so n00b it hurts :-( Need 2 x sound systems One for my club and one for home. Help please!

[admin_exported]

Hi All,

Hoping you can help! Just got a late night licence so am looking for a sound system to provide the club music. As it happens, I want to replicate it at home as I like the ambience! We want to play trance and ambient stepping up to house for the later evenings.

Talking to a mate he said 'Just get a 4,000 watt power amp like the berlinger europower, match it with their 1200w speakers get a lead in from the ipod and job's a good 'un'!

I don't know if he is talking nonsense or not as I don't understand this stuff at all. It looks like I could get this full system for about £900 (I have a couple of racks spare from an office move so can mount the power amp) and if this is all there is to get really high quality, loud sound then all good.

But I am sure I am missing something as I see all the folks here saying that they have '5k budget' for a home system. Why should I spend so much more for home ent than a PA system? Is there a reason why I can't duplictae the PA system at home?

What am I missing here? I don't care about fancy eq, its playback only, it needs to be loud and distortion free and run off an iphoneand I don't care what it looks like in the house or in the club just want a nice, clean sound.

Any (polite) suggestions? I know this is nooby question from hell!

 

[nopiano]

The requirements are very different. I'm not sure there is much know-how here on club/disco/PA systems, or if there is it doesn't get aired much.

For a club, you need high power and loud (i.e. efficient) speakers, and not much subtlety. Durability and volume are what matters.

At home, it is the reverse. You aren't competing with any background noise, subtlety is everything, as is a smooth response, and something fairly elegant (that won't be dropped out of the back of a van!) is often desirable too.

You should have a specialist shop near you that handles your club requirements. The nearest that hi-fi and 'club' ever got was probably with the rather splendid Technics SL-1200 series turntable. But I think a club system at home will sound horribly raucous and crude, exactly what hi-fi audio is trying to avoid.

Sorry I can't advise a club supplier. Best wishes.

 

[CnoEvil]

I know next to nothing about Club Gear, but once that has been selected, and you are familiar with its sound......go to a hifi shop to hear for youself if the difference is worth paying for in a domestic situation.

Look at amps from Musical Fidelity and Leema, and speakers brands like Monitor Audio, Neat, Wharfedale (Jade 5) and Focal.

I agree with NP, but there's nothing like hearing for yourself.

 

[dannycanham]

Couldn't put it better than nopiano has.

An ipod would work better from a dock than from a lead in both systems.

Both systems would likely go

Dock -> Amp -> Speakers

or

Dock -> Powered Speakers

and need nothing fancy. Clean and powerful in a home listening environment and clean powerful in a large public groups socialising environment should be different kit. If you pick a budget for the home kit I'm sure people here could help with that bit.

This company do bar audio. They have a few different styles. I'm not saying buy from them just get an idea of which style would suit your club:

http://www.terralec.co.uk/audio_systems/141_0c.html

 

[dannycanham]

Also in a club you don't really use stereo. This piece of kit is recommended for plugging an ipod into a club system.

http://www.radialeng.com/re-duplex.htm

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Many thanks for your comments - it is starting to make some sense.

One query I have though in trying to work out where to solve this. After posting I remembered where I heard close on the perfect (for me anyway) sound and ironically that was in the bose shop in the outlet village in Bicester. Playing Faithless on Bose 901's off an iphone via some sort of amp - i dunna which. I am sure this isn't high end stuff, but it delivered on what I want for home and the club. A really rich full loud sound (to my inexperienced ear)!

I am guessing this is more club than hi-fi? I will call them now I have remembered about it and try to work out what their setup is, but it will help me to know if this is club or hi-fi then at least I can track down the right flavour independent reseller to get my systems sorted.

Club kit or Hi-fi?

 

[Frank Harvey]

The system you heard - was it with your iPod or the store's? If you heard the store's iPod, you don't know what audio format they were using, and you also don't know whether it was straight from CD, or re-equalised. Ask to use your iPod, with music you know - that's the only way for you to be certain of that system's quality, and the only way for you to be able to assess what you're listening to.

 

[dannycanham]

Hi,

Many thanks for your comments - it is starting to make some sense.

One query I have though in trying to work out where to solve this. After posting I remembered where I heard close on the perfect (for me anyway) sound and ironically that was in the bose shop in the outlet village in Bicester. Playing Faithless on Bose 901's off an iphone via some sort of amp - i dunna which. I am sure this isn't high end stuff, but it delivered on what I want for home and the club. A really rich full loud sound (to my inexperienced ear)!

I am guessing this is more club than hi-fi? I will call them now I have remembered about it and try to work out what their setup is, but it will help me to know if this is club or hi-fi then at least I can track down the right flavour independent reseller to get my systems sorted.

Club kit or Hi-fi?

Looking at the 901s they are classed as "home speakers". I don't know anything about them but they are quite unique in style, they are a bit of a marmite speaker, and can be used in both a PA system and home amplifier. They do require a special equaliser due to the way they create their sound mostly through reflection from walls. It may be adding a bit of complexity so I would use a specialist retailer of these speakers to help if you chose them.

**overpriced for waht they are as well.