Setting up a rental company -need advise

Hi I'm a new member in this forum. I'm currently looking to start a small sound rental company..4 tops , 2 subs basic setup. The option I was considering was the EAW Fr series. Anyone with any opinons on the system? and what about Amp recommendations? I was thinking of Crest Audio or a cheaper QSC since now my priority is having a reasonable good sound,sellable system and of course a resonable Return of Investment in a resonable time..
Thanks
Johnathan Ramayah
Audio Engineer
 
Hey Welcome!

I dont have any experience with the Fr series, but I do have experience with lots of EAW stuff (LA325, SM200iH, KF850, SB1000, etc) and I have not been disappointed. Their support has been great, even on tight time schedules. I really cannot say enough good about them! I know many big rental / touring companies use their equipment.

About what amps you need... You really need to decide what speaker you want to use first, and that will determine what amp you should use. I have even called up EAW and they have been happy to walk me through the amp specs that work best with their speakers

One final thing... many many concerts that you will want to do will probably want more sub then highs, and many tours these days travel with something like 2x as many subs as high drivers. Again, you may want to talk to EAW about this. I often use these pairs in a 1 to 1 combo: LA325 and LA128; KF850 and SB1000; and they sound great!



Disclaimer: I'm not in any way associated with EAW, I'm just a happy customer
 
<Disclaimer: I'm not in any way associated with EAW, I'm just a happy customer>

That's the beauty of word-of-mouth support. When someone or some company goes the extra mile- we should let everyone know! Thanks for your comments Peter.
 
I would recommend either a good array or the EAW 850's. The 850's are the standard in smaller systems, and everyone that has ever worked sound should should know these. They are requested on more riders than any other system for clubs and sheds up to 1500 or so people. That being said, most all rental companies carry them.

There is something to be said for creating a niche in the market. I was never intending on being a rental company, rather a full service production company. I had a bubble machine, pretty nice actually, and I later learned that I was the only company in town that had one. I had never rented my gear out before this. I got several calls from my competitors to rent this, usually on short notice....."can you have it at the Hilton in less than an hour" kind of thing. I rented it to them, and they asked what else I had. They liked working with me and I started renting more and more of my gear to them. Now, they use my gear as much as I do. I just purchased a 30' circle truss. As far as I can tell, it is the only one on the east coast for rent. I have rented it 7 times now and it has paid for itself. Again, it is the niche.....I have something that not everyone else has.


Saying that, consider the niche market. The new JBL VRX 932LA array is pretty nice. Or splurge a little and pick up a Vertec system. I have found that if I only stock quality gear, people consider me to be more professional and are more likely to use me. EAW, JBL (the higher end stuff, not the DJ crap), Crown, QSC, etc....


As far as amps, pretty much everyone will tell you Crown, but I have used the QSC PLX amps for quite some time now and I love them. They are lighter and a little cheaper, but the Crown are very nice as well.
 
I used to own a pair of EAW FR152's... Very good speakers...bit heavy and bulky...but good workhorses with clean sound and good coverage... I have also used CROWN and QSC amps...good amps..I have many Crest Ca's--workhorse beasts but good amps..super heavy tho..

When setting up a sound company you need to assess your limitations for what your PA can handle for coverage and what it cannot. Indoor or OUTDOOR or both....corporate or night club or concert..the number of people inside and outside you can cover etc. You also need to figure out your customer base you are targeting--do you need a system that can do concerts for support, or are you looking for night club and small venue stuff..? DJ's, small bands? Rentals and turnkey systems that go out the door and are user operated--or gear that you send out and op. Also do you wish your gear to be flexible and able to suppliment to other larger companies for their larger needs? Point is--Match a system and gear you get to what you intend to do with it.. For example--the FR152's were great speakers for talking heads and speeches, DJ's and maybe very small band reinforcement in very small areas with subs...but I would not try to cover more then 100-150- people with them per pair generally..they had their limitations..know your gear and know its limitations. Also no other company would rent them unless they ran out of gear of their own to send out on small gigs..but I was still able to rent them to other companies. When I added other items of more "interest" to my line card of gear, such as 2 12racks of KT DN360 EQ's or Lexicon PCM70's and so on--I was able to pull in more $$ by renting those toys out when I was sitting doing nothing during slow times..the KTs were of addition to monitor rigs--the FX were great for tours who needed other units etc... Pick the gear you need, can use, and know you can move....

So when you are thinking about equipment think about the coverages you wish to be able to do..and who your desired customer base is...

JMO...
-w
 
I think a lot of what is needed is to know your market, are there any holes, under served markets. On the small side, IMO best to go niche,

Sharyn
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back