commanderdan84

Horns rule. The reason they rule is that they are efficient; a pair of horns on 300 Watts will be louder than a pair of reflexes on 1200 Watts (and also have more extension, how much more depends on the horn design you get). If you can get hold of a pair of folded horns you will stand out from the rest in a big way, and only need half the amplifiers to do so!

Dope man, I love DIY shit. I'll be taking on a project of building a big rig around the end of the year, do you have progress shots/descriptions of your builds? Should throw them up in the DIY section, I'd love to see step by step what you did! As you wish, link up in DIY.. DIY is the bomb! so much satisfaction firing em up after they're finished.. What u planning on building?

Couple of pics of the gear I'm running at present.. No pics of the tops but they're home refurb'd 3 ways. Subs are home built BFM Tuba 30's, highly recommended!

Discogs for me, its a faster process than going to the record store. Can listen to your tracks online and jump straight onto discogs to find em n buy without leaving the house. Only problem is shipping cost to aus is usually high. I've bought 45 records off discogs with an average cost per plate of $17.80, shipping included, and each plate brand new and mint. I have no idea how that compares to buying in-store but it seems more convenient to me..

Thanks for the replies! It's good to get different opinions up as it raises awareness. After all, our ears are our number 1 asset. I've never DJ'd in a club environment before so I was just curious as to how the pro's look after their ears. The ideal setup would be a booth setup behind the line of fire of the mains as many of you have said. When I was out last weekend I didn't actually get a chance to get behind the DJ but it was a pretty small room. Guess if you're out of the direct line of the mains things would be alot quieter, then it just depends how loud the monitors are. How many of you mix in your cans only, ie no monitor/s? Do you cut the bass when mixing for mixing purposes or for saving hearing purposes? I only ask because it's usually the higher frequencies that do the damage to hearing at high Db..

I recently went to a dnb gig in Perth and it was very loud (as gigs generally are). As a patron enjoying loud music that is too often over-driven through harsh or poorly EQ'd club sound systems, I always bring my etymotics for protection. At this gig however, it struck me that the DJ's had a rather large monitor (12-15" 2-way) facing them about 2m from the booth, which would have had to have been cranked pretty loud to cut through the club system.. My question is to all you regular (or even irregular) venue DJ's, how on earth do you protect your ears in such a high decibel environment? Do you simply accept that it's part and parcel of DJ-ing or are there ways around it?

G'day all! Name's Dan and it's good to be on board! I'm new to the DJ-ing scene, although have greatly enjoyed numerous top artists and DJs that have graced Perth over the past decade or so. I'm a classically trained violinist come drummer, with about 13 years experience with each instrument separately. I have always loved music and since discovering EDM in my early life I have developed a particular love for dnb, techno and hip-hop, in no real order. Ever since having a go with various mates DJ setups in my early twenties, I have had a keen interest in learning the artform, and for financial reasons, have only recently come to realize this interest. So in April, I got myself a pair of 1210 mk5's and a Z2 and have not looked back! Being a trained muso, its been relatively easy for me to pickup, and I have been disciplined (for my own satisfaction) to first buy vinyl records to learn with. I have kept the vinyl to dnb and hip-hop (with plans to learn some turntablism) and due to sheer expense here in Aus, I decided to go DVS with techno. I have no real plans as of yet to do gigs, just a few private parties for friends at this stage, as this is a hobby for me at present, and one which I would like to get good at. My other musical interest lies in quality/pro sound. Along with my brother, we share a similar love of pro audio, and over the years of going to festivals where we would always find the best accoustic spots and rate the sound systems, we've finally decided to take the plunge and begin building our own pro-sound setup (again, for no apparent reason other than we want access to that deep, clean, chest-thumping bass, and amazingly crisp, clear top end, all the time ). In some other posts, I've made mention of an american sound engineer who has been designing horns since the 60's whose name is Bill Fitzmaurice. For those that haven't heard of him, he is known for his extremely efficient designs, which allow for relatively low cost DIY building. IMO this opens the door for DIY very wide, and those who are interested should do themselves a favour and check out his site. Lookin forward to hearing from y'all, and I hope the evening finds everybody well! Dan

Thanks Alex, I'll do that. Good to be on board! Dan

So, what did you end up choosing?

Another option worth checking out is DIY. Google Bill Fitzmaurice and have a look at the plans he has on offer, you can build a pair of folded horn subs and a pair of horn loaded tops for about $500 each [premium drivers, minimum recommended drivers will probably 1/2 the cost but also 1/2 the performance] (so that's a total of $2000 [plus build time] for your cabs, plus you'll need an active crossover which cost anywhere between $500-$3000, a couple of decent amps, budget say another $1500-$2000). So for a total of approx $4500 you will have on hand a system that will *decimate* any system that you could buy for the same amount. A "buy once" style approach which requires increased initial outlay and time and effort (which might not be available, if so just ignore me ), but if done right, this approach would likely save you big $$$ in the long term plus you would have a pro-sound set up to last a lifetime. My 2c :-) Dan

Gday, new to the forum, but I'm passionate about all things sound and I am also a believer that ordinary users can build their own, excellent sounding PA systems, to the benefit of both their wallets and their ears To do this successfully, most people will need to acquire and adhere strictly to design plans that have been designed by qualified and experienced engineers. Enter the likes of Bill Fitzmaurice (aka BFM) and Jim Holtz. A google search of either of these two individuals will bring those interested to access (via a small fee for Bill, free for Jim) to tried and tested plans for a wide array of pro sound PA options, of varying degrees of build difficulty. In the case of BFM, there are a range of affordable (even in Aus if you do your research on where to source drivers from ie- parts express), and relatively easy-to-build cabs that someone with little or no woodworking experience can build successfully if they follow the plans. From the research I have done, it would seem that there are very few systems (if at all) that can match the performance of a well executed BFM system for the equivalent price range. I myself have just started a build plan consisting of 2 T30's and 2 Otop 12's (please refer to BFM website/forums). There are many very experienced people on those forums who are willing to share their expertise with us n00bs for the our very great benefit. Hopefully this information will benefit someone out there Cheers, Dan