberglass can go a long way to help a bare room.

 

[coloradojay]

Being underpowered is much worse than being overpowered. You can even blow the speakers by clipping the power amp and sending out a spiked waveform. (don't ask me to get anymore technical than that)

That's OK, I've learned a little about that in previous studies, and believe it.

Thanks for all of the advice. I do really need to start considering acoustic treatment in the room too, and that is an area I know almost nothing about. Back to HR.com school for me!