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This question recently came up: Karaoke system with Android TV

It got me wondering if this is or is not on topic. On the one hand, this particular question seems to be very, very consumer focused and many karaoke systems are, but there are professional DJ's doing sound reinforcement who also run karaoke systems.

I wanted to bring this up here to get people's opinions on karaoke questions and if they should be on or off topic.

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    On that particular one, I wasn't sure - I didn't vote either way - but I did think it was, at best, borderline. It's a decent, well-researched question, but yes, it's very consumer-oriented. The only part of the setup I have any real knowledge on is the pair of 58s it all starts with ;) Unfortunately, for this type of question there's no comfortable place for it to really sit on SE - there's nothing I can find even on Area 51 that would fit. Maybe we need one? – Tetsujin Aug 30 '17 at 15:53
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    @Tetsujin - it's been considered a few times before, the problem is nobody can figure out how to get hifi or home theater in to a situation where Good Subjective/Bad Subjective applies on the good side. Things are just far too personal opinion driven because "that's how I like it". That can't possibly be made "good subjective" so it doesn't really fit as an SE site. Believe me, it hasn't been a lack of trying. I personally hate turning away people looking for help, but I have no idea how to make someplace that would be good for those questions within the framework of SE. – AJ Henderson♦ Aug 30 '17 at 16:51
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    I'm right behind you. Plus I don't know enough about home audio/theatre specifics to really get involved... & my answer to any 'bad speaker setup' is some good ears, measured delays & a 31-band graphic ;-) I've heard good sound from cheap equipment & bad sound from very expensive.. so I wouldn't know where to start. – Tetsujin Aug 30 '17 at 17:05
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    atm, consumer is off-topic. Karaoke is consumer. If you let one in, they'll all come in with "How do I add six speakers to my Karaoke machine" lol. – Marc W Sep 1 '17 at 13:43
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Personally, I feel that we should apply a similar standard as we do to other cross-over questions. If the question is dealing with a consumer setup and asking things that are specific to consumer gear, then it is not a good fit. If it is asking about things in a way that would be relevant in a professional context, it is still a good enough fit and should be answered from the perspective of a professional context (even if the context presented is consumer oriented.)

For this particular question, I would label it off-topic as it is not relevant to a professional setup as it is dealing with how to get it working with consumer gear that would be irrelevant to a professional setup.

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  • If that's off-topic, then is there any other stack exchange community where that would not be off topic? – Gabriel Hautclocq Aug 30 '17 at 14:27
  • Possibly music practice and performance. Unsure if they would consider it to fit or not. – AJ Henderson♦ Aug 30 '17 at 14:31
  • Will Music practice and performance be a better fit than Sound Design? – Gabriel Hautclocq Aug 30 '17 at 14:43
  • @GabrielHautclocq No idea, that's why I asked this meta question. :) It's possible people may feel it is a fine fit here. I didn't speedy close or migrate because I don't feel that it's been established yet if it's a good fit here. Certainly if people start supporting my answer here or if your question starts getting downvotes because people don't feel it is on topic, you can flag it for me to migrate and I'll take care of checking with them to see if they'd want it, but for now I wouldn't worry too much. – AJ Henderson♦ Aug 30 '17 at 14:51
  • I have mixed feelings about my question. On one hand, on Music practice there a few questions about karaoke, while this is the first one on Sound Design. They say Music practice is for enthusiasts, among others, and my wife is definitely an music enthousiast. On another hand I guess I posted here because it's typically sound designers that would know how to wire this all. If I posted in Music Practice, I would risk not having any answer because nobody knows what I'm talking about. – Gabriel Hautclocq Aug 30 '17 at 14:55
  • @GabrielHautclocq - yeah, I mean if you want it migrated, I'll happily ask the mods over there about it for you and migrate it if they want it. The main concern for me is that it seems like most of your issue is within the consumer parts of the system and that's quite a bit different from pro systems that live reinforcement and recording guys are going to know. – AJ Henderson♦ Aug 30 '17 at 14:57
  • I understand, maybe it would be better if I asked in a karaoke forum somewhere else in the net. – Gabriel Hautclocq Aug 30 '17 at 15:00
  • @GabrielHautclocq - I double checked with Music mods, they gave the thumbs down. They said it might fit if the question was more about how to use them for practicing, but they didn't feel the question fit over there. I'll leave it here for now and let the community decide what they want to do with it, but you might have faster luck on something more karaoke focused, sorry. – AJ Henderson♦ Aug 30 '17 at 15:41
  • It's allright, I understand, so, should I delete my question? – Gabriel Hautclocq Aug 30 '17 at 20:27
  • @GabrielHautclocq I wouldn't. Not unless it is getting downvotes. Just let it play out. – AJ Henderson♦ Aug 30 '17 at 20:30
  • I'm not sure if I agree AJ, it seems like too much of a grey area for people to correctly distinguish. It's kinda messy. If it's related to a consumer goods issue, even when VOing or recording, it shouldn't be on here. Only because it's too hard to distinguish otherwise and it opens a can of icky worms. Sounds like Music Practice would take it up. – Marc W Sep 1 '17 at 13:52
  • @MarcW music practice would not take it up. I already checked with them. As far as the disagreement over if we cover things that are consumer in context but relate to a professional context. That's an existing meta that's pre-established consensus, so we'd need to make an effort to change it if we didn't like it anymore. This meta topic is more just trying to establish bounds in relation to karaoke. – AJ Henderson♦ Sep 1 '17 at 13:58
  • Sorry, I mean't Karaoke, to me Karaoke is, naturally, a consumer product/thing . I'm talking about Karaoke machines, improvised or bought here mind, like home stereo system, but with mic input, etc. If it was done professionally or "properly", it would be called a cover song or something, and employ professional or semi-professional equipment. "Karaoke" implies a non-professional usage to me. Obviously, I'm talking questions directly related to home karaoke(setup, advice etc) here. As always, context is everything and users will naturally disagree on it, but that's my thoughts anyway. – Marc W Sep 1 '17 at 22:17
  • @MarcW ah yeah, that makes a lot more sense. I don't know that I quite agree completely, but I understand what you're getting at now. I would say that there is a professional karaoke that DJs do where it's using higher end pro processors and running through PAs. That's more what I was trying to figure out if was on topic. That said, even for a home setup, a question about an SM58 used in a home karaoke setup would probably be on topic as long as it was dealing with the SM58. – AJ Henderson♦ Sep 1 '17 at 22:32
  • Yeah, I agree with that. In fact, on closer inspection, I do agree with your answer, I would just add that Karaoke is a consumer product, for people to have fun with. And so should be handled as such, with the same rules that you expressed in your answer with regards to consumer-related products. I think this bit (even if the context presented is consumer oriented.) threw me off. – Marc W Sep 2 '17 at 21:02

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