Some brief and general hints for church PA stuff.
For foldback I’d go mackie powered speakers SRM350. They can then double up for events like men’s nights offsite, outdoor kids club etc – just put them on a stand. Go SRM 450 if you want to double up for bigger for outdoor events – we have 450’s they are what we use for church camps, men’s nights etc. They are great.
For main front of house speakers get advice as to what will suit your building. A pair of SRM450’s on stands will be adequate but you could get something sounding better hung from the middle of the building and ends up costing less. We picked up a bose 502 second hand for $100 and it sounds great, but it needs a controller ($500) and amp ($1000). Good alternatives to the Mackie SRM450’s are Quest or QSC powered speakers, both fantastic.
http://www.mackie.com/products/srmv2series/splash.html
By the time you muck round getting an amp and normal foldback speakers, the powered ones aren’t much dearer.
For Desk you can’t go wrong with Allen and Heath, basic and simple to use and good sound and reliable. They make varying sizes look at ZED range – even a 12 channel for around $500.
Their lower priced mixers are still good. Avoid powered desk if you can.
http://www.allen-heath.com/uk/products/pages/productslisting.aspx?CatId=ZEDSeries
We use PA series at church – ZED series and PA are the same sound except ZED has no output EQ, but I think PA series is a better build – more rugged.
DI box go behringer – cheap and work well.
Mics and wireless mics go shure SM58 for vocal, SM57 for instruments, and wireless SM58 for wireless.
For lectern mic go any condenser mic around $300, e.g. CAD, EV, Shure.
Where to buy?
Turramurra Music gives 10% off to churches.
I normally Google for who’s got a special. Check the price of new items off ebay for a comparison.By locally if you can for follow up it’s hard getting audi gear back to Sydney for warranty otherwise.
Places I like and have bought from:
http://www.melmusic.com.au/
http://www.smithys.com.au/
http://www.turramusic.com.au/Pages/Home.aspx
http://bavasmusic.com.au/store/index.php
http://www.djwarehouse.com.au/
http://www.allansbillyhyde.com.au/
Ring for a quote – never go off list price – with PA you can haggle on price.
For leads don’t get cheap ones, better off with a good $30-$40 mic lead as cheap ones will just cause problems later on like buzz, hum, crackle, pops, and it will be very hard to pinpont where the problem is coming from.
Wayne