Booth monitor amplifier having problems - go with powered speakers or replace amp?

JLNorthGA

JLNorthGA

Active Member
We're going to have to do something with our booth amplifier. Yesterday it started acting up and lost a side. It is a cheap Radio Shack amplifier. Joshua, our sound tech ended up giving it a whack and it started working again.

The amplifier gets a feed from our Mackie mixing board and goes to a pair of small 8" speakers on either side of the booth window. Both the speakers and amplifier are part of our rental package from Joshua - so eventually as we replace our stuff they'll have to go anyway.

I can either go with powered speakers or an amplifier and eventually a pair of speakers. I don't really have a preference - except to conserve money. Obviously I wouldn't need a really powerful amplifier for the booth - or really too powerful a set of powered speakers - the sound booth isn't that large.

So - powered speakers or amplifier?
 
Re: Booth monitor amplifier having problems - go with powered speakers or replace amp

If a whack fixed the amplifier it's probably something simple like a cold solder joint or a bad input connector.
What speakers do you have now?
What are the monitors used for, just cueing or are you mixing off of them?
I can't really speak for whether to go powered or unpowered, but I do know that the crown d75 is and always was a great monitoring amp, and can be had for peanuts used on eBay. As for speakers, if the ones you have are aquedate for your purposes, go with the same ones or a similar model when you upgrade to your own equipment. If your just cueing sound effects though, a monitoring system doesent have to be as expensive or accurate. If your always monitoring the mix with the monitors, then your going to want something better.
 
Re: Booth monitor amplifier having problems - go with powered speakers or replace amp

Aman121 said:
What speakers do you have now?
What are the monitors used for, just cueing or are you mixing off of them?
Click to expand...

What speakers? Who knows - cheap ones w/o any name
We use the monitors for cueing and to determine the mix levels.
Ideally I'd like to spend less than $300.
 
Re: Booth monitor amplifier having problems - go with powered speakers or replace amp

New, small monitor amps are becoming hard to find. Crown recently stopped making the venerable D75, though they are still in stock at BSW. Art, Alesis, and Samson are about all that is left. Make sure to avoid amps with fan cooling for this application. Stay away from Rolls.

It is also hard to find passive studio monitor speakers these days. There is a plethora of self powered monitor speakers of all sizes and cost, and many of them are pretty good. For modestly priced ones, I have had good luck with Event and Mackie. Your budget would be the minimum to spend for decent results. Stay away from M-Audio.
 
Re: Booth monitor amplifier having problems - go with powered speakers or replace amp

Wow no more of the d series? Curse you Harman!
If your in lower budget powered monitor land, the mackies dont look half bad, probably a cut above Sampson, behringer, ect. But if your just cuing, and really want to spend as little as possible, a pair of bookshelf speakers and a small 20wpc amp would work. Even a pair of computer speakers would get the job done.
 
Re: Booth monitor amplifier having problems - go with powered speakers or replace amp

Something else to look into is an older home stereo, something from the 70's or 80's, Check out local thrift shops, want ads, CL, garage sales, and of course, WOM(word of mouth). Lots of dust collectors sitting in garages and attics, nothing wrong with them and can be good sounding, just look dated. So what if the grill cloth is ripped.
 
Re: Booth monitor amplifier having problems - go with powered speakers or replace amp

If your looking for something under $300 this pair of Alesis studio monitors falls right into the center of your price range. Alesis M1ACTIVE 520 ALESIS M1 ACTIVE 520 5" Two-way 75-watt Studio Monitors (Pair) - All Pro Sound
They are 75 watt so they should be enough for your booth if it is not to expansive. They are not the best but not bad specs for that price range.

If you are looking for cheeper here is a pair of Numark powered speakers.
http://www.allprosound.com/catalog/productdetails~fprodid~12493~item~Numark-NPM5.htm only 99 bucks. Not a lot of input connection options but some adapters will do the trick. Obviously the sound quality from these will not be quite the same as there more expensive friends but maybe you don't really need "quadrophonic" sound.
 
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Re: Booth monitor amplifier having problems - go with powered speakers or replace amp

If you are trying to do this on the cheap, what about a set of powered computer speakers? I've found you can get a decent sounding set of speakers starting around $75 or so. A quick search of Newegg found this set of 3-way, 32 watt Creative speakers for about $120 w/ shipping. Check out the customer reviews. 126 reviews with a 5 out of 5 average is a really good sign. There's also a pretty good looking set of Bose speakers for $90 w/free shipping.
 
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Re: Booth monitor amplifier having problems - go with powered speakers or replace amp

ccm1495 said:
Hey if its possible I second this.
Click to expand...

Why would I want to tear out a perfectly good window? We don't want to disturb the paying customers with our comments during the shows.

Also - during the plays - one of the directors sits in the booth and gives cues. That's isn't bad - but she does comment on the ongoing train-wreck on occasion.
 
Re: Booth monitor amplifier having problems - go with powered speakers or replace amp

JLNorthGA said:
Why would I want to tear out a perfectly good window? We don't want to disturb the paying customers with our comments during the shows.

