Audio

The PA rig behind a church service:

is bought as a system rather than piece by piece. A powered speaker from Behringer, Yamaha, JBL’s EON line or QSC carries its own amplifier and sits on a stand for hours; a passive one looks much the same but needs a separate amplifier, a difference that catches out buyers of used pairs. A compact analogue mixer from Yamaha or Behringer is enough for a service with a few voices and a keyboard. Bluetooth and karaoke speakers have their own place under speakers, earbuds and USB headsets under headphones, and a soundbar goes with the set it sits under, in TV and film.

PMPO figures and the 12-inch speaker for speech:

the biggest number on the box is the least honest one. Budget party speakers advertise peak or PMPO power in the thousands of watts, while the continuous RMS rating on the same unit can be a few dozen, so compare RMS with RMS, or compare brands. A big cone does not guarantee good bass either: a cheap 15-inch woofer in a thin cabinet booms and blurs, and for speech, which is most of what a service or a meeting needs, a decent 12-inch speaker on a stand sounds clearer. With wireless microphones, a cheap set fixed to one frequency has nowhere to go when it picks up interference; one that can be retuned to another channel copes far better.

What separates a Behringer from a QSC:

an entry-level 15-inch powered speaker from a brand like Behringer costs around Q3,000 new, while a professional-grade one from QSC runs from about Q6,000 to Q9,000, and a hall needs two of either. The extra buys an honestly rated amplifier, protection that stops the speaker cooking itself on a long night, and a cabinet one person can lift onto a stand. It shows again at resale, where a used QSC or Yamaha keeps far more of its price than a budget label.

A powered speaker that has worked every weekend:

deserves a proper test. Play something bass-heavy at low volume first and listen close to the cone: a scratching or rasping sound points to a rubbing voice coil or a torn surround. Then run it loud for a good while. A speaker that cuts out and comes back is an amplifier overheating, which costs more to fix than a new woofer. Check the stand socket and cabinet corners for cracks from being loaded in and out of vehicles.

Telling a real SM58 from a copy, and testing a mixer:

the Shure SM58 is the vocal microphone everyone copies, and a fake usually gives itself away in the hand: the genuine one is solid and heavy for its size, the copy noticeably lighter, and next to a real one it sounds plainly worse. On a mixer, move every fader and turn every knob with a mic live. A crackle while moving is usually dirt on the track and often clears with contact cleaner; a control that drops out completely at one point is worn through. With a wireless set, open the battery compartment of each handheld and look for corrosion from leaked batteries, then walk away from the receiver while someone talks, listening for dropouts.

A speaker or mixer listing worth the drive:

gives the exact model and the RMS figure from the back label, not the box, and says honestly where the gear has worked: a living room, a congregation every Sunday or weekend rentals. Photograph the back panel and its inputs, the grille and, for a wireless set, the label on the receiver that shows its frequency band. Stands, cables and padded covers add real value, so list them. Fifteen-inch cabinets are heavy and awkward, and a buyer from Chimaltenango or Mazatenango may well turn up in a pickup, so say whether you can help load them and pick a place where both speakers can be run at full volume before any money changes hands.