Newbie! My new karaoke system sounds like crap! Help!

[shiro]

Hi Guys,

My family and I had wanted to setup a karaoke system at home for the longest time and finally we decided to purchase one yesterday at Ace Karaoke. We are running into some problems that we would like to solve before we can really invite friends and families for fun. I just want to try on this general discussion page first since I am new.

We got the KOD-2800 system with the touch-screen:

http://www.acekaraoke.com/acesonic-kod- ... kebox.html

It is a nice system that has huge song database. It comes with built-in mixer that you could plug the mics in and a single 2-channel output to the amp. I have an existing Onkyo 7.1Ch 1200W max home theater system which I thought it should be able to handle the output, but after everything is hooked up (with some glitches solved....) and tried a few songs, we are a bit disappointed with the sound quality, here are our concerns:

1) There seems to have a delay on the vocal. I feel like I couldn't keep up with the song all the time (well, I am not a terrific singer but I could catch up with the rhythms most of the times...). When my first word hit the speakers, I could hear I am half a note (may be 1/4 of a note) slower so I had to adjust my beat faster myself to compensate it. No matter it's on wireless or wired microphones.

2) The music fades whenever vocal is present. I think that's pretty common to a lot of system as I experienced it before at the commercial karaoke bars, but I don't know the root cause. That really affects the sound quality and mood killing as the voice dominated the music and you got lost pretty easily since you could not listen to the music.

After checking various forums and information, we came up with the followings possible problem:

1) Bad internal mixer of the KOD-2800.
2) My Onkyo amp could not handle the sound.
3) My Onkyo speakers are not big enough like those of BMB.

My parents have an old school karaoke setup with those huge speakers so I am sure mine sounds far from nice. I just want to see if any of you have experienced similar situation as mine and what should I do before invest/ waste big $ on it as we have already spent a big chunk on this system.

Thank you very much!

[The Lone Ranger]

One thing about some karaoke labeled machines, they have inferior sound cards like some lap top computers also have. It is worth the money to make sure you have the best possible sound card especially for digital music to sound right. A cheap fix since you have already spent a grand might be trying a good external Sound Card machine. The Lexicon Alpha 2-Channel External Sound Card is recommended and used by many host that need to improve digital music quality. I have seen this unit for around $50.00 on Amazon, and might be a inexpensive solution to your problem.

[DanG2006]

does not look like there is any way to hook up the lexicon to it.

[The Lone Ranger]

Just saying Dan looking at the back of the lexicon alpha unit there seems to be a connection left of the input jacks, couldn't you run a cable from the usb port of his machine to this connection? Provided you have the right type of cable, and then run his speakers from the out put jacks or the RCA outputs? Also it might be a mistake to try and run your system through your home entertainment system, since the speakers are not PA's and might not be able to handle the mic, that might be what's effecting your sound as well. One thing you might try is running your machine using your parents old big speakers and see what it sounds like, with the mic.

[wiseguy]

There is nothing inferior about the audio output from this machine. This is not some "karaoke labeled" machine. It is a professional quality machine designed specifically for karaoke.

Your first and biggest mistake is running the audio through your surround sound system. You will never achieve good sounding vocals this way. If you want a good sounding karaoke system you must use PA speakers. My advice would be to acquire a pair of powered PA speakers and forget about using the Onkyo altogether. Just take a look on Amazon for powered PA speakers. I would suggest a pair of 12" woofer full range 2-way. Get whatever you can afford as they come in several brands and price ranges. Any of them will be better than what you are doing now.

The delay and fading music is almost certainly being caused by the Onkyo system. Probably some sort of clipping circuitry to protect the surround sound speakers.

[shiro]

Wow... thanks guys! I agree on the speakers might be the issue.
We tried an external mixer which improves the sound/ music quality noticeably.

[shiro]

Researched on the speakers... interesting. But I have a question: looks like most powered speakers are stand alone unit that can't be link to another speaker. I would like to setup mine at least two for stereo music. My budget is <$450, any good recommendation, guys?

[wiseguy]

Researched on the speakers... interesting. But I have a question: looks like most powered speakers are stand alone unit that can't be link to another speaker. I would like to setup mine at least two for stereo music. My budget is <$450, any good recommendation, guys?

I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about here. What do powered speakers being "stand alone" have to do with connecting two of them (left and right) to your mixer? I have no personal experience with powered speakers in your price range so I really can't make a recommendation. You're going to have to go with one of the off brands like this Podium Pro PP1204CD1B for example. It looks good on paper... how it sounds may be another story.

[The Lone Ranger]

If you don't have a lot of money you might check out the Kustom powered speakers being sold by Musician's friend. When they are on sale they can go for as little as 130.00 per. I have noticed recently however these speakers are tending to be more expensive lately, I guess the word got out. Sometimes you can get used one's for even less. I have a set of Yamaha's that I paid 1500.00 15 inch, but they weighted nearly 70 pounds each. I bought a set of these small Kustom's 12 inch for around 260.00 and liked them so much that when the monitor went on sale for 119.00 I purchased it as well, it is hard to get any feedback with them since they have no sound enhancing system in them. When I couple them with a Sonic Maximizer they sound just as good as my expensive Yamaha's. They weigh half of what the Yamaha's do that is a plus when mounting your speakers on stands. If you only have the money for one powered speaker you might try running it mono rather than stereo, if your set up has that capability. That way you will get the left and right coming out of one speaker. Many professional hosts run their equipment like this so that both speakers are putting out the same sound to both sides of the room.

[DanG2006]

Podium Pro's are actually good bang for the buck. I had two pair, one active and one passive, and both sounded great especially on the bass end. Both were 8" woofers. I only switched to a more expensive pair of active speakers due to connections. the active Podium pro's connected to my mixer via RCA connections. My new EV's connect via xlr connection.

[DanG2006]

Researched on the speakers... interesting. But I have a question: looks like most powered speakers are stand alone unit that can't be link to another speaker. I would like to setup mine at least two for stereo music. My budget is <$450, any good recommendation, guys?

I'm not sure I understand what you're talking about here. What do powered speakers being "stand alone" have to do with connecting two of them (left and right) to your mixer? I have no personal experience with powered speakers in your price range so I really can't make a recommendation. You're going to have to go with one of the off brands like this Podium Pro PP1204CD1B for example. It looks good on paper... how it sounds may be another story.

I personally have used a pair of Podium Pro active speakers before and I actually liked them. They were rechargeable battery powered meaning that you don't have to plug them into an outlet during use. The only thing that made me give them up was the battery life. They only lasted 5 hours, enough for a bar gig but it forced me to keep a passive system available for gigs that lasted longer. I switched back to the passive system totally for that reason. I use Podium Pro passive speakers now and love them. Theysound more like they were meant to be 15" when they are actually 8" speakers. The Bass coming out of them is phenomenal for the size that they are. The active speakers I mentioned before were also 8" and gave out the same quality of sound that my passive ones do. I have had a number of other KJ'S ask how I am able to get such a greatsounding system and I told them that I don't look at the brand name to choose my equipment, I go with the actual quality of sound coming from them. Trust me, if I felt like I wasn't getting the sound quality that I wanted, I would replace whatever component that was keeping the sound quality poor. I also told them that it's not just the equipment, but the person who is running it.