How many watts are enought (PA Speakers)

[drummerdoug86]

I am soon going to be getting a pair of PA speakers to finish out my system. I will most likely be getting two. I need enough power for club shows, nothing big. The speakers will most likely just be used for vocals with drums raw, guitars and bass amped. So how many watts do you think I need my speakers to be?

 

[Jeff_D]

first off- the only thing we mic and run through the mains at our shows is the vocal- obviously, and usually the kick drum- we mic everything else except for bass so it can be run through the monitors for us- so heres a question for you- do you have a pa and if yes how many watts will it put out- and does it have a monitor channel and is that monitor channel powered or do you want or have another power amp for monitors? I would recommend that the speakers you buy are rated for more than your amp will produce unless your amp produces something rediculous like 1000w per channel. anyway you probably want somethink like a 15" driver and a large horn- 400-800w each sounds reasonable for a small live setup- if you can be more specific with what you have and what you want me or someone else could probably be of more help- ps this is HOME RECORDING not live stage- im just messin with ya- someone gave me shit for a question like that once

-jeff

 

[Gunther]

I disagree with buying speakers that are rated to handle more watts than the amp is rated. A 300 watt amp that is clipping badly is possibly more damaging to a set of 500 watt speakers than a 700 watt amp running at max power with no distortion. Clipping sends almost DC voltage to a speaker, which burns out voice coils (along with sounding bad and other nasty things).

What I would say is get a PA that can put out a good deal more distortion free sound then you’re likely to ever need. This way you are never really stressing the gear or taking it to its limits thus always getting a clean sound. Plus you have some headroom incase you need to run it hotter.

Also, some speakers are more efficient than others, this is rated as a spec called sensitivity and is measured in DBs per watt. A high sensitivity speaker will get louder with less demands from the amp and less effort on the speaker’s part.

I would think 500 - 600 watts would be more than fine, depending on the speakers / amp you go with. Again, some speakers will be much louder while using 500 watts of power than others.

You probably know this, but using a compressor / limiter with a PA is usually a good idea.

Gunther

 

[Gunther]

Also I am not sure I agree with needing a 15 inch woofer for pa vocals. Vocals don’t have much low frequency content (heck, most of us roll off anything below 80hz.) 15’s give you good low bass, but that doesn’t seem like what he needs. He said he is not micing the kick drums.
15 inch woofers are sloppy and not responsive, they are heavy and require a big cabinet (he has to lug these things from gig to gig.)

I think 12’s will be a better choice, they will give a tighter sound, crisper bass / mid range and they will be smaller / lighter which will save you a backache or two after a long (possibly drunken) gig. Also, I like to get my PA speakers airborne on nice stands, which is possible but harder to do with the big cabinets a 15” speaker needs. Getting the speakers over the crowd does a lot to improve penetration and clarity.

You will probably find a better selection of 15”s though.

Just my opinion though, hope it helps.


I wonder how these sound:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7...4114108170/search/g=live/detail/base_id/35511