Speakers recommendation please...

[haimoc]

My brother plans to buy some speakers for home theater, music, and karaoke... I am doing a little research for the right speakers for him.

I heard that speakers for karaoke are different from speakers for home theater and music. Please correct me if I am wrong.

I like Polk speakers for home theater and music, but I am not sure if they are feasible for karaoke.

I would like to know your opinion or recommendation for something that might work for him.

Thank you all for your time and help.

[Tour2ma]

.. and just as I was beginning to think there were no more new questions to be asked here. :D

[jcaut]

Yeah... that's new one!

I think the answer may depend on the other equipment that will be used, and how it all works together. Could you give a description of the setup? Does one mode of usage take priority over the others? There are differences in speakers used for PA/live sound vs. speakers for general music/HT use. But for your purposes it may not make any difference.

Jason

[amulford]

Karaoke???

[haimoc]

Thanks for your respond.

I am not sure how the system will be setup for my brother because I am new to audio/video/karaoke system setup, too.

I am thinking that I might suggest my brother to build a system step by step (his wife and friends prefer the system can be used with karaoke right away, and they can listen to music and enjoy their DVD as well). They are not critical music listeners.

1. Buy a pair of floor speakers (around $800) with a receiver (around $400-$500), and a karaoke mixer (around $350) for now to start with.

2. Later, they will add the center and surround speakers (Maybe next year).

Given choice #1 for now, I am not sure what kind of floor speakers I should suggest them for their goal.

I went to a local karaoke store, I found many karaoke speakers that seem to be different from stereo speakers (Please correct me if I am wrong). I heard that these speakers are great for karaoke only, but not good for music and movie.

I tend to lean toward regular music floor speakers (like Polks Rti8 for example); however, I am not sure if these speakers are good for karaoke and not damaged by karaoke voice input.

Please help me with your recommendation and suggestion.

Thanks again.

[Zero]

You would be better off purchasing a seperate Karokee system. Using home audio gear for this purpose could cause damage. Professional audio speakers may be more suitable, though they will not give you nearly the amount of fidelity of home audio speakers.

Get two different rigs.. one for music / ht
The other, for singin'...

[jcaut]

Well.... I know nothing about karaoke mixers. I'm sure suitability for karaoke use DIDN'T figure into the design of Polk speakers.

I can't really see why damaging your speakers would be likely with karaoke voice input, versus regular music or HT use, as long as the levels are set properly, to avoid feedback and such. Live vocals are usually compressed a bit to make them fit better in the overall mix. Again, I'm not sure how a karaoke mixer works or what controls it has: Perhaps it has feedback filters, parametric EQ, etc.?

That said, I feel like a better alternative would be to set up a separate karaoke system with PA speakers. Set up a nice HT/music system with Polks. Otherwise I think it would be a compromise on both fronts. That's my opinion. You might be able to get some more opinions over on the PartsExpress tech board:

http://www.pesupport.com/cgi-bin/config.pl

[jcaut]

I was trying to type my response out while ATC posted his....

I type too slow I guess. :) Anyway, I agree.

[haimoc]

Thanks ATCVenom and Jcaut, thanks for your help.

Coud you please explain a little more about feedback? I heard about it but don't understand what it is... Thanks.

[Zero]

One day I was in a rather curious mood..

So I took my Keyboard and plugged it into the system. Wow, I couldnt believe how distorted it sounded. It was so horrible and over driven, that damage was sure to take place. I couldnt tell you why, I only know it was horrible.

I did something very simular with a small kareokee machine... even worse results!

[Tour2ma]

Originally posted by haimoc
Coud you please explain a little more about feedback? I heard about it but don't understand what it is... Thanks.

When the ampilied sound from the speaker(s) hits the microphone, is amplified and produced by the speakers, and so on...

Usually builds to an irritating, high pitched squel..

[haimoc]

Got it, Tour2ma. Thanks.

jcaut mentioned that "as long as the levels are set properly, to avoid feedback and such."

My next question might sound stupid, but how I know that the levels I set is proper...

I guess the instruction manual from the karaoke mixer should tell me what is the proper level to set, right?

[jcaut]

The manual should explain the level-setting procedure. It's most likely going to be trial-and-error. The main thing would be to sneak up on the microphone level, in little increments. That's the adjustment that would be most likely to get you in trouble, in my opinion.

Here's what I was thinking in giving my original response: If the question is, "is it likely that you would damage "regular" speakers by using them with a karaoke mixer?", then my answer would be "probably not, IF the levels are set carefully". In a perfect setup, the signal being played through the speakers, during karaoke use, wouldn't be significantly different than regular music. Problem is the setup is not going to be perfect, all the time, with different "singers" (notice the quotes :D). Having the mic gain set too high could result in all kinds of nasty pops or howls and squeals (- feedback-), which COULD potentially damage speakers.

Here's something else I was just thinking about as I typed the paragraph above: What type of room is this system going to be in? I know practically nothing about karaoke, but it seems to me that a typical living room setting just wouldn't work very well. Seems you would almost need a stage---- More of an auditorium-type setting. In that case (in a big room) you WOULD definitely want to use a PA-type speaker.

Jason