Also - during the plays - one of the directors sits in the booth and gives cues. That's isn't bad - but she does comment on the ongoing train-wreck on occasion.
Click to expand...
If the audience can't hear you then you also can't hear what they are hearing and what the audience hears is generally what the mix is all about. You and your people may work in the space enough to relate what you hear in the booth to what is heard by the audience but not only will that change with new monitor speakers but that may also not apply to everyone.

As far as hearing comments, and especially ones you may not want heard, that is usually a matter of policies and practices and probably could be altered if so desired. There are situations where conversation in a tech booth may be appropriate or required and justifies it being acoustically isolated but I've seen cases where conversation is much more a result of having an isolated booth that allows it than it is of it being required. Only you can decide for your situation if the Director's comments outweigh any potential improvement in hearing what the audience hears.

One thing to consider with powered speakers is the power. Do you have sufficient power in the booth to add powered speakers and how do you get power to them without extension cords, etc. that may not be permitted for permanent installations?
 
Re: Booth monitor amplifier having problems - go with powered speakers or replace amp

museav said:
If the audience can't hear you then you also can't hear what they are hearing and what the audience hears is generally what the mix is all about. You and your people may work in the space enough to relate what you hear in the booth to what is heard by the audience but not only will that change with new monitor speakers but that may also not apply to everyone.

As far as hearing comments, and especially ones you may not want heard, that is usually a matter of policies and practices and probably could be altered if so desired. There are situations where conversation in a tech booth may be appropriate or required and justifies it being acoustically isolated but I've seen cases where conversation is much more a result of having an isolated booth that allows it than it is of it being required. Only you can decide for your situation if the Director's comments outweigh any potential improvement in hearing what the audience hears.

One thing to consider with powered speakers is the power. Do you have sufficient power in the booth to add powered speakers and how do you get power to them without extension cords, etc. that may not be permitted for permanent installations?
Click to expand...

In terms of power we have quad receptacles on each side of the booth front counter. We also have a quad receptacle above the side counter.

In terms of hearing what the audience hears - we have several solutions for that. We have Audio Technica boundary microphones that we used to put on the stage for our hearing impaired feed. I mounted them on the booth exterior wall on either side of the window. They pick up the sound in the auditorium quite nicely. We can also listen to the feed from the four microphones that we have for the hearing impaired system.

Right now I'm looking at two powered monitor speakers. Probably the Alesis Monitor 1 Active MKII powered speakers. They retail for about $299/pair. They are slightly larger than the Rokit 5 speakers which cost about the same.
 
Re: Booth monitor amplifier having problems - go with powered speakers or replace amp

JLNorthGA said:
In terms of power we have quad receptacles on each side of the booth front counter. We also have a quad receptacle above the side counter.
Click to expand...
That does not really tell you much. A quad receptacle is simply four receptacles, often two duplex receptacles, and what matters is how they are circuited along with what else may be on those circuits. Each quad could be served by one, two or even four dedicated circuits. Or all twelve receptacles on the three quads could be wired, perhaps along with some other receptacles, to a single circuit.
 
Re: Booth monitor amplifier having problems - go with powered speakers or replace amp

museav said:
That does not really tell you much. A quad receptacle is simply four receptacles, often two duplex receptacles, and what matters is how they are circuited along with what else may be on those circuits. Each quad could be served by one, two or even four dedicated circuits. Or all twelve receptacles on the three quads could be wired, perhaps along with some other receptacles, to a single circuit.
Click to expand...

I've got four 20 amp circuits in the front quads - four 20 amp circuit breakers anyway.
 
Re: Booth monitor amplifier having problems - go with powered speakers or replace amp

To anyone reading this, please do not take anything the wrong way. I am tired of seeing a simple question absolutely beaten to death without knowing the OP's qualifications. Just get to the heart of the facts.

To the OP: Get a pair of any small 5-8" speakers within your price range. You are on a good track with what you plan to purchase if you go with the Alesis but I would also look at Mackie, they have some inexpensive and good sounding 5" monitors. Some Best Buys even have a MI section and you can audition there.

If you have an amp in there now, I am sure you have enough power to support two small low powered monitors.

We could go on all day about things such as install procedures, circuit availability, circuit rating, what cable will you use, judge why you would want monitors and how you might install them within proper guidelines, but at the end of the day all you asked was what to buy, so only listen to that advice. Anything else is meant to make the poster sound important and know-it-all, or to make you think twice. If you give it a chance, someone will tell you you're using too thin a guage of audio cable or that an RCA to XLR adapter, active or passive, is an unacceptable way to get signal to the speakers.

Go with KRK, Alesis, Mackie, anything but Behringer or Samson, and you will be a happier camper than you are now.

Don't let anyone on here discourage you or second guess your actions. It is your space and you should do what you are comfortable with. If you had any other question other than what to purchase, I am sure you'll find the appropriate forum for that (the way we all would!)

/rant over. just my .02. Carry on all...
 
Re: Booth monitor amplifier having problems - go with powered speakers or replace amp

Don't forget that while we are trying to help solve the OPs question(s), we still have to provide useful information to someone who may search for the thread later.
 
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