#stage monitors

Nothing kills a rehearsal faster than a vocal disappearing in the mix or a monitor screaming right into your face. A solid PA setup is not about buying the most expensive gear—it’s about making every song feel tight, loud and under control.

Monitor feedback, underpowered mains and tangled wiring turn rehearsals into chaos. A band member, DIY sound tech or small-venue promoter with limited budget often has to size speakers, sort monitor mixes and finalise wiring while keeping instruments, venue acoustics and power limits in balance.

How to size PA & calculate SPL

Sizing speakers starts with the speaker sensitivity and continuous RMS power, not peak specs. This gives a realistic estimate of the loudness the system can reach at the audience area.

RMS, sensitivity & SPL

Sensitivity is the SPL a speaker makes at 1 watt measured at 1 metre. Use the formula: SPL = sensitivity + 10·log10(power). This converts watts to expected SPL and shows the effect of amplifier power.

The most common mistake at this point is choosing by peak wattage only. Peak numbers sound impressive but say little about continuous output and headroom.

Headroom matters because drums and vocals have high crest factors. Allow at least 6 dB headroom above calculated required SPL to avoid distortion.

Worked examples & calculator

Example 1: trio in a 150-capacity room.

- Speaker sensitivity: 96 dB @1W/1m. - Desired SPL at FOH position: 105 dB. - Required power: solve 105 = 96 + 10·log10(P) → 10·log10(P) = 9 → P ≈ 8 watts.

Because the next feedback squeal might be warning you about a much bigger mistake...

Are Floor Wedge Monitors Still Relevant? Uncovering the Truth in Modern Live Sound

Several years ago, I witnessed a most unusual and amusing spectacle. With all due respect to David Letterman, I call these epic and memorable moments silly human tricks. In this one, a well-known performer took the stage, fumbled with his guitar, and began berating the sound crew… on live TV.

To the audience it may have looked like a technical problem, but not to me.

My guess is that the performer arrived late, as evidenced by his hurried manner entering the spotlight. His shiny black guitar was covered with the telltale signs of being unprepared, with the spotlight showing every fingerprint and smudge from at least one previous show in excruciatingly vivid detail.

The rushed tuning and lack of signal aggravated whatever was happening with him, to the point that he openly antagonized the tech team, standing there playing with the guitar while talking smack about the sound. It wasn’t until a stagehand sauntered across the stage and handed him a new battery that he finally moved on.

Stage Monitors Trends and Forecast 2019

MarketResearchNest.com adds “Global Stage Monitors Market Growth 2019-2024”new report to its research database.

According to this study, over the next five years the Stage Monitors market will register a xx% CAGR in terms of revenue, the global market size will reach US$ xx million by 2024, from US$ xx million in 2019. In particular, this report presents the global market share (sales and…

Brand: Selenium

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High Sensitivity, Smooth Response, Low Distortion

1" 200w Aluminum Phenolic Compression Driver

Multi-Way PAs, Stage Monitors, Side Fills

The D250-X from Selenium is highly recommeded for for mid range applications in Multi Way PA Systems, stage monitors, Side Fills and high SPL Car Stereo Systems. A precisely formed phenoic diaphragm produces high fidelity sound throughout the mid range and features high sensitivity, low distortion and smooth reponse. The voice coil is bonded to Kapton ™ using high temperature adhesives to increase durability and raise power handling. An acoustic transformer or "Phase Plug" with optimized geometry reduces phase cancellation.

(a brusque guide for bands stepping up to the slightly-less-small-time)

  Hi, I'm the one sat at the on-stage mixing desk. What's that, you didn't even know that was a thing? Yes, that's how we do things at 'serious' club level - one engineer for the front-of-house sound and another for the stage monitors. It's what touring bands expect once the venue holds more than a couple of hundred people.

During line-check, while the front-of-house sound engineer is calling out individual instruments, it's a good idea to be building your monitor mix. If you want (for example) kick drum in your wedge, stick a finger in the air while it's being line checked, and keep it there til you've got enough.

During soundcheck songs or the show, point at / mime* / mouth / yell the name of the instrument in question, along with 'up' or 'down'. It's that simple. It's helpful if you confirm that the change I made was useful, by a nod or a smile - that way I can stop focusing my attention on you specifically and go back to general alertness mode. There's no need to point at the wedge you're stood on top of, which I might well misinterpreted as 'turn it down!'. Also don't try to be polite: 'More me!', whether yelled, mouthed or mimed, is a lot less work for me to process than a muffled 'could I possibly have a little more of my guitar in my monitor, please?', and frees up more of the noisy stage's limited communication bandwidth for the needs of your fellow musicians. Riffing on the same theme: if you need a shit-tonne (10-12 dB) more, then do ask for a shit-tonne rather than 'a bit' or 'a hair' (2-4 dB). By all means approach the desk if it's a more complex issue.

Resist the temptation to exclaim 'I can't hear anything!'. It's terribly unhelpful, and if you really can't hear anything at all you probably shouldn't be on stage in the first place, equal opportunities aside. Also, it's probably best not to ask upfront for 'a bit of everything' if you're a band with drums and amplifiers playing on a small to medium sized stage. If you don't know what I mean by 'small to medium', I mean any stage where you do your own line check. Oh, and nobody has high hat / cymbals / toms or reverb in their monitor wedge (except those that do, obviously).

* Guitar, keyboard, vocal and snare are straightforward enough mimes. For bass guitar, mime fingerpicking from above with two fingers. For kick drum, pound your fist into your chest or other (flat) hand. For backing tracks, make a circle with your finger like a spinning tape reel or CD. And if you can't get a hand free to mime, do try my lipreading skills!