I bought a new custom-made flightcase for my Yamaha Stagepas 500 speakers. I must say that the local flightcase company, Case Makers, did a very good job. I am very happy with the professionalism and the sturdy, well-made case that has come to adorn my rental room. On the left is my old flightcase, made by another manufacturer, that has seen better days and is now in a bad state of disrepair. The casters are in a bad state of dis-repair. Need to get some new casters for it at least. But if you want a good flightcase maker in Singapore, I wholly recommend Case Makers!

Just when I thought that the Yamaha Stagepas family of portable audio set all boundaries, I came across this. Looks like almost everyone worth their salt is doing this now. Samson is one of the other players in the professional audio industry churning out portable sound units. The beauty of this? It even comes with an iPod dock! According to their website:

Samson introduces their most versatile and inclusive PA system to date: The Expedition XP510i.

Adopting the same principles of portability and simplicity that made Samson’s Expedition XP308i so popular, the Expedition XP510i (XP510i) is an all-in-one portable PA system that offers outstanding power and convenience. The pro-level performance of the XP510i begins with a pair of dual 2-way speakers with 10-inch woofers, complemented by a 1-inch titanium tweeter in a 60° x 90° horn. These speakers will provide dynamic low-end qualities and broad dispersion in any performance space.

The XP510i features an internal 500 watt Class D powered mixer equipped with seven total mic/line and stereo inputs, phantom power, an integrated iPod dock, and ten studio-quality 24-bit digital effects to shape a customized sound for each and every performance. In addition, the speakers, mixer, and integrated 1 3/8-inch speaker stand mounts can be transported as a single compact bundle that weighs just over 50 pounds.

Thanks to its clever design and comprehensive feature set, the XP510i Portable PA offers an ideal solution for a variety of PA applications.

Well, there you go. Boasting the same power as the Stagepas 500. Looks pretty good and check this out: The two speakers sort of “slide” together from the front for east storage. The mixer cum amplifier is stored the same way the Yamaha Stagepas is stored…at the back of the speaker!

Looks interesting but I think I will take my Stagepas over these.

I have had a Yamaha Stagepas 500 system for quite some time now and if you asked if I am happy with it, I would gladly say I am. It has to be one of the cleanest-sounding sound systems that I have used in a long time and its very versatile too.

A short time ago, I was looking around for some powered speakers. When you mention you want to buy powered-speakers in Singapore, what everyone automatically suggests are the Mackie SRM-450s. But to me, once you go the Yamaha route, you never go back. This MSR400 for instance has a 12″ woofer and a 1.75″ horn driver. The amplifier that powers this is bi-amplified, which means no passive crossover inside. That makes it very much more efficient in terms of power. It is able to deliver 400 watts of power. It can be used as a fold-back monitor or even a front-of-house (FOH) system with the aid of a subwoofer. I think a couple of these MSR400s should be able to power a moderate hall pretty well.

This is the rear of the Yamaha MSR400. There is a heat-sink (a rather large one at that) to keep the amplifier cool. There are balanced XLR connections provided, as well as a LOW and HI equalizer. One thing that is not present here is a high-pass filter (HPF) but I think that it is not that important. You can plug a microphone in one of the XLR sockets and use this as an instant public address system

Sound-wise, I was able to hear a demo of it that day. The 12″ woofer provided a lot of punch, but then again, I was listening to it in a shop’s demo room. I have yet to hear it being performed out doors but I have heard that t performs very well. It is not the least expensive of powered speakers available on the market but the Yamaha quality and the clarity of the sound make up for it. Will I get this in the future? Hey…who knows? But I do know one thing. It oozes quality and its a Yamaha. That seems to be good enough for me

JBL took a leaf out of Yamaha Stagepas’s book by having a portable PA system with a detachable mixer at the rear of one of the speakers. To be honest, I have never seen these in use by anyone before but from what I can see, it looks like a pretty hot contender. OK. Comparisons with the Yamaha is that it uses a 300 watt (150 watts per channel) Crown Class-D amplifier versus a 500 watt (250 watts per channel) Stagepas 500. The Yamaha has a 10-channel mixer and this one has an 8-channel one.The speaker designs are the same as the Stagepas, with a 10″ woofer and a 1″ horn. Like the Stagepas, this has digital effects built-in (5 effects to choose from) and has Phantom Power for powering things like active DI boxes and condenser microphones

