Soundcraft EFX8 - How to power this puppy?

[Faustblix]

Hey guys,

Hope this is in the right section. I have a mixer thats not powered. Bought it for band use, figuring down the line that we'd all be chipping in for some powered speakers. Go figure. Hadn't thought that recording was a turning point... and that bands often fall apart at these turning points.

So, stuck with this: http://www.soundcraft.com/products/product.aspx?pid=148

No powered speaker setup as they're way too unfordable for me. The better option seems to be... to power it.

How I'd ran this just to mess around with is a coax out to PC, and PC out over optical to an A/V receiver that I wasn't worried about damaging. Inputs to the mixer are a direct line from my Spider Valve 212 amp, and a simple Shure mic for vocals, then we Mic'd the bass and lead.

My concern... I'm sure this isn't meant to be run through a receiver. I wonder though if its safe due to it channeling through my PC first. I'm honestly not knowledgeable with this sort of thing. I'd say I have just enough knowledge to be dangerous.

Any help and info regarding this would be hugely appreciated. I'd like to get back into my music.

 

[jamie2112]

Whoa buddy slow down..... you are trying to do what exactly? You run your mics into the mixer right??? aka: lead voc bass guit ect. Then you don't have any speakers to power so you are taking a L/R from the mixer into your AVR.Am I right here so far? Ok it sounds like you need an amp and set of live type "pa on a stick" speakers. I would assume that the amp in your avr is going to like whats coming to it and I am sure your speakers will suffer as well. You can go into your computer and limit the signal as it affects your speakers.... Do you all have any money to speand on a "practice" pa? And when you say power IT? what are you powering? The mixer will power your mics and if it has 48v it will power a condensor mic or active direct box.

 

[Faustblix]

Because the mixer isn't powered, I can't connect any speakers directly to it, so before the signal hits speakers, it needs to run through an amp, right?

So the sources are the mics, yes.

They run directly into the mixer. The mixer runs into the PC, so recording software can pick everything up.

The PC, runs to a cheap A/V receiver with a 5.1 speaker setup. I get sound, sounds decent. I just make sure that the mixer isn't in the red.

What I wonder, is if there's an amp out there, that would do the job of powering a good set of non-powered speakers, strong enough for live shows, small venue.