Best affordable powered monitor

[Burns-bass]

Hi,

 

I want to get a powered monitor for gigs. I’ll be putting acoustic, mango and banjo through it, taking a feed from the main desk.

 

it has to be a powered monitor but I don’t need a battery pack.

 

Was considering the Bose S1 but it’s expensive and wondered what cheaper and better options might be out there. 

[Dan Dare]

Floor standing or mic' stand mounted? If floor, I use a pair of HK Premium Pro 10s, which do the job for me. They double up as FoH cabs for small gigs. They're similarly priced to the Bose, which is pricey for what it is - a 6" bass unit with tweeters. You pay for the name with Bose.

 

Smaller (10") powered cabs are offered by all of the usual suspects. RCF are decent. I used to have a pair of db Technologies active 10s that were good, too and cheaper than the HKs. Can't remember the model number, but they've been superseded anyway.

 

You can get away with a smaller bass driver for mic' stand mounting, but if it's on the floor, I wouldn't go too small. I have a TC FX150 mic' stand mounted monitor, which is very good, but it's discontinued. Shame, as I'd like another. The Mackie equivalent is decent, although it doesn't have onboard reverb, which is handy for vocals. The Behringer ones that many use are only so-so.

 

 

[JohnH89]

Just bought a Yamaha Stagepas 100 for use as a monitor for small band . FOH is taken care of by Yamaha DHR10 . The Stagepas is a great and easily transportable monitor with 2 channels , one can be used as a Hi impedance for instruments and also has aux in . I just feed channel 1 from the monitor feed on the mixer . Can be stood on floor and tilted or mounted on mic stand . Also bluetooth .  Worth a look and works a treat .

Edited 4 hours ago by JohnH89

[Burns-bass]

1 hour ago, Dan Dare said:

Floor standing or mic' stand mounted? If floor, I use a pair of HK Premium Pro 10s, which do the job for me. They double up as FoH cabs for small gigs. They're similarly priced to the Bose, which is pricey for what it is - a 6" bass unit with tweeters. You pay for the name with Bose.

 

Smaller (10") powered cabs are offered by all of the usual suspects. RCF are decent. I used to have a pair of db Technologies active 10s that were good, too and cheaper than the HKs. Can't remember the model number, but they've been superseded anyway.

 

You can get away with a smaller bass driver for mic' stand mounting, but if it's on the floor, I wouldn't go too small. I have a TC FX150 mic' stand mounted monitor, which is very good, but it's discontinued. Shame, as I'd like another. The Mackie equivalent is decent, although it doesn't have onboard reverb, which is handy for vocals. The Behringer ones that many use are only so-so.

 

 

This is useful, thanks,

 

I’m not competing with a drummer so I don’t need mega volume and will be used on the floor.

 

The Bose I liked as it’s portable and you can get carry bags and so on. 
 

I also like the Yamaha too. Hmm.

 

 

[JohnH89]

The Yamaha is half the price of the Bose . lighter and louder by a noticeable amount . There is a BTR model that has a battery included so can run without mains . About another £60 . It has a yamaha bag available or aftermarket from Terralec . I bought aftermarket for £20 and it fits perfectly . 

[Dan Dare]

3 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

This is useful, thanks,

 

I’m not competing with a drummer so I don’t need mega volume and will be used on the floor.

 

The Bose I liked as it’s portable and you can get carry bags and so on. 
 

I also like the Yamaha too. Hmm.

 

 

 

Pleasure. I like the look of that Yamaha. Their PA stuff is excellent these days. They bought out Nexo, a high-end PA brand, a few years back and they've obviously incorporated the tech' into their own stuff.