PA (1 Viewer)

[F. Fred Palakon]

Can anyone post up links to websites explaining about different types of PAs and what they are used for? I have been asked to cost a PA for indoor and outdoor use, that would be used mostly for speeches (literally public address) in venues that consist of multiple medium sized rooms, but could also be called into use for plays/music performances if necessary.

I have no idea what I'm doing. Help! Sorry if this is the wrong forum.

 

[aled jones]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_address

 

[Pantone247]

http://www.thomann.de/ie/index.html

is a good start, for prices and stuff

off the top of my head you could do worse then this

http://www.thomann.de/ie/behringerpmh_1000_speaker_set_eco.htm

got 6 mic inputs, a couple of aux-ins for CDs and stuff, the mixer and amp are the one thing (less things to lose/forget)... it'd give you a 150w through them speakers with it... not massive rock venue like power, but not bad neither!

 

[F. Fred Palakon]

Thanx Panty. €399!

Jaysis. If I needed to amplify an address across a few rooms I assume I just buy more speakers and cables, yes? Then I add speaker stands, mics and am sorted for hours of tedious speeches?

Yours in naivety. Or however you spell it.

 

[ernesto]

Thanx Panty. €399!

Jaysis. If I needed to amplify an address across a few rooms I assume I just buy more speakers and cables, yes? Then I add speaker stands, mics and am sorted for hours of tedious speeches?

Yours in naivety. Or however you spell it.

not necessarily.

 

[damien]

its a good bit more complicated than that. there's issues of ohmage to consider when you add more speakers. i wouldn't be so confident that the budget PA above would do the job for you either. i'd deffo suggest talking to an expert. sound hire in renelagh are really nice - http://www.soundhire.ie. if that doesn't suit, the guy who works upstairs (where they sell PA's) in music maker on exchequer st seems friendly.

definitely try and research this as thoroughly as possible if you want something that'll definitely do the job and last a while.

 

[F. Fred Palakon]

its a good bit more complicated than that. there's issues of ohmage to consider when you add more speakers. i wouldn't be so confident that the budget PA above would do the job for you either. i'd deffo suggest talking to an expert. sound hire in renelagh are really nice - http://www.soundhire.ie. if that doesn't suit, the guy who works upstairs (where they sell PA's) in music maker on exchequer st seems friendly.

definitely try and research this as thoroughly as possible if you want something that'll definitely do the job and last a while.

Crai. My problem is that I'm in Italy which is why I'm trying to figure out as much as possible about what I'm allegedly talking about so as I don't get ripped off with the foreigner tax when I go to the experts with my shitty Italiano. What kind of budget range (like approx.) do you think I should be looking at? Thanks for all the help in anyways.

 

[F. Fred Palakon]

Crai. My problem is that I'm in Italy which is why I'm trying to figure out as much as possible about what I'm allegedly talking about so as I don't get ripped off with the foreigner tax when I go to the experts with my shitty Italiano. What kind of budget range (like approx.) do you think I should be looking at? Thanks for all the help in anyways.

P.S. Have a boffin to actually set-up/work the damn thing after purchase, which is great. Just in case you were all imagining Elle Woods cluelessly larking about with a load of fancy shit.

 

[Pantone247]

not necessarily.

v. helpful there +1

P.S. Have a boffin to actually set-up/work the damn thing after purchase, which is great. Just in case you were all imagining Elle Woods cluelessly larking about with a load of fancy shit.

can said boffin, or El Boffino, help you out?

Even how you cable stuff (seires or parallel blah blah) out to other rooms can affect how the whole system would work out... sounds like you need it to a lot of different things in very different locations, yah?

 

[egg_]

Jaysis. If I needed to amplify an address across a few rooms I assume I just buy more speakers and cables, yes?

No

The power output from your amplifier is divided up between your speakers, so if you've 1 speaker on your amp and you add one more, each speaker is going to output less ... plus there's the issue of "ohmage" as Damien says (impedance is the sound engineer's word) - each speaker has a certain resistance to the output of an amplifier, and if you connect speakers in parallel (the normal way) it lowers the total resistance that the amp sees, and too low a resistance can damage an amp.

There's quite a bit to it, really. If I was doing what you're doing I'd buy a mixer with lots of aux outs, then a power amp and a pair of speakers for each room. I'd go for 250W or so, best to have more power than you need