Speakers for 150-person party

[manaburn]

Question for all you more experienced and musically savvy Burners -

Can you share any recommendations for a speaker set-up for a camp of 70 or so?
The heaviest use will be for a party expecting 150 people, but it would be great to keep the equipment for bigger events in later years.
We'll likely be running it off a 1600 Watt generating like this: http://www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com ... p8519.html
As an uneducated guess: maybe something like this?: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/4 ... eaker.html

Thanks for your advice!

[some seeing eye]

There are always used speakers on Craigslist. Suggest a powered speaker, like a Mackie SRM450/350 or JBL EON2, playa tested and repairable. There are newer models, some are less durable. Keep them out of the sun, they are black. In the future, you could add powered subwoofers. Stands are nice. Stay away from the Mackie SRM18's.

[thirt33n]

I have QSC K-15's. spendy but AWESOME! HUGE sound for size weight.
For less money Behringer B215D eurolive(i've seen them in white too).

I do my shopping with my friends at Guitar Center because the extended coverage is way worth it.

and +1 for the additional subwoofer. I have a QSC K-sub and some QW 181's

all the new stuff is so light and loud compared to the old days...good luck!

[manaburn]

Thanks for the suggestions -- very helpful!

[Gunslinger]

1st you should ask yourself, how important is the sound dispersement and sound quality. If you want a picnic and beers, get some 150W-300W speakers toss them on a pickup tailgate and call it good, a beater old Crown, Crest, or Peavey amp from the 70s will kick your shit nicely & don't bother with EQs, processors, crossovers etc. But if you want to put yourself into turbo extasy because the music is so goddam good that you can't help yourself from pelvic humping the artcar tires and audio engineers at Root Society are giving you the thumbs up on your hookup you're going to want some decent equipment.

I don't bring my *best* stuff to BM because let's face it, it's dusty and heat KILLS electronics (dust and dirt into fans and on components equals heat = dead) I'm also not playing vinyl and we won't go into audiophile ranges of human hearing and digital vs analog recording capability yo... don't even get me started on cables...

But I'll chime in and say EV (Electrovoice) self powered speakers, at least 1x 12" sub (more and bigger The Better! but they gobble juice like crazy) for lows and chest thumping orgasm inducing bass. The SXA, ELX series is what I'd run out, having gone over from JBL since their stuff is now being made in China and isn't the same quality. I've taken these apart and compared them with my older USA made SRX series and yeah, the Chinese built ones frankly are shit for the same amount of money. I'm pissed having come from a family with a papa who was a Rep for JBL since the first decade. So a couple (I'd say 4, more if you're Trumping this, but 2 will do it) of 12" or if you really want to stretch 15" EV self powered or EAW for good durable quality sound in an upper end environment. Raise your gear to human ear height so the highs aren't lost through projection, protecting your gear to the best of your ability from dust) and... GROUND YOUR SHIT! Nothing sounds more crap than a low floating buzz riding through your system because some dumbtech didn't ground the system. If I were making a complaint list about Burning man sound, above crappy dub with no rhythm or anthem trance from 1999 would be this!

[mattcamp]

But I'll chime in and say EV (Electrovoice) self powered speakers, at least 1x 12" sub (more and bigger The Better! but they gobble juice like crazy) for lows and chest thumping orgasm inducing bass. The SXA, ELX series is what I'd run out..... So a couple (I'd say 4, more if you're Trumping this, but 2 will do it) of 12" or if you really want to stretch 15" EV self powered or EAW for good durable quality sound in an upper end environment.

Any opinions on the EV powered subs?

We ran a pair of the EV ZLX15p powered speakers last year and they sounded fantastic but prone to going into clip prevention mode when the DJs got a bit heavy handed with the volume knob... we're keen to add at least one sub this year but have heard the ELX18p (which seems like the logical mate for the ZLX's) suffers from overheating and shutdown problems....

Otherwise was maybe thinking a crown amp + EV passive sub...

[trilobyte]

I second some seeing eye's response. Your asking the question probably means that there aren't any/many sound geeks in the camp, and so while you guys want to throw a great event and have quality sound, you probably don't want to have to deal with a lot of hassle to get there. Powered, or active speakers have a power amplifier built into the back and are self-contained/enclosed, you just plug em into power, plug in the sound source and off you go.

And like some seeing eye mentions, the Mackie and JBL gear is very playa tested and repairable (it's not that they're crap, just that over time they'll take a beating). Personally, I'm partial to Mackie - a pair of SRM450's should do you pretty well, and you can add a subwoofer easily enough.

[theCryptofishist]

I am happy to speak at your party. I'll even waive my usual honorarium of $50,000 for a ticket, unlimited ice, and a flaming mv.

[EspressoDude]

OR, you could camp anywhere within 400 feed of Camp WALTER and their wall of sound kalliope.
74 dB at 400ft away inside a RV.

70000 watt audio in the city 4&A

[some seeing eye]

Modern powered subs and the low end of the powered main speakers use digital amps, very power efficient.

DJ's will always turn up the main gain and cause distortion. You need to set up your system so the DJ cannot do that. Also suggest buying a $20-$30 sound level meter, using it around the crowd and sticking to a peak dB number at a repeatable distance from the speakers. Keep the foam windscreen on the sound level meter to minimize dust in the microphone.