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karaoke mixer/amp/player HELP!!

Your comments, questions, or opinions on any karaoke related hardware.
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phoebequeenbee
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2013 6:32 pm

karaoke mixer/amp/player HELP!!

Post by phoebequeenbee »

Right then I am new to all this so please bear with me, could anyone suggest the best set up for an all round karaoke system please. I have my big bose speakers mounted in all 4 corners of my room and I have been using an ancient sony stack system as my surround sound while connecting my (nearly as ancient) karaoke machine to it, I then plug my laptop into the karaoke machine if I need to use karafun instead of my cdg discs it all works just fine, however I'm at the point where I want to achieve a quality sound while singing and not compromising, I'll be using a sm58 for vocals and its no good having a good mic if the system I'm using is below par. So basically all I need to know is there a karaoke player/mixer amp thats not too expensive but does the job I need it to. I have so many cables and wires connecting all of my things together and its getting me down even looking at it. Any advice is welcome thanks.


mnementh
Posts: 674
Joined: Tue Apr 28, 2009 5:41 am
Location: Dundee, Scotland

Post by mnementh »

Hi there,
first, welcome to the madhouse.

Second, I'm not sure if you're in the correct section for your needs as it seems to me you're more looking for hardware advice, rather than a scenario situation.

However and I DO sympathise with you, Re. all your various multiplicity of cables and wonder if a simple re-think is what's needed.

I think you'll find that most serious KJ's will look on your system as being fairly unsuitable for Karaoke in the first place so perhaps a smaller, dedicated kit might be your answer.

If you're simply singing in your room (you don't say how big it is, by the way), you're not going to need a monster mixer/amp chucking out terrawatts of sound. In fact, too loud will have shrieking feedback as your main problem.

Also, you say you use discs AND laptop as Karaoke sources, so I would suggest you pick one OR the other and stick to that. Given that it's the 21st Century, I'd suggest laptop and convert the discs you have to MP3+G. Stick to one source, you'll cut your wiring in half immediately.

Most audio equipment these days boasts performance figures that are staggeringly good, compared to even 15 - 20 years ago and the likely main distortion source will be your speakers.

Sadly, unless you're willing to spend $1,000's of your hard earned cash on high end speakers with servo feedback, etc. that will NOT improve.

You can have all the 0.000001% distortion kit you want but your speakers will be 3 - 4% distorion, no matter what and I don't care who makes them.

OK, after all that, here's what I'd suggest for a small to medium size room;

Laptop as Karaoke and music source.
Small 4 to 6 channel mixer from eBay (shouldn't cost more than $100)
A pair of 8" or 10" powered PA speakers, again from eBay.
Microphone or microphones to suit.

Wiring on this set up will be minimal and won't interfere with your present kit.

Remember, your electronic bits will out perform your speakers by several factors of 10. Speaker tech, Neodymium magnets or not is still 100+ years old for normal units. A friend of mine has Servo assist speakers that cost him around $6,000 the pair and they're still only good for just under 1% harmonic distortion.

Have fun,

Sandy.
phoebequeenbee
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2013 6:32 pm

Post by phoebequeenbee »

Hi there, thanks for the reply. I realise I didn't give enough info as I should of done at the start but it was late night and I had been looking at various options all over the internet to find a solution to me dilemma, I think it was pure desperation to just tell someone and ask for advice lol. I think that I shall definitely go for the whole laptop scene I use karafun on the laptop right now so I'll see if I can save all my cd-g's on it and go from there. My room is only about 24ft x15ft and the I have 2 bose video moniters and 2 pioneer cs-210's one in each corner, my hi fi is a sony LBT-D359 (ancient I know) and I'm using an mtv STVG-988 karaoke machine. The sound isn't terrible but I'm at the stage where I'm wanting it to be better, I was looking at http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/STARSINGER-10 ... 3cca3903a3 but then I'd need a seperate monitor and would it work through my sony system?? Would I still need a mixer?? So much info and not the brain to deal with it ha :wink: thanks again for responding
mnementh
Posts: 674
Joined: Tue Apr 28, 2009 5:41 am
Location: Dundee, Scotland

Post by mnementh »

Hi again,
coincidentally, I bought a Starsinger unit for a couple of KJ's I support when their player went mammaries up and it has proved to be a good buy.

It was an earlier model and there were a couple of things about it I didn't like;

The CD tray was pretty flimsy and I would advise care with it.
The SD card reader produced odd results after the first track was played.

These issues might well have been sorted with this model but if you're thinking of going Laptop, it won't matter.

The Starsinger almost certainly will work through any standard audio system, as long as the system has standard connections.

The Starsinger also has keychange and echo built in, so separate mixer probably not required.

However, I suspect Wiseguy and Bigdog will be along shortly to tell you that your speakers aren't suitable for live performance but in all honesty, I don't see how they wouldn't be OK at the levels you're likely to use in a room the size you indicate.

As to "saving" your CD+G discs onto your laptop, you understand this isn't as straightforward as you think?????

If you rip the discs, the chances are all you'll get is the audio and no video (onscreen lyrics).

This is because the video track is "squeezed" into a normally unused sector between the audio tracks and a standard CD drive won't be able to read it correctly.

To rip a CD+G disc, you MUST use a CD+G compatible drive and usually special software that will read the interlaced video track.

Power Karaoke CD+G Burner software will do this and it's pretty cheap.

Please note that "Burning" a CD+G disc doesn't usually require CD+G compatibility, as it uses special writing formats to get round this but "Reading" absolutely WILL require CD+G compatibility.

Have fun,
Sandy.
Oops! Just read through the main section of the eBay advert and it seems the Starsinger will rip discs, directly, so no special drive/software required. :oops:
phoebequeenbee
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2013 6:32 pm

Post by phoebequeenbee »

cheers for that, I was thinking that I would probably need some extra software if I go down the laptop route however the karaoke machine I put the link up to earlier has the software already installed so maybe I'll just buy that machine and see how I get on, like I say it's bound to be better than my current karaoke machine, and if I decide on the laptop route at a later date I can always put it in my daughters playroom for her and her muckers to use, the laptop I have is used for my work too so half the time it's stuck in my shop, I'd have to purchase another laptop to use for my karaoke, so thinking on this I may go for the karaoke machine and buy a moniter that can stay mounted in my house. Thank you soo much for your advice tho knowledge really is power I appreciate you taking the time. Now then any suggestions on a karaoke moniter or am I pushing it haha :wink:
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