The only thing I do not like about this is that Channel 7/8 on this is a stereo mini-jack. It does not make it versatile at all because you need to look for special cables like RCA to stereo mini-jacks. JBL says that the mixer is made by Soundcraft (another member of the Harman Group) but the design and features of the mixer could be better and more flexible. Besides, it is less powerful than the Yamaha Stagepas 500 and more expensive too.You can read more specifications here about this system here.

So if you ask me, If I had to make a choice between this EON 210p and the Yamaha Stagepas 500, I would take the Stagepas 500 over this anyday.

I think by now, people would have agreed that I am shamelessly promoting my Yamaha Stagepas 500 portable PA system to the skies. And it comes as no wonder because I find that this system is one of the the best out there. Today, I will show a close-up of what the mixer component is.

This little baby, which fits into the back of one of the speakers, is actually a powered mixer, dishing out 250 watts per channel. Not bad for a small little mixer too! On the top left-hand corner, you can see two jack sockets, which are meant for 1/4″ phono jacks. These are meant for powering the speakers. On the right of the speaker output jacks, there is a tape out and a monitor out. The monitor out is a very useful feature for connecting to external sound sources, like say, some external powered speakers or to an amplifier/speaker combination.

The button on the lower left (SPEECH/MUSIC) is pretty interesting. When toggled, it activates some pre-configured equalizers within the circuitry that optimises the system for speech or music respectively. If you are using the system for say a road-show, and will be talking a lot on a microphone, you would do well to set it to speech. If you were using it for music, like for say, an acoustic gig, you would set it to music. For me, I always set it to to music, even when I am speking on the mic as well. That is because I can set the equalization on the individual channels.

There is also a phantom power switch. That is right. You now can hook up your condenser microphones or active DI boxes and the phantom power will take care of it for you. There is also basic reverb but it is global, not limited to channels. There is no AUX function but then again, this is a small mixer board. You need to be running a bigger, more featured mixing board for such things. For portable PA, this is more than sufficient.

The Yamaha Stagepas. I like it and I own it. You should get one too!

I was doing a roadshow a couple of days back and I needed a music source. Now, for roadshows such as these, I just supply a sound-system with two microphones…a very basic system and I also supply a cable for people who are so inclined to plug in their iPods, iPhones, MP3 players and what have you. But this time, I needed an audio source and so I turned to something that I have not done before – my Nokia phone. It comes with a built-in radio and after hooking that up to the Yamaha Stagepas 500 mixer, I was able to provide audio for the roadshow! Thanks Nokia! I still love you guys!

The wife and I were at Plaza Singapura last week and there was this roadshow happening in the main foyer. I saw four of these Mackie C200 speakers surrounding the foyer and I thought that I would do some research on them. In my opinion, they sounded average but then again, all they were used for was for sound-reinforcement, for two emcees who could not even speak properly. No music was played so I cannot vouch for them music-wise. Specifications-wise, this loudspeaker is endowed with a high-precision 1.4″ HF titanium compression driver and 10″ LF transducer. That is about the same as my Stagepas 500 speakers. It is also able to handle 200 watts (RMS) and 500W peak power at 8 ohms. The connections behind it? Speakon®-style 1/4-inch TS phone jack. They cost about a $1000 a pair here in Singapore. Pretty pricey for a pair of speakers with 10″ woofers. Honestly? I will give them a pass.

