Installs Church Audio Advice

First thing that comes to mind is a pair of QSC K12. I personally have Mackie SRM450 and use them in a large gym for instrumental music concerts, and I think they sound great. I also use Anchor AN-1000x as fills Most people will tell you, however, that the K12 in comparison is a notch up in terms of smooth frequency response. Plus they look a bit cleaner visually.

In contrast, most non-powered speakers I have heard hanging in rooms don't sound good to me at all. But that's just my bias.

I don't use DSPs ... I run the house flat. The only EQ I use is low cut for non-percussion, and the occasional notch filter on input channels to deal with feedback from condensor mics that are close to the front.


do you know if they are passive?? thanks for your reply
 
The QSC K series are active, not passive. So you'll have to run a power cord and XLR cable both to the speaker.

You will hear a lot of debate on the issue, but I think powered speakers are the better option. Amp and speaker are designed as a unit so you will tend to have better audio quality and more consistently than if you mix/match amps with passive speakers.

Plus it gives you more flexibility on the source side. Small digital boards with no heavy amps to lug around in a rack. And , you can even literally plug a dynamic mic into the XLR cable, turn on the speaker, and start talking.
 
The QSC K series are active, not passive. So you'll have to run a power cord and XLR cable both to the speaker.

You will hear a lot of debate on the issue, but I think powered speakers are the better option. Amp and speaker are designed as a unit so you will tend to have better audio quality and more consistently than if you mix/match amps with passive speakers.

Plus it gives you more flexibility on the source side. Small digital boards with no heavy amps to lug around in a rack. And , you can even literally plug a dynamic mic into the XLR cable, turn on the speaker, and start talking.
We need passive speakers because they hang from our ceiling. Can you recommend any?
 
You mean you don't have a way of running new lines to the speakers? Powered speakers hang just the same as non-powered speakers ... they just have different wiring running to the speakers. If you ever go to a broadway show, most of the speakers there are from Meyer Sound ... beautiful sound, all active. They actually have special conenctors that carry both power and signal -- of course our lower end equipment has the more traditional AC power cord and XLR cable ;)
 
Unfortunately we need passive because they will hang from a ceiling.
You've given relatively little information other than the size of the horizontal dimensions of your room, that you like JBL (which sells everything from car audio equipment to tour-grade pro sound), and that you want passive. What's wrong with your current setup? How loud are you expecting to go? Is this just for speech? A single acoustic guitar? A huge gospel choir with drum kit, bass, guitars, etc. and you like shaking the ceiling tiles? What speakers do you have now? What amplifier(s)? Any EQ/system processing?

With self-powered speakers, you have a reasonable chance that they will sound good out of the box. For your budget, you could get a pair of Yamaha DXR-112 speakers, which (IMO) sound better than the QSC K series. Stretching your budget slightly would get you a pair of Yamaha DSR-112 speakers which sound better yet.

Passive speakers always need work to sound good. At a minimum, you need a graphic EQ. It's highly preferable to have a digital speaker controller that has parametric EQ, crossovers, and the like. For best results, you'll need someone to come tune the system, once you get it installed. It's not just as simple as saying "I like JBL", and purchasing whatever JBL speakers may fit in your budget - at least if you care about the end result.
 
We need passive speakers because they hang from our ceiling. Can you recommend any?
Agreed. Can you give us room dimensions and maybe some pictures? It's hard to spec a room that hasn't been seen yet.

I personally like the Qsc k series, simple and good sound for cost effective applications.
 

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