Speakers for assembly

[Novalee]

Sorry for posting this as I am sure I have read, and participated in, a thread somewhere but can't find it!

 

I want some new speakers for our assembly set up - everything is portable and currently we use a set of speakers with subwoofer etc and it's hastle for assemblies to set up and take down every morning.

 

Would love a little speaker which just needs plugging in the power and laptop and is loud enough to fill the hall, yet cheap enough that I can just buy it without anyone questioning it haha!

 

Has anyone got any recommendations?

[twin--turbo]

we use a fostex spa11 for easy portability. even after 15 years and one blown driver it's still loud.

 

You may want 2-3 to spread the volume down the space without deafaning the front row.

[dhicks]

Has anyone got any recommendations?

 

I have pretty much exactly the same question: if someone wants amplified sound for an assembly at the moment they either make do with the PC speakers I've got strapped to an Argos kitchen trolley on wheels, or we go and get out the full kit - speakers, stands, amp, sound board, mic controller, etc. I was just thinking this morning that we could do with a number of small, discrete speakers dotted around the main hall. Just as an added complication, said hall is listed in some way, although I'm not quite sure exactly how or what parts of it. Those Fostex SPA11s look just the right kind of size - do they come in white? If we wanted, say, half a dozen of them around a hall, how would we best organise that - would we need to get an amp that has 6 paits of connector terminals, one pair for each speaker, and wire each speaker around the hall back to that central amp? Or do we need to get multiple amps and some kind of audio signal splitter?

[twin--turbo]

I have pretty much exactly the same question: if someone wants amplified sound for an assembly at the moment they either make do with the PC speakers I've got strapped to an Argos kitchen trolley on wheels, or we go and get out the full kit - speakers, stands, amp, sound board, mic controller, etc. I was just thinking this morning that we could do with a number of small, discrete speakers dotted around the main hall. Just as an added complication, said hall is listed in some way, although I'm not quite sure exactly how or what parts of it. Those Fostex SPA11s look just the right kind of size - do they come in white? If we wanted, say, half a dozen of them around a hall, how would we best organise that - would we need to get an amp that has 6 paits of connector terminals, one pair for each speaker, and wire each speaker around the hall back to that central amp? Or do we need to get multiple amps and some kind of audio signal splitter?

 

It's an amplified speaker with line in, mic in and line out. So you connect your source to the first one then just daisy them allong.

 

Rob

[Novalee]

Fostex ones look like really powerful, but might be a step too far for us. Anything midrange any knows of?

[dhicks]

Fostex ones look like really powerful, but might be a step too far for us. Anything midrange any knows of?

 

A little while ago Maplin were doing portable sound systems on wheels, about the size of a wheely suitcase. It had a battery inside as well as speakers and came complete with a couple of microphones. That might be the kind of thing you're after - around £150, I belive.

[Andrew_C]

I've got one of the previous versions of this QR12PA - QTX SOUND - PORTABLE PA SYSTEM, 12" 100W RMS | CPC. Might be worth a look.

[dhicks]

we use a fostex spa11 for easy portability. even after 15 years and one blown driver it's still loud.

 

I've just been taking a further look at these - they look like excellent bits of kit, available for around £100 each and, as you point out, easy to daisy-chain together for better coverage. We're thinking of buying some for use in assemblies and at the various events we do during the year, but I've got one worry: is there a noticeable time lag between speakers? The signal has to travel to the first speaker, where it is turned in to sound, and then the second speaker further down the line, where it is turned in to sound a few milliseconds (?) later. If I try to use, say, six of these speakers to fill a room with sound (two at the front, two in the middle, two at the back, each side has a different stereo output from the mixing desk) is the sound going to be okay, or are you just going to get a confused mess as the same sound hits people's ears from two different directions a few milliseconds apart?

[Andrew_C]

In anything but a very large hall, you should be OK, about 3ms for 10m. ISTR a figure being bandied about above which you may get problems, but can't remember the detail. Maybe googleable.

[Dos_Box]

Moving to Av and Multimedia forum.

[dhicks]

In anything but a very large hall, you should be OK, about 3ms for 10m. ISTR a figure being bandied about above which you may get problems, but can't remember the detail. Maybe googleable.

 

- I think my best option might be to buy a set of the Fostex SPA11s, then if we get problems with delays in larger halls (I think the largest we deal with is about 20m in length) go for a couple of Behringer SHARK FBQ100 "Automatic Feedback Destroyers".

[Andrew_C]

Behringer SHARK FBQ100 "Automatic Feedback Destroyers".

Nice bits of kit!

[pcstru]

- I think my best option might be to buy a set of the Fostex SPA11s, then if we get problems with delays in larger halls (I think the largest we deal with is about 20m in length) go for a couple of Behringer SHARK FBQ100 "Automatic Feedback Destroyers".

 

Delay is just a fact of life. Sound travels quite slowly, listener position varies in an auditorium. Feedback is better dealt with buying a quality microphone and setting proper gain structure.

[dhicks]

Delay is just a fact of life. Sound travels quite slowly, listener position varies in an auditorium. Feedback is better dealt with buying a quality microphone and setting proper gain structure.

 

Just going by what I picked up from our spring event (where the Parent's Asasociation hired in a truck load of equipment and three professional AV engineers to do sound and lights), the temperature inside the venue is going to affect the speed that sound travels. On stage, at the front, under all the lighting, it gets good and toasty and sound slows down, but a bit further back it's a bit cooler and sound travels faster. I'm just thinking it might do to have the option to add a delay, depending on circumstances / event, just to cover all possible options.

[Andrew_C]

Feedback is better dealt with buying a quality microphone and setting proper gain structure.

True. But they also have delay functionality, you don't need to use the feedback killing section. For the price, features, and size, they are ideal tools to delay a couple of remote speakers. You could even tweak the eq if necessary.

 

If your distant speakers are too far back, then delays become important.

Edited October 23, 2013 by Andrew_C

[pcstru]

What I mean is that with 100 listeners spread out over an auditorium, they will all individually experience a (slightly) different effect from sound propagation delay. There is a point at which you can't improve the experience for one individual without degrading it for another, so no ideal/perfect solution.

 

Active EQ processors typically deal with standing waves interference, particularly problematic on low frequencies proportional to the space and (the unit you linked to) feedback from that in relation to static microphones (you tune the EQ for the mic position). I have an active EQ in my ... err ... "man cave", to tame LF in the listening position. Wander around the room and you soon realise the problem didn't go away, the processor just moved it to somewhere you didn't care much about. Easy with few people, increasingly difficult as the zone you want to compensate for widens.