robdowall Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 [color=#000000]I am looking for a portable PA system for a school hall (300w max.).[/color] [color=#000000]Needs to be simple/light/CD player etc etc [/color] [color=#000000]Maybe something on Wheels or Trolley?[/color] [color=#000000]Any advice?[/color] [color=#000000]price range upto £1000.[/color] [color=#000000]Thank you all!![/color] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed_S Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Something like the Yamaha [url="http://www.gak.co.uk/en/yamaha-stagepas-300/7920"]STAGEPAS 300[/url] would probably be a good system for that sort of application. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robdowall Posted February 29, 2012 Author Share Posted February 29, 2012 Thank you for posting, When I suggested a 'regular' type PA (with AUX) the school said They would prefer a built in CD player also... Do you/anybody know of anything with that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alec 'Aleb' Mills Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 (edited) Do all the teachers have laptops, and do they have CD drives? Just get an adapter cable (3.5mm jack to Twin RCA/Twin 6.3mm jack) to plug into the headphoine socket, then into the mixer and there is your CD player? ((This is how we did it at my old school/college)-but we also had an installation and portable pa) If not a rack-mount one might be prefereable? like [url="http://www.dv247.com/dj-equipment/numark-cdn22-mk5-rack-mount-dual-cd-player--69710"]http://www.dv247.com...d-player--69710[/url] and a rack case like [url="http://www.dv247.com/cases/dv-4u-abs-19-inch-rack-flight-case--73749"]http://www.dv247.com...ght-case--73749[/url] don't know how prone to being stolen that is though! (these are just suggestions!) Or this [url="http://www.andertons.co.uk/complete-pa-systems/pid10470/cid605/fender-deluxe-pd150-plus-passport-pa-one-only-at-this-price.asp"]http://www.andertons...-this-price.asp[/url] 150-watt compact system with built in cd player I have no expereince with these systems, (except the Nu-Man, when I worked at a theatre, which worked fine) Also rre to have a 'built'-in CD player in a mixer such as the fender portable thing. Edited February 29, 2012 by Alec 'Aleb' Mills Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leftybassman392 Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 (edited) [quote name='robdowall' timestamp='1330549197' post='1559348'] Thank you for posting, When I suggested a 'regular' type PA (with AUX) the school said They would prefer a built in CD player also... Do you/anybody know of anything with that? [/quote] Is it to be properly plumbed in or does it (as I suspect) need to be portable? How many channels? Does the price include mics, stands, cables, etc.? I've never come across a remotely half-decent p.a. mixer with a built-in CD player, but maybe others know better. Edit: having seen a Passport system in action I can tell you that it's unlikely to be either powerful enough or of sufficient quality to meet your needs. It's really designed for small (as in 'very small' venues). I've never seen a school hall that fits that description. The laptop suggestion is good though on several counts:- 1. there's liable to be any number available in the school; 2. members of staff can generate their own playlists on their own laptop; 3. you won't need to budget for it and can use the money to get a better system. As a bare minimum you'll need to budget for:- mixer (possibly powered), power amp (unless your mixer is powered); decent speakers (don't skimp on these - decent mixers and power amps are both easy and cheap to source, but if you get cheap speakers you'll stand a good chance of wasting the money you've spent on everything else); cables as required. Depending on what it's to be used for (IME school p.a. systems need to be flexible as they could be asked to do a lot of different jobs), you will likely also need to budget for a number of mics, stands and leads, and possibly a cable snake as well. Edited February 29, 2012 by leftybassman392 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robdowall Posted February 29, 2012 Author Share Posted February 29, 2012 needs to be portable. probably 4 channels for a grand i would say cables and 2 mics is fine. Yeah thats why I asked on this forum because its quite specific!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robdowall Posted February 29, 2012 Author Share Posted February 29, 2012 Yeah all our teachers have laptops but some external staff (dance teachers etc) dont have laptops and bring CD's and sometimes TAPES! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alec 'Aleb' Mills Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Ah well seperate CD player is a must then. http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/product/44505-peavey-audio-performer-pack-complete-portable-pa-system-200w.html and http://www.richersounds.com/product/cd-players-recorders-dacs-cassette-decks/teac/cdp1260/teac-cdp1260 just as an example? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leftybassman392 Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 (edited) Sorry to be a pain, but I've been asked to do this before. Your chances of pleasing everybody AND having a suitably portable system AND having a good enough system for Rock Nights is fairly slim I'm afraid. You really should learn how to duck when questions like this get asked, because it's invariably a poisoned chalice. It will help if you can get some info regarding priorities (i.e. what it's to be used for), otherwise it's a bit of a guessing game as to what you really need. If rock nights and dramatic performance is low on the list you may find yourself having to settle for a Passport after all, but trust me, whatever the blurb may tell you, a hall p.a. system it ain't!. Apologies if this sounds presumptuous but from what you've said I have a slight worry that whoever's asked for this has in mind something like a pumped-up compact HiFi system, and wants to be able to trundle it around the school on a small trolley at need. Edit: don't even think about aiming to make it teacher-proof. Not going to happen. Edited February 29, 2012 by leftybassman392 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 Good evening, Rob... Difficult without having full information on requirements, but an option to consider, imho, would be to have several small speaker boxes cabled into the hall, each with a small diffusion area to cover. The trolley, or whatever, would plug into the speaker system when wheeled out from wherever it's kept (under lock and key, I would suppose...), but the speakers would be permanently fixed to the hall (on the walls, or perhaps the ceiling, depending on structure...). The idea is to reduce/eliminate the 'hall' effect of diffusing from one end of the hall, only to hear a load of reverb/echo mush at the other end, or even most places in between. Think 'railway platforms', where the speakers are dispersed. Just a thought (and distant memories of school hall acoustics...); hope this helps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musophilr Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 If the hall's acoustics are anything like the school halls I've been in, spend part of the budget on dampening reflections first otherwise whatever kit you put in there will sound crap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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