CHiLL Posted January 13, 2016 Posted January 13, 2016 Hello, We are in need of a new audio / speaker system for our secondary school assembly hall, however neither my colleague nor I are too clued with audio set-ups. Our assembly hall isn't large compared to other schools I've seen or worked in, so we don't need super speakers, but we also don't want anything that won't be loud enough! Nor can we afford a solution that would break the bank! Before Christmas we had a guest speaker in, and he brought his own speakers with him. They were fairly small in size (approximately the size of a rugby ball) and were 2.0 speakers (no sub), but they offered excellent audio levels, or at least we think they'd be more than enough. Unfortunately, we do not know what speaker system he had, so we are a bit stuck! Can anybody offer any advice? Thanks.
Fazza Posted January 13, 2016 Posted January 13, 2016 Ask the Music teacher to suggest something, that way you can blame them if it's not right as they're supposed to be the experts on these things!
3s-gtech Posted January 13, 2016 Posted January 13, 2016 We kept ours simple. A pair of EV cabinets powered by a compact mixer-amp. Generally I'd recommend veering more towards professional gear than the stuff for classrooms, so you get good musical capability if it's needed. £1000 will go a long way here - we bought used speakers to dramatically lower the cost to just over half that for the equipment. We then had it installed, with the speakers on wall mounts etc.
mikkydoos Posted January 13, 2016 Posted January 13, 2016 Ask the Music teacher to suggest something, that way you can blame them if it's not right as they're supposed to be the experts on these things! I'd say you'd be better off with a small PA system. Mixer 500W Power Amp PA Speakers Something like this would do it. Maybe up the power though. SubZero 150W PA System Bundle with Stands and Mics at Gear4music.com Or get in touch with your local music shop.
VeryPC_Anthony_L Posted January 13, 2016 Posted January 13, 2016 (edited) Hi @CHiLL Audio is a massive passion of mine. There are a few things that would be worth thinking about: - what do you use the hall for - what do you want to achieve - how technical are your users A good team to generally ask for input as mentioned is the music department and potentially drama as these potentially will want to make use of the system and so making sure that it fits there needs early on will help with future events etc. I would highly advise against just buying a system if you are not to sure on audio set-ups as an AV supplier will/should be able to offer various solutions. In terms of equipment I would highly advise staying away from anything you would use in a classroom/Hifi situation. Edited January 13, 2016 by VeryPC_Anthony_L
localzuk Posted January 13, 2016 Posted January 13, 2016 I'd recommend looking at one of these PPA500BT | Compact PA Systems | Portable PA Systems | Behringer | Categories | MUSIC Group or these EPS500MP3 | Compact PA Systems | Portable PA Systems | Behringer | Categories | MUSIC Group. We have the first one, which we use for our sports days, and its superb. Covers a large field, let alone a hall. Pretty cheap and easy to use too.
Andrew_C Posted January 13, 2016 Posted January 13, 2016 Talk to a Pro-Audio supplier, once you've written down what you need the system for. Installation will probably cost 1/2 the equipment, if you are lucky! Unless your estates team/you are up for it. There's an adage (specifically about churches, but fits here) that you buy three sound systems. 1st - The vicar buys something from Poundland or equivalent. It breaks in weeks. 2nd - Someone in the congregation knows something about Hi-Fi, and makes a stab at it. 3rd - Once frustrated with the terrible howls and reverb, you get someone in who does it day to day, it costs a lot more, but does the job, and will continue to for years and years. I did some work on our chapel system that was 30 years old. Still going strong, but what was being asked of it had changed. 1
twin--turbo Posted January 13, 2016 Posted January 13, 2016 million ways to skin a cat depending on what exactly you want. For basic portable voice music reinforcement we used to have something similar to what you describe as rugby ball sized. The fostex SPA11 was incredible for its size. Not sure if you can still get them. TT
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