Though we don't often see eye to eye lonewolf I am with you on this. Your point on sub $100 mics is important as well. We are at a point in microphone technology where the masses can enjoy pretty good quality at affordable prices. Not that they are the best, but if you can't make a band sound decent with SM58s and SM57s then go home. There are some smarter buys out there sound quality wise if you can give up some durability and be a little more careful with your mics. That may not be possible with some types of operating circles... durability may be requirement #1, if so, Shure SM series are your go to mic.lonewolf wrote:I'd like to add that its not just the speakers, but anywhere the air & electronics meet that is critical in a PA. That goes for the mics, too.
I'd venture to say that your sound is affected 45% by speakers, 45% by microphones and 10% by the electronics in between -- give or take. That's not meant to be a guide on how much to spend, because you can get extremely high quality mics for under $100 now.
If you have excellent speakers and your mics suck, your speakers will do an excellent job of reproducing sucky mics.
The GIGO rule is one of the keys that unlock the universe.
Speaker technology has been the last to catch up in the sound quality game, but that is fast changing. Loudspeakers with integrated amplifiers and processing, while not cheap, are bringing a lot more consistency to the the live sound business.