need sound advice (pardon the pun) regarding PA-speaker matching

[HooBass]

apologies for the n00bish request, but i'm hoping someone here can answer my questions, b/c i've been searching all afternoon and the explanations of peak/continuous/rms have my head spinning.

 

my band (3-piece acoustic outfit) currently uses a crate PX700DLX powered mixer into two Peavey SP5X loudspeakers. we also have three peavey impulse personal monitors that we run off the crate as well.

 

the crate has two 200W power amps in it. which to me means that we're running 100W into each SP5X and 67W into each impulse. the SPs are rated at 700W, which leads me to believe we're grossly underpowering them, but the Impulses are rated at 50W continuous and 100W program, so i figure 67W is fine for those. whenever we really crank the volume, we get feedback from hell from our mains, which i attribute to them being underpowered. but that may not be the case.

 

we're looking at getting a higher-powered yamaha mixer to replace the crate. it's got two 500W amps in it. now, that'll be fine for the SPs (250W each), but i'm concerned that that much power will blow the Impulse montitors (167W into each of them).

 

now, for my questions:

 

1. how much power should we be pushing into the SP5Xs if they're rated at 700W? should we get the biggest amp we can afford at this point, or could we get by with, say, a 300W or 400W head?

 

2. will getting a more powerful head allow us to run higher volumes at lower gain levels (hopefully reducing the amt. of feedback from our mikes and acoustic instruments)?

 

3. as long as we don't max out the volume on the monitor side, can we run the Impulse monitors on a 300-500W amp without blowing them? or should we get a separate, lower-powered amp to run our monitors off of?

 

thanks in advance!

[tlbonehead]

 

apologies for the n00bish request, but i'm hoping someone here can answer my questions, b/c i've been searching all afternoon and the explanations of peak/continuous/rms have my head spinning. my band (3-piece acoustic outfit) currently uses a crate PX700DLX powered mixer into two Peavey SP5X loudspeakers. we also have three peavey impulse personal monitors that we run off the crate as well. the crate has two 200W power amps in it. which to me means that we're running 100W into each SP5X and 67W into each impulse. the SPs are rated at 700W, which leads me to believe we're grossly underpowering them, but the Impulses are rated at 50W continuous and 100W program, so i figure 67W is fine for those. whenever we really crank the volume, we get feedback from hell from our mains, which i attribute to them being underpowered. but that may not be the case. we're looking at getting a higher-powered yamaha mixer to replace the crate. it's got two 500W amps in it. now, that'll be fine for the SPs (250W each), but i'm concerned that that much power will blow the Impulse montitors (167W into each of them). now, for my questions: 1. how much power should we be pushing into the SP5Xs if they're rated at 700W? should we get the biggest amp we can afford at this point, or could we get by with, say, a 300W or 400W head? 2. will getting a more powerful head allow us to run higher volumes at lower gain levels (hopefully reducing the amt. of feedback from our mikes and acoustic instruments)? 3. as long as we don't max out the volume on the monitor side, can we run the Impulse monitors on a 300-500W amp without blowing them? or should we get a separate, lower-powered amp to run our monitors off of? thanks in advance!

1. They aren't rated at 700 watts, I don't believe. Isn't that the program rating. I think they have Scorpion woofer, right? No way would I use over 400 watts on them.

 

2. very, very doubtful. You sure the feedback isn't coming from the monitors, not the mains? You have to address why the feedback, and where it is coming from.

 

3. Yes, until you have an accident.

 

BTW, from my experience, the Yam powered mixers seem pretty light for their rating when compared to Peaveys and Yorkvilles. Might want to reconsider.