Review by John Field There is a demand in the karaoke arena for a player that is a few steps up from the players typically available in high street stores, but that is not complicated to set up like professional systems. The RSQ Echo 500 attempts to bridge that gap. Weighing in at 25 kilos, the Echo 500 is not featherweight, it may be a little heavy for some. The unit measures 50 x 33 x 40cm and is made from sturdy MDE, coated in tough black finish, with corner protectors. The Echo 500 is one of a family of karaoke machines which use the same amplifier section and loudspeakers - the only difference is the player built in to the case. In the Echo 500, the player is the RSQ E-500 Neo machine, which plays all the mainstream fromats, plus a new format - Neo CDG. The controls running left to right are top to bottom - stand by / on, mic 1 & 2, multiplex (for removing vocals on multiplex discs), key change down / natural / up, mic volumes and echo control. There are extra mic inputs on the rear as well. Adjacent to the disc tray is the repeat button. On the other side of the disc tray is the drawer open / close button, play / pause buttom, stop, fast forward / back and track up / down and direct track access buttons. The player is not quite as intuitive as it could be. For example, pressing play with the drawer open and a disc in the tray, the drawer shuts and reads the disc but the player only displays the disc contents and requires you to either press play (to play from track 1) or by pressing a track number and play to play the desired track. This slows the operation down - not a problem with a home karaoke, but in a professional or semi pro situation it could be a little embarrassing. To get the microphone sockets to work, it is necessary to switch the player into "karaoke" mode, via the setup pages of the player. This mode also has a side-effect in that it changes the play mode of the player from continuous to single track play.
As mentioned previously, there are also 2 mic inputs on the rear of the unit, plus a guitar input so you can play along. Each input has a volume control and a master echo level. In addition, there is an audio in and out on phonos. Video connection is on a single phono. The Echo 500 plays just about any type of disc. |
|
