Members mr2good Posted February 8, 2005 Members Share Posted February 8, 2005 I have a pair of ISP Vmax 15 powered PA speakers, 400 watts a piece. We need to get a mixer still as well as figure out our monitor situation. Two acoustic guitars and two vocal mics will be run through the PA. The bassist has his own stack and the drummer is unmic'd. We are using this setup in our jam room and for smaller 100 person clubs. We have an extra set of community 15" PA speakers that we can use as monitors, we just don't have a way to power them yet. They are rated on the back at 150 watts rms. The best thing to do is get a passive mixer and an amp to run the monitors but that will be pricey for us. Is it ok if I get a powered mixer to power the monitors? I would then use that as our main mixer, probably 8 channels. Is there an issue with using a powered mixer and powered PA speakers? Yamaha EMX88S That is the one I was looking at. I can get it on eBay for $400. Rather than spending @$300 on a passive mixer and @$300 on an amp for the monitors, isn't this the most cost efficient solution? I am most concerned with sound quality, if we grow out of this mixer I will not mind buying a new one because we would have to be doing pretty dang well to out grow it. Let me know if this will work for what I need. Also, if you have a better solution or product reccomendations by all means, let me know it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted February 8, 2005 Members Share Posted February 8, 2005 Originally posted by mr2good I have a pair of ISP Vmax 15 powered PA speakers, 400 watts a piece. We need to get a mixer still as well as figure out our monitor situation. Two acoustic guitars and two vocal mics will be run through the PA. The bassist has his own stack and the drummer is unmic'd. We are using this setup in our jam room and for smaller 100 person clubs.We have an extra set of community 15" PA speakers that we can use as monitors, we just don't have a way to power them yet. They are rated on the back at 150 watts rms.The best thing to do is get a passive mixer and an amp to run the monitors but that will be pricey for us.Is it ok if I get a powered mixer to power the monitors? I would then use that as our main mixer, probably 8 channels. Is there an issue with using a powered mixer and powered PA speakers?Yamaha EMX88S That is the one I was looking at. I can get it on eBay for $400. Rather than spending @$300 on a passive mixer and @$300 on an amp for the monitors, isn't this the most cost efficient solution?I am most concerned with sound quality, if we grow out of this mixer I will not mind buying a new one because we would have to be doing pretty dang well to out grow it.Let me know if this will work for what I need. Also, if you have a better solution or product reccomendations by all means, let me know it. That make's no sense to me. $300 will get you a new mixer that is at least three times as good as the actual mixer portion of that powered mixer. Actually,$225-250 would get you a better actual mixer. Then add a used power amp for $100-150. They are all over ebay. Warpdrive is selling 250 and 350 watt mono Soundtech monitor amps for $100-129 there. I believe they even have a built-in EQ. They would be perfect. And Warp Drive also has a satisfaction guarantee on them,I believe. Otherwise,I have a 500 watt mono Traynor power amp for sale for that same price range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DunedinDoug Posted February 8, 2005 Members Share Posted February 8, 2005 I won't comment on the dollars-and-cents aspect of your idea, but we have used a powered mixer in the past (a Yamaha EMX), and it provided a nice simple solution to grow from. We started with an EMX driving our mains and eventually bought an external amp and let the EMX drive a pair of monitors. We grew out of that situation and bought a new amp to drive our mains. So for awhile we were using the EMX as a mixer but not as a powered mixer (although I suppose it would have been a nice "backup" to one of the external amps). Then we upgraded to a larger, passive mixer. In your case, the EMX will drive the passive monitors just fine and you'll be able to plug your powered speakers in as well. It's a simple, modular approach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCDEF Posted February 8, 2005 Members Share Posted February 8, 2005 Looks like a bad plan to me. From what I can tell, that mixer goes for around $500 new. You could get this one (unpowered) http://carvin.com/products/mixer.php?ItemNumber=C844 for $359, that offers way more features, including four monitor sends instead of 1, and as suggested, an inexpensive power amp for the same price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mr2good Posted February 9, 2005 Author Members Share Posted February 9, 2005 Ok, I will get the passive mixer and used power amp. I've never dealt with passive mixers before, I have no idea which is the best bang for your buck brand out there. Also, I've never dealt with a power amp to run monitors, so besides the warp drive ebay suggestion I don't have much info on this subject either. I would like to pick up both at a discount, either ebay, or used locally. Can you suggest some passive mixers and power amps that would work best for me. I would like to keep the price tag under $400 for both items together, which is attainable if I buy used. Thanks again for the help, Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Never_Grew_Up Posted February 13, 2005 Members Share Posted February 13, 2005 If you haven't bought yet, why not use a powered mixer to drive the passive speakers as mains & use your powered speakers as monitors? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mr2good Posted February 14, 2005 Author Members Share Posted February 14, 2005 Originally posted by Never_Grew_Up If you haven't bought yet, why not use a powered mixer to drive the passive speakers as mains & use your powered speakers as monitors? Because the powered speakers are ISP Vmaxx15's, 400 watts each. which go for around 1 grand a piece new, while the passive community speakers have a much smaller power handeling. Basically, one set of speakers are much nicer than the other. Thats why we got them, as FOH speakers. I am thinking about picking up a yamaha mixer on eBay, the YAMAHA MG16/6FX. If you guys could let me know about the best band for the buck passive mixer I would really appreciate it. Thanks, Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMS Author Craig Vecchione Posted February 14, 2005 CMS Author Share Posted February 14, 2005 Peavey RQ2310. About $320. Should be about perfect for a duet. Two effects sends, two monitor sends. Eight Mic inputs, two of which also have stereo input. Two channels have polarity reverse and 20dB pad. Pretty decent routing options for a small mixer, and it's dead quiet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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