I have a Yamaha Stagepas 500 and I love it very much. I have used it in many shows and everyone is talking about the clarity and power of the system. The Stagepas 500 was a request by many people who wanted a more powerful system than the Stagepas 300, the younger brother, shown here. It is like the Stagepas 500 except that there are fewer channels and the speakers consist of a 8″ woofer compared to the 10″ woofer on the Stagepas 500. Also, it does not have speaker mounting holes like the Stagepas 500 has. You need to get special bolt-on adapters for that. Specifications of the Stagepas 300 are:

- System portable amplified 2 x 150 Watts Class D
- 8-channel mixer amplified with 4 mic
- Rec and releases ST SUB 2-band EQ
- Digital Reverb
- Headphone Jack, bus Click
- 2 x 8 “Bass-Reflex speaker cable 5m provided
- 1 mic support mixer

The Stagepas 300 is a great system too. I have heard it before and I must say that I am impressed with the size and the sound. Yamaha quality just oozes through, as I always say. Check it out at your Yamaha dealer. They are going at quite a good price during this festive season. The Yamaha Stagepas series are, in my opinion, one of the best portable PA systems that money can buy.

Yes. That is how small the Yamaha Stagepas 500 mixer is and it shows that one does not need to have the most expensive stuff to run a road-show in Singapore. That is what we did a few days back. On the left of the picture is the trusty AKG WMS 40 Mini wireless microphone receiver and on the bottom is my trusty Nokia mobile phone playing the radio, which served as another sound source. The green cable plugged into the mixer was a feed from a CD player some distance away, hooked up via a DI box. That is all it is. Pretty cool eh?

My trusty Yamaha Stagepas was rented again for a Chinese New Year dinner last week and it gave a sterling performance. The source of the music was a laptop playing Chinese New Year songs. Sound was the usual great performance from Yamaha. If anything, it was a bit too loud and I was asked to kindly turn it down! Such is the power of the Stagepas 500. I am still contemplating getting the Stagepas 600i in the future but there is a lot left n this Stagepas 500 of old. I think I will stick with it for a while longer.

I was in charge of sound reinforcement during a roadshow the day before yesterday. Luckily it was held in a shopping mall instead of the outdoors…what with all this haze from Indonesian forest fires blanketing Singapore. In any case, I did not have a table to put my mixer on. never fear…enter the trolley!  You can see my Stagepas 500 mixer doing its duty. There is some new 14AWG speaker wire powering this setup. Only problem is it is a bitch to coil up and store. My new Line 6 XD-V35 wireless microphone receiver can be seen in the background. needless to say, it was a successful roadshow, thanks to the combination of Yamaha and Line 6!

Just the other day, I was doing an event and I had to set up my equipment under direct sunlight. That was not very good for my Yamaha Stagepas which tripped twice due to thermal shut-down. I realised that I needed to get some kind of cooling system for it to prevent it happening again. So yesterday, I went over to Sim Lim tower and purchased an AC fan

I bought this SUNON SF23092A AC fan for all of $10. It’s a small mini-fan that I am going to put on my Stagepas 500 to draw out the hot air that was causing it to go into thermal protection shutdown in the hot, direct sunlight. Now all I have to do is to set it up so that its easy to plug into the power supply. I have lots of wires in my junkbox so it looks like I am gonna do some modifications later.

This was for a wedding the other day, about a week back. I did not have a table available for me to set up my mixer on, so I set it up on one of these chairs that were available at the venue. The Yamaha Stagepas 500 mixer was small enough to fit on that chair, along with my wife’s iPad that was playing the music. Needless to say, the Stagepas put out plenty of sound and was loud enough to handle the whole area. An enjoyable night with Yamaha goodness, coupled with a Line 6 wireless microphone, I was able to run the event without any issues whatsoever.

I was hired to provide sound for a fashion show at Takashimaya shopping mall a few days back. I was told that I could only set up in the store-room of the store because I was told that the placement of sound-equipment outside would be an eyesore. Well, that was communicated to me in not so many words by the store manager. So I set up in the store-room and ran my speaker cables to the speakers outside the room. And for a console? I just took a box from their stock and plopped my mixer on top of it. That is my trusty Stanley test screwdriver on the top of the mixer. An iPhone provided music playback and the show was a success. Who says providing sound reinforcement is a hassle? We should get more clients like these!

