Buying a PA system

[sever]

Hoping this is the right place to post this, if anyone knows of any good forums for it then let me know...

Basically I'm looking to buy a PA system to play house parties with. I live in Leeds and they get pretty big so I need something pretty loud and preferably with decent sound quality. Anyone got any recommendations? I'm looking to spend between 300-500 quid but obviously needs to be able to withstand a bit of punishment as it'll have to be going all night etc.

Hope someone can help me out,
Cheers

[salford]

If you live in Leeds then ask some of the established sound systems if they've got any second hand speakers to sell - try Iration, Central Beatz, High Pressure, Symbiosis or put up an advert in Tribe.
http://forum.speakerplans.com/ is a technical forum about sound systems and stuff but it would be easier just to contact all of the above sound systems through myspace or by going to one of their gigs - find their flyers in Tribe.

[__________]

PA system between 300-500 quid

save some more pennies man, you'd get a dog of a soundsystem for £500.

[sever]

Yeah undeniably mate but all I need is something pretty loud. Don't think anyone will too fussed about quality in a basement, seen people going mental with one active monitor on the floor so I'm just looking for the best I can get for that money. Ultimately It'd be nice to be packing something similar to the plastic people rig of course

PA system between 300-500 quid

save some more pennies man, you'd get a dog of a soundsystem for £500.

[damagedgoods]

Yeah undeniably mate but all I need is something pretty loud. Don't think anyone will too fussed about quality in a basement, seen people going mental with one active monitor on the floor so I'm just looking for the best I can get for that money. Ultimately It'd be nice to be packing something similar to the plastic people rig of course

PA system between 300-500 quid

save some more pennies man, you'd get a dog of a soundsystem for £500.

Yup, but at that price point it's more of a size/reliability tradeoff than a size/sound quality tradeoff. There's an awful lot of budget PAs that are plenty loud and don't sound so shitty that you can't use them for a basement party, but that would just blow up really quickly (or overheat mid-party, or have bits rattling loose, etc).

[sever]

Yeah undeniably mate but all I need is something pretty loud. Don't think anyone will too fussed about quality in a basement, seen people going mental with one active monitor on the floor so I'm just looking for the best I can get for that money. Ultimately It'd be nice to be packing something similar to the plastic people rig of course

PA system between 300-500 quid

save some more pennies man, you'd get a dog of a soundsystem for £500.

Yup, but at that price point it's more of a size/reliability tradeoff than a size/sound quality tradeoff. There's an awful lot of budget PAs that are plenty loud and don't sound so shitty that you can't use them for a basement party, but that would just blow up really quickly (or overheat mid-party, or have bits rattling loose, etc).

fair shout, its well annoying when you can hear stuff bouncing about every time the kick hits. even so my budget is what it is. I'll probably just start paying attention to the stuff I see at house parties and look into whether its affordable. often just 2 actives on poles.

[h*product]

i brought a crap 1000w skytec pa. had it for years and really cant complain, it did about 50 housepartys and never broke or overheated or anything. and it only cost me £300. admitidly it sounded shit and wasn't really loud enough on its own but i had a few other speakers and for the price it was a bargain.

i just recently sold it for £200 quid and i def got my moneys worth, if i was going to buy a pa again i'd ether build the cabs or get some second hand stuff. like matey said above contact people who have soundsystems and they've always got bits they need to get rid of because of space etc

good iuck mate