Extron control system for lecture theatre...how much??

[BJG]

This year I switched from a skint secondary to a university and I'm still acclimatising to budgets. I just spent half an hour discussing a new Extron control system for a small lecture theatre which has been quoted at £12K...that's just the controller podium, not the screens or speakers. Seems bonkers to me to pay that much for something that basically just selects signal sources, but should I object or just nod and smile...? I challenged the company on the cost and complexity, but they have a long-standing relationship with the place and seemed to think it was what's needed. It's replacing a similar flaky system.

[southhamster]

Don't know where you are but try GV multimedia Exeter. Not the cheapest but seem pretty professional. Maybe get severally quotes to compare and see how prices stack up.

[DrBeaker]

This year I switched from a skint secondary to a university and I'm still acclimatising to budgets. I just spent half an hour discussing a new Extron control system for a small lecture theatre which has been quoted at £12K...

 

 

From pauper to prince in terms of resources and budgets? Interesting the difference between levels of education.

 

 

It's replacing a similar flaky system.

 

 

 

• What's wrong with the current system?
  
• How old is it? / When was it installed?
  
• Who installed it?
  
• Who services it / does it get serviced?
  

[mavhc]

£4700 for a primary student, £6200 for secondary, £9000 for university, and most of the time you're in a class of 200 students.

 

Of course English students pay possibly the most in the world for university.

 

https://data.oecd.org/eduresource/spending-on-tertiary-education.htm http://www.oecd.org/education/EAG2014-Indicator%20B5%20(eng).pdf

 

Better ask how the £12000 breaks down, parts, labour, programming, support, warranty, 2 hour call out time for the next 10 years, etc etc

[SamanthaD]

£12k for a panel is ridiculous, even if programming is included.

 

Which panel are you looking at? Maybe if you had multiple touchscreens, processor, switcher, programming it might start being north of £5k, but for a MLC Plus 200 with PSU and programming I'm looking at hundreds, not thousands.

 

PM me if you want a chat - I'm at Uni of Bristol.

[Andrew_C]

Nah... sounds steep, but not necessarily awful if there is more than a panel involved. Scalers, distribution etc...

[DrBeaker]

Nah... sounds steep, but not necessarily awful if there is more than a panel involved. Scalers, distribution etc...

 

Going from using cheap VGA splitters to seeing proper but expensive kit like Creston/Extron scalers, there's no contest. This is why I leave it to the AV pros and why IMHO AV is and should be a separate filed to IT support. The skillsets may look similar, but they are very different.

[mavhc]

Scalers aren't expensive though, every gpu has one.

[SamanthaD]

I'd suggest switching scalers that also mange audio and EDID etc are a bit different to the scalers found on gpu's.

 

£12k is way over the mark - I can get a room fitted out with a decent lectern, scaler, amp, speakers, control panel (programmed), blu-ray, D/A, PSU's etc and display for around £10k. Someone is doing some silly mark-ups!

 

@mhaddock - Totally agree. We've just been merged into IT Support and the powers that be are just starting to realise AV is a completely different discipline. Where we go from here is to be seen!

Edited August 30, 2019 by SamDavis

[mavhc]

It's wires and wireless that connect hardware that runs software. Seems the same to me

[DrBeaker]

I'd suggest switching scalers that also mange audio and EDID etc are a bit different to the scalers found on gpu's.

 

£12k is way over the mark - I can get a room fitted out with a decent lectern, scaler, amp, speakers, control panel (programmed), blu-ray, D/A, PSU's etc and display for around £10k. Someone is doing some silly mark-ups!

 

@mhaddock - Totally agree. We've just been merged into IT Support and the powers that be are just starting to realise AV is a completely different discipline. Where we go from here is to be seen!

 

Full respect to AV, it's a fascinating world but I'm an amateur at this stuff but been expected to do that AND my own IT job before.

 

It's wires and wireless that connect hardware that runs software. Seems the same to me

 

Each to their own but things like projector throw distance, delay, reverb, getting the best out of microphones, speakers, dealing with different types of microphones etc doesn't come under IT in my book. Never has done, never will.

[mavhc]

Each to their own but things like projector throw distance, delay, reverb, getting the best out of microphones, speakers, dealing with different types of microphones etc doesn't come under IT in my book. Never has done, never will.

 

Projector throw distance is simple, and need to know that for IWBs.

 

Did phones come under IT? Letters? Fax? Door control? Intercoms? Information storage and retrieval?

 

Speakers are programmed with software now, automatic

[mole]

If that's for the control panel - push button or touch screen?, switching, scaling, actual physical podium cost?, wiring, programming of each unit, rack build, cabling - what inputs - mix of digital/analogue, microphones?, dsp, testing, it all adds up for commercial equipment - you should have a breakdown of equipment cost, programming costs, installation costs, testing costs, maybe project management costs etc...