In Singapore, Malay weddings are held in void decks, that is, the open space below a block of flats. The reasons they are held there is because the weddings stretch for a whole day and many are invited. To hold it in a hotel is not practical because of the sheer number of guests that are invited. Plus, the delicious food that they serve at such weddings is pure heaven!

That is why, when I was hired to supply my Yamaha Stagepas sound-system for a Malay wedding, I did not hesitate. Ad I had a great time. Music was provided via a laptop that had a whole lot of Malay MP3 songs on them and the system was more than adequate for the wedding. Many a time, I was even asked to turn down the sound-system because the volume was too loud! So did the Yamaha Stagepas do its job? You betcha!

I supplied a sound-system for a roadshow recently and it was the usual Stagepas 500. Loud and clear were the assurances I gave to the organisers of the show and they were not disappointed. This Yamaha has been in our stable now for two years and has been providing stellar service, service that we are very happy with. Yamaha Stagepas 500, the best in my opinion as far as small, compact sound-systems are.

I love Malay weddings. The hosts and their relatives are always very accommodating and are a joy to work with, client-wise. here is the Yamaha Stagepas 500 being put through its paces. There was more than enough power to handle the whole wedding and the Stagepas 500, together with the AKG WMS40 Mini wireless microphone system did the job very well, providing crisp and clear sound for all the wedding guests. Yup. Its safe to say I had a great time there…and the food!

I will say…my Yamaha Stagepas 500 really gets around. This time, it was rented to a couple solemnising their marriage. It was held at National Service Resort and Country Club, a club for national servicemen. They have bungalows there and the ceremony was held at one of the bungalows. Our system was plenty loud to cover everything and the couple were happy with the service I provided. I had no space to mount my mixer so I put it on a chair. In front of it is my trusty AKG WMS40 Mini microphone. All went well and the Yamaha proved once again why its so popular

So I had a request to provide a sound-system for an Indian Muslim wedding a couple of weeks back. This is a similar type of wedding to the Malay ones that I had in the past and I seem to remember last year I had three weddings, all on weekends in December. This one was held under a void deck in Bedok. The usual fantastic wedding food was available like nasi briyani and lots more. There was even a pop-corn machine present, with the operators delving out bags of delicious popcorn. The Yamaha Stagepas 500 did its duty and did it well. I love weddings like these because I get to eat delicious food and getting paid for it too!

I am seriously thinking of getting myself a pair of these Yamaha DSR112 cabinets to beef up my sound arsenal. Just a few days back, when I brought my trusty Yamaha Stagepas 500 down for a gig, I noticed that it could have been louder. The “oomph” I wanted it to give just was not there. But to be honest, this was for a DJ party and you know how loud DJ parties can get. Anyway, I told myself, gotta get myself a new pair of speakers to handle the bigger events. And my mind fell on these DSR112 active units.

Now. I must say that I am a bit hesitant to pull the trigger on these babies. The reason is that for powered speakers, you need to have two cables per speaker…one is an AC power cable and the other, an XLR balanced cable. You need to have some long power cables should you deploy in a place where there is no electricity outlet to power your speakers. Secondly, instead of speaker cables, you need to have very long XLR cables to send the signal from your mixer to the speakers. I feel one might need about 50 metres per speaker, giving me about 100 metres in total. That is the reason holding me back. But the when I think of passive speakers, I have to carry one mother of an amplifier and long speaker cables. The long speaker cables, that I have. I have lots left over after many an installation and they will all go to rot if I buy powered speakers.

But the thing I like about these powered speakers is that all I need to go down to a gig is with two flightcases…one to hold the speakers and the necessary cables and the other flightcase, a small one, to hold the mixer and the rest of the cables. I might have to buy some power extension reels for the powered speakers and that takes up space when I want to travel and keep my inventory as small as possible when I do so. So there you go. Yet another spanner in the works as I contemplate.

As for these Yamaha DSR112s, you can read up about their specs here. Let us just say the thing that is seriously making me consider them is the fact that the woofers use 3″ voice-coils and that they are able to put forth a peak of 1500 watts. That is peak my friends, not RMS.

As they say…decisions, decisions