Help finding a hifi for my wedding reception

[admin_exported]

Please note that I know very little about audio hardware.

I am looking for a hifi/stereo to use at my wedding reception (100 people in a hall).

I would really like to be able to keep the stereo for home use.

To rent a system seems to be around £150, but I would rather pay £200ish and keep the goods.

I am currently looking at these three.

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/-/3169/2436/-/27378318/Philips-FWM200D-Micro-Hi-Fi-System-with-iPod-iPhone-Dock/Product.html?ob=4&cpage=2

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/-/3169/2436/-/13568985/Sony-CMT-MX550i-iPod-HiFi-Speaker-Dock-Stereo-System/Product.html

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/-/3169/2436/-/8881000/Sony-MHC-GTZ3I-Mini-System/Product.html?ob=4&cpage=3

What do you think? Will they be man enough for the job? Can you recomend anything?

Many thanks

 

[noogle]

Is it just for background music, or for dancing? If the latter, the systems you have suggested are way too underpowered for a hall with 100 people.

 

[Anonymous]

No dancing is planned, but I would like to be able to turn it up when the older of the guests have left.

Could you give a recomendation?

 

[chebby]

I am currently looking at these three.

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/-/3169/2436/-/27378318/Philips-FWM200D-Micro-Hi-Fi-System-with-iPod-iPhone-Dock/Product.html?ob=4&cpage=2

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/-/3169/2436/-/13568985/Sony-CMT-MX550i-iPod-HiFi-Speaker-Dock-Stereo-System/Product.html

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/-/3169/2436/-/8881000/Sony-MHC-GTZ3I-Mini-System/Product.html?ob=4&cpage=3

No, no and no.

Get thee to ebay and find a good, working NAD C352 on a 'Buy It Now' like this one...

clickety

Now find yourself a pair of old, fully working, very efficient, floorstanders like these...

clickety 2

(91db, 8ohms @ 1m, power requirment 10 - 100 watts.)

When you get your NAD C352 amp, find a switch called 'soft clipping' on the back panel and switch it on. Switch off 'loudness' and resist urge to touch tone controls. Leave them in the centre/flat position.

With a bit of luck (and someone sobre guarding the volume control) this will be a lot better than a micro system and sound great when you get it all home.

Just rip some reasonably high bit rate (320k AAC) music from CD onto iTunes (I guess someone has a wedding reception music list) and sync it to an iPod. (Someone will have one.)

Buy or borrow an iPod dock and plug it into the 'aux' or 'CD' input on the back of the amp.

 

[Anonymous]

No, no and no.

Get thee to ebay and find a good, working NAD C352 on a 'Buy It Now' like this one...

clickety

Now find yourself a pair of old, fully working, very efficient, floorstanders like these...

clickety 2

Firstly - Thankyou very much for the help. It is much appreciated.

A bit out of my price range, but I have taken the amp + seperate speaker idea.

How about:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/280826131866

and

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200713180289

?

 

[Andrew Everard]

IMO – and indeed IME – any of those systems is going to be struggling to fill a hall that big filled with 100 people, especially if you want to turn it up later in the event.

You'd do much better to rent in a very modest PA kit for the event - it'll sound better at that sort of level and won't go bang if you push it too far.

A site such as AudioRent will give you some suggestions and prices.

 

[bballtom]

Would an old 5.1 amp with 2 pairs of floor stands work?

 

[Paul.]

I'm asking myself this same question at the mo, and I decided that I dont want to risk destroying my system so am going to pay to rent a PA.

I found this web page (I'm Bristol based), you can get started for about £75.

http://www.igoepahire.co.uk/pa-hire/

 

[Amadeus1756]

I can't give you any advice on equipment but congratulations - people always say it's the best day of your life and I'm sure it will be - it was for me and I was the guy whose friends said I'd never marry and dreaded the thought of being the center of attention for an entire day.

 

[Anonymous]

Would an old 5.1 amp with 2 pairs of floor stands work?

- you tell me... would it?

I'm asking myself this same question at the mo, and I decided that I dont want to risk destroying my system so am going to pay to rent a PA

- Many thanks for the link, I will take a look into it. May I ask why you think your system would be destroyed?

I can't give you any advice on equipment but congratulations - people always say it's the best day of your life and I'm sure it will be - it was for me and I was the guy whose friends said I'd never marry and dreaded the thought of being the center of attention for an entire day.

- Thankyou very much, I too dread the thought of being the center of attention! My one task for the reception is to sort the music . I just dont like the idea of renting!

