Recommended PA Speakers?

[cameltoe]

Can anyone recommend any decent PA Speakers for our band? We're having to upgrade our current gear and wanted to know what people's opinions were. We're a fairly loud five piece band playing folk rock, quite stompy music and like to have a punchy clear sound.

The speakers usually have vocals, acoustic guitar, fiddle and mandolin going through them. Occasionally we put a trickle of the lead guitarist through as well when it's a big venue or stage.

I rarely put any of my bass through- we don't use subs although sometimes I wish we did at the bigger venues, especially some of the outdoor gigs we do.

Price, as always, is an issue, but I guess we could splash out around £600ish.

[RichardH]

Are you talking active speakers here, or do you have power amps etc? Do you already have a mixing desk?

[warwickhunt]

Loads of options available to you but for a blanket reply I'd say you'd be hard pushed to beat Peavey stuff for anyone wanting a bit of quality on a budget.

[Owen]

I would like to pipe up on behalf of Studiospares own brand.

[ezbass]

Yeah Peavey are great if you're on a budget. Quality wise I've always liked the sound and spread of EVs.

[chrisd24]

+1 for ev's,my band uses a pair of stage 200's,and they sound amazing,there old but built like tanks and you can pick them up pretty cheap on eBay.

[cameltoe]

Yeah I'd heard EV's could be the way to go. They seem expensive though. Guess you get what you pay for.

We already have peavey eurosys things, they're OK but a bit tinny and are starting to crackle a bit. Well worn and gigged.

We're just after passive speakers, we have the power amp and desk sorted.

[Ian Savage]

The Eurosys were always the bottom end of Peavey's speaker line, a pair of HiSys or Pros would be a worthwhile upgrade IMO.

[goblin]

They're expensive, but EVs are the way to go. Our more basic rig uses EV SX100s, various amps and stuff, and through that we run a 4 piece folk band and it's brilliant. When it's out doing rock gigs, add another amp and a pair of subs. Couldn't recommend EV any higher though.

[largo]

EV's for us too, pair of sx200 & sx300's. Bullet-proof !

[chris_b]

Peavey or Mackie but if you can afford them, EV's all the way.

[goblin]

[quote name='largo' post='887507' date='Jul 6 2010, 04:44 PM']EV's for us too, pair of sx200 & sx300's. Bullet-proof ![/quote]

Can't beat them can you? Only got ours for around £200 the pair, brand new!! The shop was having a big clearout and needed rid of them. They're brilliant as they're light, solid and can take a lot of level whilst maintaining dynamic clarity!

Edited July 8, 2010 by goblin

[cameltoe]

I've been told sx300's, but looks like we'll be shelling out around £800 for them!


Maybe we could get away with sx200's.

Or a cheap second hand set if anyone on here wants shot of a pair?

[JTUK]

EV's for me...and 15" for acoustic instruments, IMO.

They just give the live sound a nice resonant air...