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Creating my own Sound System - help

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 12:46 pm
by jmt
I have been wanting to try out making my own Sound System with a couple of my mates. We want it so we can hold our own nights in small venues and stuff, and also it will be a nice little project seeing as not a lot goes on round here, plus it'd be sweet to have a nice sound system I could hire out etc at a young age.

It needs to be powerful and obviously have a stupid amount of bass weight. That is my where I need help. I have looked at loads of different designs, just wondering if anyone knows which is the best sort of design for making a room shake. Second query, what are the best drivers and what do sound systems like Dirt use 'cause the most powerful I can find is like 1,5kw Are there more powerful ones I don't know about? Or will I have to gradually build it up until I have like 10 X 1,5kw ones.

18" Super Scoops?

I know I don't really know a great deal about it, but I would like too. So if anyone could give me any help that would be really appreciated.

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 12:58 pm
by stapleface
http://www.squatjuice.com

there's a sub forum on there dedicated to sound system advice
it's a free party forum so a lot of the people on there own their own huge sound systems and will be able to help you out ;)

good luck!

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 1:03 pm
by serox
Stapleface wrote:http://www.squatjuice.com

there's a sub forum on there dedicated to sound system advice
it's a free party forum so a lot of the people on there own their own huge sound systems and will be able to help you out ;)

good luck!
Beat me too it.

You could post it in the main area also and get a reply, there are no rules on SJ.

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 2:30 pm
by mosfret
www.speakerplans.com

more knowledge than you can shake a stick at!!! have a read of the stickies and the newbie forums and most of your question will be answered...

also the yamaha sound reinforcement handbook is well worth a read

hope this helps,

d.

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 2:51 pm
by __________
i'm not the one to ask about specifics, but overall - aim for higher quality rather than size. a 4k rig that sounds beautiful is better than 8k that sounds cheap.

you could build a fisher price 8k rig with the amps and crossover etc for £X or a nice high quality 4k rig with no amps for the same amount of money, and hire/borrow/save up for what else you need on the night.

its not a five minute job, and you need to be 110% sure what the next bit of kit you're buying is and WHY, or you'll just have an oversized ghetto blaster.

buy once, buy right, and buy something fucking heavy.

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 3:01 pm
by serox
invest in quality amps.

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 3:40 pm
by mosfret
Just to add....

i wouldn't worry too much about the power handling of your drivers as it's pretty much irrelevant... you want to look for drivers/cabinets that are efficient. Theres no point in carrying huge amplifiers around when you can get more SPL with less power.

Drivers and cabinets are not really interchangeable. boxes tend to be designed around particular drivers T/S parameters.

also, don't forget that it'll cost ten times as much as you think it will and your mrs will hate you.... enjoy :)

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 3:42 pm
by lowpass
Yeah I want to invest at some point and do some reading, there's no point spending however many thousands on gear if its not being used to its full potential, you'll just end up spending more money and getting shittier sound

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:27 pm
by jmt
Cheers for all the comments, I am taking everything everyone has said into mind. All good stuff, I'll check out that forum. I know it's going to be a long project, I have already been thinking about it for a long time. And as for the Mrs being mad, I think it's more like the parents as I'm only 17 living at home still with hardly any space as it is haha, but there is 3 of us partaking in the System. It is exciting, I have a friend who is in the business, so I can hire stuff from him in the meantime at mates rates. Now it's just finding somewhere around my area who will be up for letting us do a night, if not, it'll just have to be a heavy one in the trusty woods.

Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:51 pm
by mosfret
another thing to consider is if theres any point in starting your own system straight away? are there any other local crews who could do with a hand? there's never enough heads at the end of a night for lifting and shifting... the knowledge you could gain from just helping out now and then would be priceless....

most importantly make sure you have nuff fun!!!!

if theres anything you think i could help with, give us a shout...

all the best

d.