[PhilNYC]

At the risk of losing my "high end" privileges, I have a question about Karaoke...!    

Is there a consumer Karaoke LD player that has a separate audio-out for the vocal track?  I have a customer who wants to integrate Karaoke into his system.  I know that this presents a lot of dangers for speaker damage (eg. burning out voice coils because of feedback, no compression on the mic, etc), so it seems like a good solution would be to take the vocal track and put it through a PA system while the rest of the "music" (haha!) plays through the audio system.

Any info or alternative solutions would be appreciated...

Phil

[sumo]

I don't want to be self-inflated as an audiophile or audio high-end users, but I'm lost when reading your post.
First off, sorry I can't answer your question about a LD player with separate audio out, I don't know any.
In my understanding, you have some certain knowledge of audio, about effect of feedback, compression...

But what's wrong with Karaoke ??!!!

>>> while the rest of the "music" (haha!) plays through the audio system<<<<<
Is that a low-level of enjoying music ?
I don't know how high of education level you have, or how "high-end" you think you are, but I do have doubt on your definition of music, is it a way of showing off yourself ?? (haha!)

[PhilNYC]

Sumo,

Sorry if I offended you.    It was my attempt at some humor, because I think most people have a perception of Karaoke backup music as being somewhat syrupy and "elevator"-like (particuarly those found in home-Karaoke libraries).  Certainly I think you will be hard-pressed to find Karaoke music that isn't washed heavily in processed digital reverbs and compression...things that some feel are lacking in musical sophistication...

(fwiw, a friend of mine's wife was a winner in a national karaoke competition in Japan back in the late 80s, so I know it can be done with great musical content)

[meilankev]

Phil,

My wife uses a JVC XL-SV22BK player.  It plays all types of Karaoke discs (CD-sized), as well as regular audio CDs.  She's had it for over 4 years, and it works without a hiccup (and we have over 60 Karaoke discs).

For Karaoke, it has 2 microphone inputs (with separate gain controls).  It has all usable features (vocal replace, pitch control, etc).  It works really well.  It just hooks up as another source input - just like a DVD Player.

It can be bought for ~ $200.00 - 225.00.

Good luck,
Kevin

[PhilNYC]

Kevin, thanks for the response.  Can you tell me if you've ever had any issues with feedback?  And do you use it at any relatively high volumes?

I've done a little bit of research, and most of the DVD-based players do have a PCM digital out which makes me feel a little better about the dynamic range issues feeding it to an external DAC.  But the feedback issue seems to be problematic, as most home audio speakers don't have tweeters with voice coils that can handle the feedback without getting damaged.  Ideally, I'd like to find a player that has a separate audio out for the vocal/mic track so I can put it on a separate Pro Audio amp and monitor...

[bubba966]

Here's a pretty good place to check out various LDP's that've been released. http://www.laserdiscarchive.co.uk/laserdisc_archive/laserdisc_archive_page.htm

I don't know the Karaoke LD decks well enough to know what difference they had in output functionality.

You might want to look into this deck http://www.laserdiscarchive.co.uk/laserdisc_archive/pioneer/pioneer_dvl-v888/pioneer_dvl-v888.htm It's a LD/DVD/CD Karaoke deck. And I do believe those can still be found new (LDP production was pretty much over 2 1/2 years ago). I don't know if it'll have what you're looking for, but it's the last Karaoke deck that was built, and should have the most features.

[meilankev]

Phil,

We have had no problems with the unit at all.  Our Family Room is pretty big, and when my wife gets a crowd of those Chinese women together, they rock the house   .  As to stereo speakers, we use Thiel CS-3.5 speakers in the Family Room (where the Karaoke stuff is done).  Our couch is ~ 12 feet away from the speakers, and we have never had any audible feedback in our home (even at high volume).

Actually, she has also used it in several auditoriums (for the Taiwanese Association of Tampa Bay meetings).  Keep in mind, the two microphone inputs have their individual gain controls, so you can determine how loud the "vocals" are relative to the rest of the music.  And she uses this machine as her PA system for their "guest speakers".  It works like a champ.
But the speakers she uses for here group meetings are VERY entry-level type stuff (to include VERY entry-level amp/cables).  In this scenario, I have once heard feedback, but ONLY when the person speaking stood directly in front of the system (2 - 3 feet away) at high volume.  All they had to do was move a couple feet away, and the feedback disappeared.

I can say that in almost every situation, feedback has been a non-issue.  And when it did rear its head, it was easily defeated.  Simply keep the vocalist/orator from snuggling up next to the gear/speakers, and feedback will not occur.

Kevin

[PhilNYC]

Thanks for the responses!

Good to hear regarding the feedback issue.  I'm guessing that a lot of the issues people have talked about in the past are based on unprocessed mic inputs where compression isn't applied.  Will continue to research, but this has been helpful...

(and yah, I've been to karaoke bars in NYC with a hoard of Asian women, and they really go to town on the tunes!)