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Opinions on Carvin PA

ninerfan

ninerfan

May 28, 2006
733
218
North San Diego
#1
I've gone round and round, but for the $ ( under $1000) I am leaning towards the Carvin XP1000L and 2 PM15's. I'm in San Diego and can pick it up. They are going to hook me up for $860 out the door with 2 50 ft cables. I only need it for small bars/ clubs to run vocal/ some guiitar and a little kick. I know I should have more watts and subs to run kick, but I just want a little reinfircement, not pound everyone in the chest.

The mixer would give me 300 watts RMS to each 8 ohm PM15 and it has a 3rd amp for monitors that I will hook up 2 8 ohm monitors daisy-chained so they will each get 200 watts (400 watts at 4 ohm). I also have a powered Kustom 210 monitor for the drummer to use. We are a 3 piece so all of us will have our own monitor.

I know the argument for expandability, but if I needed to expand couldn't I just add a sub or 2 with their own amps.

This is the top of my budget and I couldn't find any better system for the $. By the time I got an amp, eq, mixer and speakers I was already up over $1,000 and that was going used with no warranty.

Opinions and suggestions are welcome as I am very new to this and could use help. I'm thinking this is my best bang for my buck and comes with a warranty in case anything goes wrong.

Thank you!
 
#2
I can tell you from experience that cheaping out on your PA is a mistake. Buy your gear one piece at a time if you have to, but don't blow a bunch of money on gear that you will eventually wind up having to replace. I have plenty of experience with Carvin and in my opinion they make excellent guitars and basses. I am no fan of ANY of their amps and their speaker cabinets are marginal at best.
 
#3
About 20 years ago I bought a Carvin PA head and a pair of Community Light and Sound cabinets. I used them regularly for about 10 years, gave them to my nephew who was a DJ and he used them for another 8 years, He bought a new head and gave me the Carvin Head back and now I use it for a backup head. I never had a single problem with that head in 20 years. For the price, Carvin is really hard to beat.

As far as quality, we were playing small to medium size clubs and never had an issue. Unless you are distorting, most of the people in the audience don't know and don't care that you don't have the top of the line sound system. In my opinion, these huge $10,000 PA systems that bands bring to small venues are for the band, not the audience.
 
#4
I appreciate the feedback, but I'm not trying to build a huge pa, just something seviceable for small bars/clubs. Most of the places we play have a pa. Since we are an original rock band we are pretty much a bar band (no weddings or corporate events). I'm looking for the MIM P --> peavey head --> Avatar 410 of the PA world. I don't want to buy 1 piece at a time because I can't use just an amp or speakers for my gig next Fri and I don't want this to turn into a money pit.

I appreciate the feedback, but please consider my situation. For $860 could I do much better than this set up? (3 X 400 watt amp, mixer, eq, and 2 15" mains)?
 
#6
I have owned Carvin brand PA equipment for years. It has replaced and out performed my Yamaha speakers, my JBL speakers and my Machie 808S. I would buy them. The cost of the whole PA you are getting is as cheap as a Mackie 8 channel head and will last longer....IMO and IME
 
#7
I have the XP800L with a pair of LM12's that I use for a solo act. They don't sell the LM series anymore (neodymium magnet price issues), but I like the setup a whole lot. Many musicians complement me on the sound quality. The only part I don't like is that the effects knob doesn't have detentes; it just kinda sweeps through the reverbs, chorus, flange, etc. Load-in and load-out is easy. I'm a big fan. I don't have any experience with it at the sound levels you'll be using, but you can always add more....or borrow... more when it's needed.

But what about a couple of the powered PM15a speakers? I know they don't have DSP since it's not bi-amped; I presume they just use the regular PM15 crossover. Small mixers with FX aren't very expensive. You'd need to buy a bunch of XLR cables, and a bunch of AC extension cords, but that setup would be more flexible and still under your $1000 budget.

Dunno why Carvin has the "Buy two of the PM15a 's and get a pair of speaker cables" thing since you need XLR cables, not speaker cables. Maybe the guy at Carvin would swap it out for an equal dollar amount of XLR's?
 
#8
I'm in San Diego, too, and my band uses a Carvin (something)800 powered mixer through a couple of generic 15/horn speakers.

I would have Flock (your salesman should be Flock...the guy with the hair...) upgrade your cables to speakons. Those mixers don't like it if the 1/4" cable isn't completely seated - it can go into protect mid-song. Ask me how I know.

I agree that, for the price, you can't really beat Carvin.
 
#10
I've been wanting to check those out, too. When I got my Carvin PA, I splurged for the 2153's, and they're awesome. only problem is that when we play smaller bars, they have a tendency to intimidate. I'd like to get a second, smaller speaker set for certain places.

BTW, the 2153's with a sub (I only got one, didn't figure two would be needed in my basement) absolutely KILL.
 
#12
I've used a Carvin P.A. for about eight years. I'm going to be the one that disagrees here. Their power amps are the bomb, bullet proof. Carvin power can be found in backlines all over the world. Their pre-amps on the other hand, leave much to be desired, as do their speaker cabs. Maybe this has changed with new stuff, like I said mine is eight years old.

Now that being said, if that's what you can afford then go for it. Nothing wrong with it, but their is way better stuff out there, like Allen & Heath, JBL, etc.
 
#13
lustersilk said:
I've used a Carvin P.A. for about eight years. I'm going to be the one that disagrees here. Their power amps are the bomb, bullet proof. Carvin power can be found in backlines all over the world. Their pre-amps on the other hand, leave much to be desired, as do their speaker cabs. Maybe this has changed with new stuff, like I said mine is eight years old.

Now that being said, if that's what you can afford then go for it. Nothing wrong with it, but their is way better stuff out there, like Allen & Heath, JBL, etc.
Click to expand...


I pretty much agreed with you in the second post. I'll stick with the Mixwiz too. ;)
 
#14
I understand there is better stuff out there, but it also costs more!

I looked at the PM15a's, but once I add in a mixer and eq I'm right back at $850 and no amp for the monitors.

I would like to add a little kick, snare and guitar to the mix. Would the PM15's with 300 watts RMS each be able to handle that? Part of the reason I'm getting a deal is because the speakers are blems so upgrading the speakers would cost a lot.
 
#20
ninerfan said:
thanks lfmn16. I wrote my response before I saw your post.
Click to expand...
Good luck. Don't forget that you're playing for a bunch of tone-deaf drunks whose prime objective is to get laid. How much attention do you think they are paying to your sound system? As long as it doesn't sound bad you'll be fine; "good" is subjective.

Just my opinion based on playing mostly small to medium size clubs for 40+ years.
 

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