 

[robejz]

I have to agree with the last few posters. For a room with 100 people, it'd be better to rent a PA stystem. You won't be able to take it home afterwards, but you won't have to worry about having drunk people around your new stereo. As others have said, you also wouldn't have to worry about driving it too hard.

PAs can be quite cheap if you shop around. For about £80 I recently rented an amp, speakers, lights and a smoke machine.

 

[Paul.]

Because everyone will be drunk (primary concern), and my Onkyo amp biamped in stereo configuration has more than enough power to fry my MA BR5's. Plus, I don't think it will be enough to fill the hall. My REL T3 sub is great in a small room, but think it will embarrass itself in a medium sized hall. Throw in risk of 'the speaker pokers' and floorstanders inherent wobbliness, I would just be babysitting my system all night.

 

[SteveR750]

I wholeheartedly +1 for Chebby's NAD solution, but from experience a 352 can only fill a domestic house with noise, and of course the soft clipping prevents explosions of the tweeter variety. I'm sure my 3130 had a beer guard fitted to the boards too!

I tried a hi fi system in a school hall some time ago, and was pointless evn at normal conversation levels it struggled. You need to rent a PA or get a band in!

 

[Anonymous]

i have the older version of the 3 one (the big sony one). i now have a proper stereo however i still use it for my street party. it is great in large rooms for dancing etc and floor shaking bass when needed. it might not have the thrills of a proper hifi but for a large loud dance type thing its perfect

 

[drichardb]

My mum does a bit of singing for local community groups and if she performs in a public hall (rather than an old peoples home for example) we break out her Carlsbro portable PA system. We did try using my B&W 601's once or twice but I quickly put a stop to that when I realised how much oompf you need to be louder than a bunch of oap's nattering!

So speaking from experience - rent a PA, it'll be a hell of a lot more flexible volume wise and you'll have the confidence to turn it up if the opportunity arises.

 

[amcluesent]

You need to rent a PA. A home sterero system will be last 2 minutes before the speakers have burnt out.

 

[lindsayt]

The last wedding I went to had a rather low-fi DJ system with not particularly big speakers. The sound quality was well below what I get at home with signs that the DJ system was clipping at volumes well below what my systems clip at. Made me wonder if I should start a business of doing audiophile discos for £1000 to £2000 per night?

For £200 I think it's possible to get a system that would sound better for filling a hotel type wedding room than a typical DJ system. A laptop or PC into a £30 audio interface into a Creek CAS 4040 or A&R A60 into Mission 770's or Goodmans Magisters - or something along those lines - whatever you can find on eBay or your local pawn shop - should do the trick for £200 or thereabouts.

 

[hoopsontoast]

We did manage to use a domestic system (Tannoy Jupiter S and Teac A-BX7R 50w Amp) in a smallish hall for an 80th birthday party, but that was at lower volumes, really, if you plan on 'dancing' then get a PA system.

 

[Paul.]

Damn you inverse square law

 

[Anonymous]

Thankyou all. I am now looking into PA hire. Seems to be around £100 in my area. Will shop around xD

 

[SteveR750]

The last wedding I went to had a rather low-fi DJ system with not particularly big speakers. The sound quality was well below what I get at home with signs that the DJ system was clipping at volumes well below what my systems clip at. Made me wonder if I should start a business of doing audiophile discos for £1000 to £2000 per night?

For £200 I think it's possible to get a system that would sound better for filling a hotel type wedding room than a typical DJ system. A laptop or PC into a £30 audio interface into a Creek CAS 4040 or A&R A60 into Mission 770's or Goodmans Magisters - or something along those lines - whatever you can find on eBay or your local pawn shop - should do the trick for £200 or thereabouts.

£200 gets you a PA system and a DJ in some parts of the country.

 

[amcluesent]

£200 gets you a PA system and a DJ in some parts of the country.

For £200, I'd expect a stripper too! :dance:

 

[bigboss]

£200 gets you a PA system and a DJ in some parts of the country.

For £200, I'd expect a stripper too! :dance:

Not for a wedding party. :shame:

 

[ROTH AV]

Gingbeard - I have a sparkly newish JBL EON15 PA system in my garage - 2x powered speakers, plus stands and a mic. If you can get to where I live (Reading area) you can borrow them for the wedding. All you'll need is a CD player or other source.

 

[Anonymous]

Gingbeard - I have a sparkly newish JBL EON15 PA system in my garage - 2x powered speakers, plus stands and a mic. If you can get to where I live (Reading area) you can borrow them for the wedding. All you'll need is a CD player or other source.

Many thanks for such a generous offer, but I'm afraid that I'm around 130 miles away