Night Club sound Hi Fi equipment

[admin_exported]

Hi All

I am trying to get a night club sound from my Hi Fi equipment and finding it very difficult to get a definative answer from any shop.

The room size is 8m x 8m

Current equipment:

Kef XQ One's - speakers

Pioneer LX82 - AV receiver

REL 505 - sub

I have tried B&W CM8's on recommendation but this has not given me the depth of sound I am looking for. I have also tried adding a Cyrus X power amp but yet again no noticable difference.

Am I asking the impossible or can I acheive the sound I am looking for without having to have a PA system.

Bearing in mind I am not looking for a loud system but looking for something that give you that depth of sound like you are at a concert of a club with Rock music or Dance music.

 

[toyota man]

Try kef r 700s or r 900s these speakers are room filers lots of detail at low volumes and when the volume is turned up they realy open up :rockout: :rockout: :rockout: :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance:

 

[BenLaw]

Not sure why you'd want this at low volume but sounds like you want a really big and probably fairy bad sub :?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info. Would an updated AV receiver be needed?

 

[Anonymous]

what sub would you recommend over my REL?

 

[Captain Duff]

Run your speakers to the kitchen on some bell wire, turn up the volume until you start to overload your amp and speakers, then go and sit on the toilet. With the door shut. Yep, that should do it...

 

[matthewpiano]

Run your speakers to the kitchen on some bell wire, turn up the volume until you start to overload your amp and speakers, then go and sit on the toilet. With the door shut. Yep, that should do it...

:rofl:

 

[Anonymous]

You need at least 2 people for this as someone has to let the noise abatement team in to serve notice.

 

[Anonymous]

Run your speakers to the kitchen on some bell wire, turn up the volume until you start to overload your amp and speakers, then go and sit on the toilet. With the door shut. Yep, that should do it...

Really useful thanks for the effort!!! I live in a detached house so no one will hear.

All I'm looking for is the depth of sound you get, not just a loud as you can go!!!

 

[lindsayt]

B&W CM8's for nightclub sound in an 8x8m room?

It's easy to get better than nightclub sound quality combined with nightclub volumes if you wish.

For amplification get a 2nd hand top end PA amp. Something from the top of the range from vintage Crown or Urei will be fine. Expect to pay less than £200 for a good quality amp giving you over 300 watts. These are the solid state amplifer bargains in the hi-fi world as most enthusiasts wrongly think that all ex-PA amps sound crude.

For speakers. Go huge. 2nd hand. Make sure they would have been genuine high-end speakers when they were new. Sealed box for tightest bass.

For vaguely like a live concert sound quality you'll be struggling with CD's as a source. A good quality ex-professional analogue source has a chance of getting you there.

 

[steve_1979]

A pair of these would do the job nicely.

http://www.dv247.com/pa-systems-and-live-sound/behringer-eurolive-b210d-active-2-way-pa-speaker--71192

...and maybe some of these too.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/b?ie=UTF8&node=114850031

 

[Anonymous]

B&W CM8's for nightclub sound in an 8x8m room?

It's easy to get better than nightclub sound quality combined with nightclub volumes if you wish.

For amplification get a 2nd hand top end PA amp. Something from the top of the range from vintage Crown or Urei will be fine. Expect to pay less than £200 for a good quality amp giving you over 300 watts. These are the solid state amplifer bargains in the hi-fi world as most enthusiasts wrongly think that all ex-PA amps sound crude.

For speakers. Go huge. 2nd hand. Make sure they would have been genuine high-end speakers when they were new. Sealed box for tightest bass.

For vaguely like a live concert sound quality you'll be struggling with CD's as a source. A good quality ex-professional analogue source has a chance of getting you there.

Thank you for your advise. Do you have any suggestions what second hand speakers I should look out for? I would imagine we are looking for something with at least a 200mm bass driver?

 

[Paul.]

If you are after that bottomless pit of power feeling, I used to run Mission M35s whilst at uni, and they were incredible. Bit of a blunt instrument these, won't sound as nice as the speakers mentioned above, but they are an amazing dance/rock speaker. Think of them as a halfway house between hifi and PA kit.

http://www.avbristol.com/product.php/143/0/mission_m35i_floorstanding_speakers/4499ac2e56a4b1f2020938a3739ca617

 

[lindsayt]

Thank you for your advise. Do you have any suggestions what second hand speakers I should look out for? I would imagine we are looking for something with at least a 200mm bass driver?

200mm's too small for this application, unless you've got lots of them per channel plus some equalization - which is rather unlikely.

Multiple 300mm's per channel would be OK. A single 375mm would be OK. A single good quality 450mm or bigger backed up by drivers that take over above 150hz would do the trick nicely.Remeber, it's not just the size of the driver, but the quality and the quality of execution that counts.

