MF stupid deal of day: gemini PA-300BT for $300

[mcmars]

Wondering if anyone has one or knows about these? Might be nice to have for small gigs or traveling or even to have set up in living room? But maybe they are cheap low end "junk" destined for problems in near future. I have a QSC system already, but it is some work to drag around and set up for small venues. Maybe this is way to go, with small mixer and my fishman performer amp? Price is right, but may not be worth it if poor quality? Reviews seem favorable, but who knows?

[phcorrigan]

It looks like it's worth a try. If you have a Guitar Center store nearby, I would ask them about price matching, which they typically do, and this is their sister company. That way, if you don't like it, you can easily return it to the store without the hassle of shipping.

I have a Gemini AS-15BLU that I recently bought off of Craigslist. I haven't used it in the field yet, but in testing it seems to be pretty good.

[MikeBmusic]

Gemini makes (relabels?) pretty cheap gear. How reliable is it over time? I have a 10" powered Gemini I got a MF SDotD for $89. Sound is WAY harsh (no EQ knobs on it, just volume). I'll use it as a floor monitor, if pressed, but it mostly sits in a box gathering dust.

[rockabilly69]

Well after reading this post I checked into the Gemini unit, the PA300BT. It took time to find some reviews on-line for this rig, but I found out that the model # is a Musicians Friend - Guitar Center exclusive item number, but the same item is also sold under the model number Gemini WRX-843 https://geminisound.com/products/wrx-843 so that helped me find some reviews which were surprisingly positive. So I bought one of the units thinking that Musician's Friend has a very liberal policy, and I would just be out shipping if I didn't like it. I have a few gigs that require me walking up a few flights of stairs, and when I read that the sub was only 24lbs, I thought this would be great for these gigs, as they both have house sound, and I can slave out to them as long as the basic sound was good. So it was definitely worth taking a chance on, and as I said, the reviews were all good, not one single bad one!

Well here's my review...

I LIKE IT!!!! At $299 this thing was a steal! And even at slightly higher prices, I still think it's worth it! A Bose L1 compact is $1000, this is less than half of that!!!

The unit coupled with my BOSE T1 mixer sounds really good, and frankly, that took me by surprise. My guitar and vocals sounded great with this unit and my T1 mixer. I especially liked the low-end which had some serious authority for a unit of this size and wattage.

I've been sitting here for over 3 hours listening to the rig at about the levels it would be set at, at a typical small club, streaming music from my iPhone. I'm sitting in the room next to where it's set up about 20 feet from the speaker. And, oh yeah, the Bluetooth in my phone found the Gemini instantly, and I had no trouble pairing with it.

The build quality of the unit is pretty good, and the sub is surprisingly light, for the amount of low-end it puts out. It weighs 24 lbs. The high-end portion has 6 off-axis drivers and can be plugged directly into the sub, or you can use two spacers that are included to get the high end section. The picture below is using one spacer and it is about head height (I'm 5' 8")

The connectors on the high end cab and the extensions seem pretty lightly built, but then the extensions are pretty light. Once plugged in thought they seem secure.

The mixer section of the PA-300BT is where it falls up short, with the only tone controls being global DSP presets (Music, Live, Hi-Fi, or Speech) which all sound pretty good, but the reverb is not that great sounding as it's more of a fast slapback delay, and you have to live with the same setting for all 4 channels (you can turn it on or off on each channel though). This doesn't really pertain to me as I am using this mainly as a powered blue tooth speaker. And with the Bose T1 my voice and guitar both sounded great. I would think most people would use this with their mini mixer of choice.

There is a mix-thru XLR output to send the preamp signal to a house system of slaving it to another powered speaker.

For comparison sakes the unit stacks up favorably with the BOSE L1 compact in power. In SPL the Bose claims 106db, the Gemini 103db. Bose claims 180 degrees of dispersion compared to the Gemini rating of 120 degrees. I've used the L1 compact many times and they seem very similar in sound and the Bose T1 presets seem to work perfectly with this unit. Surprisingly though I like the low end in the Gemini better!

It took me a long time to find the power ratings of the L1 compact but it's rated at 130W according to their technical sheet

https://assets.bose.com/content/dam/...l1_compact.pdf

The Gemini is rated at 300W+ 50W RMS from a CLASS D amplifier

And like the BOSE L1 Compact the Gemini has an 8" sub and 6 smaller drivers. The Bose drivers are 2" the Geminis are 2.75"

The SPL Rating of the L1 Compact is max 106db, and PA300BT is max 103db

Hard to trust ratings but they seem very similar in loudness and dispersion, as frankly, I think Bose is being liberal with their ratings...

[rockabilly69]

here is the same item for $499 and you can get 15% off with PRESDAY code at Musician's Friend

[CASD57]

I've had one for a few months When it went on sale last time for $299
I don't use it much during the winter (It's cold in the garage) lol
But I will agree it needs an external mixer to reach it's full potential

I also find I can't hear it well if it's it's next to me, it needs back a little or you need a monitor

At $299 it's a no brainer for people who occasionally need a PA, Not sure it's something I would rely on for heavy gigging or big crowds.