PA speakers

[lexiphanic]

I'm thinking of throwing parties in my garage...

Long story short, there is no local (within 90 miles)
venues to enjoy the type of music I dig, so I figured
I would try and get a scene going all by myself.

So, I'm thinking that I'll want some nice efficient speakers
to really hit the SPL levels that will get people moving.

Has anybody run across any good resources
for putting together a pair of PA speakers?

Since having a 110 DB handy would just be loads of
laughs, I'm looking to spend around 500-750 on parts.

Any direction greatly appreciated.

[ThomasW]

So your home is zoned for running a business, you have the necessary permits, license, and your neighbors are going to welcome this type of endeavour?

[lexiphanic]

Haha.

Um.

No. I do have a friend works down at the local police station.
Starting out, I'm pretty sure I'd be lucky to find 6-12 people to
come over. As it got larger I'd have to get smarter.

As far as sound, my place is in the middle of the block, and I'd be sure to talk to all
my neighbors and try sound checks to make sure the audio didn't get too far. I hate
noise pollution, and am pretty lucky in that the garage I'd be doing stuff in is relatively
isolated.

I assume below a certain threshold it is basically just a 'house' party.

[---k---]

I'm sure there is something out there on the net. I've never really come across it. The one place I've seen is http://www.billfitzmaurice.com/Omni12.html
He posts some times on PE.

[Dennis H]

Pi speakers has some kits that would meet your needs. You're going to need a horn tweeter and a large pro woofer for that kind of SPL. The 12" 3pi or the 15" 4pi look like they are in your price range (prices are for each speaker.)

http://www.pispeakers.com/Prices.html

[bluewizard]

A garage really isn't all that big, even a two car garage. Also keep in mind that most speaker SPL ratings are, more or less, in free air. Meaning in room of, again more or less, unrestricted volume.

Contained in a smaller restricted space, even small speaker can reach high SPLs.

Also, what are the walls like in your garage? Pretty bare and hard I'm guessing. Which in turn means a lot of bound, a lot of echo, and a lot of dead spots.

In general any full range PA/DJ speaker will likely get the job done. Though don't expect that same HiFi quality you get from HiFi speakers.

It is really just a matter of shopping around to find speakers you like that you can afford. You might try looking at the Cerwin Vaga site. Their standard speakers are bass heavy, high volume, high power speakers, with tolerable fidelity.

http://www.cerwinvega.com/CLS.php

A pair of Cerwin Vega CLS-215's will run you about $500 (or maybe that is EACH, I hate it when they don't come right out and say 'each' or a 'pair'.)

Still, you can get DJ speaker on the cheap by the boat load, easily for $100 a pair with large woofer and massive power handling, though I'm not sure how they sound.

Now, If you are planning to build, then you can look as various design and see if you find any you want to duplicate. Usually it is just some bass guitar speakers combine with some decent horns, plus a powerful crossover, and you are there.

For what it's worth.

Steve/bluewizard

[J-Dub]

i agree with bluewizard.

the complete lack of absorbtion in a garage and all those hard surfaces to echo off of will certainly be easy to make "loud" couple of dj PA's and a sizable amp / reciever. you'll be good. even with the best speakers you will have to do a lot of room treatment to a garage to get good sound quality.

now for justifying the build, Im assuming you live in a rural area and have some land to party on. if so you may occasionaly want to move everything outdoors. in that case. a pro amp, some prosound woofers in a folded horn enclosure and a compression horn tweeter might do the trick.

play around with some of the drivers at parts express and do some research on folded horns.

Hope that helps