My recommendation would be to look for speakers that were once upon a time towards or at the top of American manufacturers product ranges: JBL, Altec, Klipsch, Bozak, Electro Voice. Speakers that are able to stamp their authority on your very large listening room with the type of music you enjoy. 1950's to 1980's models to keep the costs down.

 

[hoopsontoast]

Maybe have a look at some speakers that use PA drivers as a base, like the Zu Druid.

They certainly Rock. I had a pair of open baffle speakers with Hawthorne Audio 10" Silver Iris drivers in them (Eminence based 10" Mid-Bass with a Coaxial 1" Exit Compression driver) and while they missed out on the low bass (not much below 60Hz) they certainly had the attack, dynamics and punch in the low midrange that you get from lightweight, efficient and large mid range drivers.

The only other speakers that I have had that did similar but slighty more refined were the Kord Tornado. A very large standmount with a 8" Volt Mid Bass. Not the best mid-range but the bass depth, control and dynamics were top draw.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank for all the advise.

Would Mission MX6's of Kef Q900 be a good option?

Will I need a more powerful amp than my LX 82 av receiver?

 

[Thompsonuxb]

do you use the DSP modes on your reciever?

The 'Hall' mode could do what you ask I would of thought, that sort of distant thumping sound. or do you want the music in your chest that'll leave you with a buzzing in your ears long after switching your set off, may be hard to reproduce that, especially as most clubs sound different when not filled with people. Anyway let us know how you get on.

 

[Sizzers]

All I'm looking for is the depth of sound you get, not just a loud as you can go!!!

I understand exactly where you’re coming from.

Sorry I can’t help with a solution as I’ve never been lucky enough to have had a living environment where I could experiment with this, but as a total aside I work a couple of hours in the morning in the local Outfit store.

On the upper floor they have a series of ceiling speakers through which they pump out whatever compilation discs they have, and when they do pump it out the effect is just amazing. The SQ is superb and forget the “Wall of Sound”, this one just envelops you. Not thought of ripping your ceiling out?

 

[Anonymous]

All I'm looking for is the depth of sound you get, not just a loud as you can go!!!

I understand exactly where you’re coming from.

Sorry I can’t help with a solution as I’ve never been lucky enough to have had a living environment where I could experiment with this, but as a total aside I work a couple of hours in the morning in the local Outfit store.

On the upper floor they have a series of ceiling speakers through which they pump out whatever compilation discs they have, and when they do pump it out the effect is just amazing. The SQ is superb and forget the “Wall of Sound”, this one just envelops you. Not thought of ripping your ceiling out?

We are having the whole house renovated with ceiling speakers being put in for movie surround sound. I have no idea whether a ceiling speaker set up can give me what I am looking fro or not. Our living area is upstairs so the is loads of loft space for bass to reverbarate.

Someone suggested Bose 901's but these look very big.

 

[Sizzers]

We are having the whole house renovated with ceiling speakers being put in for movie surround sound. I have no idea whether a ceiling speaker set up can give me what I am looking fro or not. Our living area is upstairs so the is loads of loft space for bass to reverbarate.

Ripping your ceiling out was just my dry sense of humour (obviously I had no idea you were actually doing it!)

As I said, my comment about the ceiling speakers at Outfit was a total aside to your original question. I only mentioned it as the experience of the music pumping down all around you is quite amazing with the set-up they’ve got. It's not a solution to your problem, but an enjoyable experience for me!

I wish I had a living environment where I could experiment with this too, but i guess it's beginning to look as though the PA route is the best option. Either way, I wish you the best of luck in finding a solution.

 

[ellisdj]

Have you considered the speaker placement??

I think a nightclub system sounds the way it does as the speakers are up in the air pointing down.

Therefore something like Monitor Audio Apex or B&W equivalents up high pointing down might help with the effect your after.

My cousin used to always have his speakers really high and it always reminded me of a nightclub sound.

Then bass is integrated much higher up in the room which adds extra weight to the sound - like you get in a club.

I skimmed through the thread - apologies if its already been mentioned

 

[moon]

well sorry didn't read the thread properly. Anyway the advice of having multiple speakers on wall up high is a start.

 

[moon]

 

[Anonymous]

would something like some Speaker craft AIM Wide Five do the job?

 

[mongoose1234]

If I may offer my humble opinion if you want that sound at low volume it will be a challenge, my advice is to buy a 18 inch pa bass driver, like a fane prime xs or a fane xb/any precision devices sub, put it in a large proted cabinet tuned around 35 hz ish and buy a 150w plus plate amp and crossover low and set the volume loud (you said low volume so you don't need 800 watts).

Maybe buy some floorstanders with decent midbass

If you want to keep your current system get some equilisation software and increase the low bass around 50hz create a peak.

Good luck.

Club sound isn't very good a lot of the time. I have a system that sounds better than any club I've been to which you can buy/build for £1000.