I need cheap LOUD speakers

Whoop · 14 Mar 2017 at 11:29

Hi Folks,

I'm helping a friend of the family start his DJ hobby up and he has some decent decks and an amp etc but some really bad HiFi speakers. He won't know any better so volume > quality here I think.

Is there somewhere to get second hand decent stuff or an alternative to the cheap and cheerful Skytec stuff I see everywhere? (with mixed reviews).

He has to pay for them himself (he is 12) so we are looking really cheap... the Skytec SL8 for example being only £51 and 200W

Anyone in the know on something better?

And · 15 Mar 2017 at 07:29

Realistically he could just get one speaker to use as a monitor as for beat mixing that's more important, then placing it correctly, ie close to your head so that there is as little delay as possible between what the monitor is playing (the live deck) and the headphones are playing (the deck with the track to be mixed in). I would also urge against lots of volume, you don't need it, good clear headphones and monitor are better for learning and honing skills.

dazzlaa · 15 Mar 2017 at 11:06

Active studio monitors are the way to go.

For a cheap-ish set, have a look at Mackie Mr6 Mk3. A pair will probably cost around £200 new and will be Plenty loud enough to fill a room in an average house.

I would always recommend active monitors for Djing.

Stiffy B · 16 Mar 2017 at 09:42

If he wants do something other than playing DJ and develop, volume isn't going to do anything good by itself. I'd bet on headphone monitors or less loud but more precise speakers. And he won't irritate others much.

Whoop · 17 Mar 2017 at 10:39

Stiffy B said:
If he wants do something other than playing DJ and develop, volume isn't going to do anything good by itself. I'd bet on headphone monitors or less loud but more precise speakers. And he won't irritate others much.

It is true, I run a pair of Mackie myself.

Kids and their loud music, it'll just be to impress his friends so I'll talk him into better quality!

hornetstinger · 17 Mar 2017 at 10:40

Seems the kid is looking for a receipe for deafness.

mistersprinkles · 19 Mar 2017 at 18:20

Whoop said:
Hi Folks,

I'm helping a friend of the family start his DJ hobby up and he has some decent decks and an amp etc but some really bad HiFi speakers. He won't know any better so volume > quality here I think.

Is there somewhere to get second hand decent stuff or an alternative to the cheap and cheerful Skytec stuff I see everywhere? (with mixed reviews).

He has to pay for them himself (he is 12) so we are looking really cheap... the Skytec SL8 for example being only £51 and 200W

Anyone in the know on something better?

How can they be 200W if he's hooking them up to an amp? I don't think you know what kind of equipment the kid already has so until you can tell us, suggesting speakers is pointless.

hornetstinger · 19 Mar 2017 at 18:23

mistersprinkles said:
How can they be 200W if he's hooking them up to an amp? I don't think you know what kind of equipment the kid already has so until you can tell us, suggesting speakers is pointless.

200W is a speaker power handling limit, before you fry the voice coils.
A amplifier could output 200W, but whether that is clean undistorted power, or clipping with distortion is another matter.

200W is a lot of power, to get that sort of power output you're looking at pretty high end amps. Not sure if the "pro" amps just inflate their power output figures tbh when they quote hundreds of watts of power, with fairly dubious specs when it comes to power/distortion/frequency range/rating output.