Renting dj Equipment

View quoted message Excellent!! Best of luck!

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Hey Jarrod,

Thanks so much for the advice! We are definitely leaning toward Long and McQuade. We just have to make our way out to one to go over the equipment. If I have any questions about the setup I will for sure reach out!

Hey Ashley, I'm not sure if you've resolved this yet or not, but I'll definitely support the Long and McQuade rental. As far as doing it yourself, it's actually pretty easy! I've attached a screenshot the current Long and McQuade catalogue.
Depending on how many guests you have, system one will work out great for you. They're some of the most popular speakers sold by the company for a reason! So long as you don't plan on playing any super bass heavy music, they dont pick up low end as well as other speakers, they should be more than sufficient. At this point, you make the choice of either getting a mixer and a 1/4" to 1/8" TRS cable (allowing you to connect your phones audio port), or getting whats known as a Passive Direct Box (DI) and the cable. Either will work fine. The mixer will give you more refined control over the sound, and let you hook up a microphone if you wish. The DI is just an interface that acts as a transformer for the audio signal, balancing it better than just plugging the phone right in.


The beauty of these speakers is that they're Active. This means they won't need an amp, just plug them in and you're good to go. Let's say you're going with a mixer - You're going to need your speakers and their stands, your mixer, your 1/4" to 1/8" TRS cable, any power cables, and at least two XLR cables.
I will gladly walk you through step by step how you can setup this system yourself if you'd like. I've done many, many setups just like this. Please feel free to message me anytime.

Check out Long and McQuade. I am renting a bluetooth speaker tower and its $60 for the week I think. They've got a bunch of other audio equipment for all gathering sizes and their prices are really good!

We were able to rent the equipment from our venue. We had two speakers (could've had 4 but we thought 2 would be enough for the space), 2 mics, a sound board for $100. We did have to provide the cord to hook the laptop to the sound board, but it was a regular HDMI cord.

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Thanks Ashley! I agree it shouldn't be complicated in my eyes either

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I mean i dont see it being complicated lol. DJs plug in their laptops so why cant we just plug in the phone. ill text him and ask him. ill let you know what he says

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Thanks for the input Ashley. That's exactly what I want to do, but everywhere we are calling to rent speakers are telling us that it's too complicated, or the price is so outrageous that it's no longer saving us money. Do you know where your cousins got their speakers from?

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My cousins have started doing this. so i have personally seen it work. but its up to you what you feel more comfortable with. my cousin had a 150 person baby shower in a giant condo party room. they got two speakers and placed one on each side of the room and literally plugged in his phone and let the playlist play the entire night. it was great everyone was drinking and dancing all night

View quoted message Hi Ashley,
We called Long and Mcquade, and they told us it's a lot easier said than done which I'm not sure if that's true or not. They explained that just renting a speaker will not provide the right amount of sound needed for a wedding, and theyhighly recommend a DJ. Really stumped on this one.

Can you just rent a giant speaker and plug your phone into the speaker and do a spofity list for your entire wedding?

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We plan on renting some speakers, mics, etc from Long & McQuade for our very small ceremony and reception. From what I've seen in their catalogue their prices are very reasonable

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Thanks Amelia. I will check them out!

Is there a Long & McQuade near you? For my 10 year reunion we rented speakers on stands and lights that sync to the music. We had a teeny budget but I don't know exactly what we spent. We hooked up a laptop with Spotify and built a huge song list beforehand because the wifi was spotty at best. You'd need a few friends to maybe take turns running the music unless you take requests before the party.

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Thanks for the info Hank

If you're willing to come down to the GTA, you can get rent a PA system at Long and McQuade for less than $100 for a day.

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Thanks for the info Amanda!

My fiance and I just googled until we found a dj at a great price. We weren't willing to spend over $1000. It's premium pricing in bc I probably googled for days until I found ours which was $775 for the entire day and with amazing reviews.

I hope you're able to find something for your big day!

View quoted message Aaww. That’s fair good luck hun! I really hope you’re able to find what works best.

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Good call on Kijiji, and FB! I will definitely try that

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We were really trying to avoid a DJ, but it's worth shopping around if it will be cheaper. I've thought about buying speakers myself, but don't want the hassle of storing them. We are in a small apartment, and don't have a lot of extra space. I appreciate the ideas though!

Oh also- maybe check out kijiji and other webs of the same sort. Perhaps put an add out on FB market place as well

View quoted message No I don’t. But some DJs are around $600. Have you shopped around? If not, then I would suggest maybe buys a few speakers yourself?

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Hi Gloria,

The venue isn't huge. Will only be about 100 people (If we are allowed to have that many by then). We have emailed a few different places just to rent speakers, but we have been getting quotes of around $1000 which is not really saving us money. Do you know of any companies to rent speakers from in the GTA?

Depending how big your venue is I would suggest maybe brining in your own speakers?

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Hi Tori,

Unfortunately our venue is completely DIY. We have to bring all vendors/ equipment in ourselves. Good thought though!

I personally went with a DJ - but I would check with your venue to see if they have a sound system that they would be able to rent out? That might be cheaper