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Speakers for the party system

Twice a year, we host a gathering of around 120 friends for several days. Across the years, we have gotten much better at supplying food, beverages, camp sites, showers etc. The issue is music for wild dancing! Until last year, we used the main floor of our house and our reference level sound system. Everyone was very happy but me... I always worried about spills, chills and expensive thrills. Last year, we finished the basement and moved the party downstairs. The room is almost the same size (900 sq ft), but with lower (9 foot) ceilings. I bought a fairly descent system, but the party girls wanted much more punch and thump. Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced speaker that will really fill this room with booty moving magic? I've noticed some good deals on PSB scratch and dent stuff but have never heard these. My main system uses Dunlavy V with Plinius SA-100 monos, so the competition is fierce. Song selection includes everything from Mikey Hart to Mojo Nixon, Parliment to Massive Attack, The Beatles to Lou Reed...
eadese
gotog
133 posts
 
If you don't want to use subs and are looking for a full range speaker I would suggest:

New: Axiom Audio Millenia M80 Ti ($1,100) - solid Canadian made speaker... check out www.axiomaudio.com

Used: Von Schweikert VR4 II's can be had for less than $2,000 on this site. Nice speaker..full range down to 20 hz
blkadr
739 posts
 
Use a pair of subs to get the "punch". Use the a high pass filter to protect your main speaker woofers from over travel (run them full range when you listen at sane levels). Use plenty of clean power so you dont clip and trash the tweeters. I use speakers with 5 1/2" or with 6 1/2" woofers and they both play very loud, but your room is much larger than mine. Some speakers of modest size can play surprisingly loud if given lots of {quality) power.
With a room as big as yours, pro sound may be the way to go, but dont discount the subwoofer option. Most PA type systems dont play below 40hz, even if they have large woofers.
bliptrip
10 posts
 
I've use a trusty older pair of VMPS Super Tower R speakers for party use. The crowd's ears will usually give out before the speakers do.

Your most cost-effective option would be to simply rent a dj speaker setup for the night. 900 square feet with a low ceiling like yours would not take a lot of pro audio to get the boom. A couple of 15" or 18" based Cerwin-Vega/EV/JBL towers with 200 watts per channel would be more than sufficient.
jhardy
63 posts
 
Fatparrot has got it right. 6 years ago I was looking to go cheap as I could go on my wedding reception and there was no way I was going pay $600.00 for a dejay. I also knew my Naim 250 at 70 watts with Mission 727 speakers would never make any ballroom jump. But smarts prevailed and instead of a dejay I borrowed a friends "run of the mill" multi disc cd player instead of my Meridian 207 Pro player at the time and I rented a pair of large Cervin Vegas to use with my Naim 250 and 72 pre-amp. I loaded it with discs and let it run. It was so loud I never had to crank it full. It sounded better than a whole lot of dancing venues I've been to but guess what? Nobody cared including my self that one night.
haoleb
82 posts
 
Id say JBL's I have the ND310 dual 10" 3 ways, and they like power and like to be played with authority. Im powering them with a NAD C-370 120 wpc integrated and im sure ive had it as loud as your gonna need b4. Give em a try
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