Small PA System

mordeith

Hi all,
I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about the following:
Basically I need a mic and a speaker for the purpose of a classroom. Ideally the mic should be wireless (expensive?) or maybe one of those clip on jobbies you see TV presenters wearing. The wireless thing isn't absolutlely necessary but a hand-free mic is required.
Any suggestions appreciated

daphil

You could try Maplins for a radio mic (http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=radio%20mic&doy=10m1&source=15)
this is an English page, but I have seen a stand up comedian use this one to good effect. It's not state of the art but reasonable for a classroom. Maplins also do tieclip mics, which I use with a camcorder. The amp/speaker will depend on budget/ class size.
Not trying to be funny, but any funeral have been at lately they have used a portable battery powered set up which might suit your needs.
dave
Cork

saibhne

You could rent the kit fairly easily - If you're in Dublin I think session hire http://www.sessionhire.com can do a small P.A. for Euro 100 approx. not sure if they do radio lapel mics but you can rent them (decent quality) from other A/V suppliers (avcom/magpie..) for about 50 Euro a day, non radio lapels are less than half that to rent.

You're looking at about a grand I reckon to buy a cheap P.A. and mic yourself

Otherwise you could buy a cheap clip on lapel mic and borrow someone's guitar amp...

Cheers!

S.

mordeith

Thanks for the replies guys. A guitar amp and a lapel mic sound fine to me. I'll check out a few shops and hopefully get sorted by the end of the week

mordeith

I found a lapel mic (Trantec TS 259) on DolphinMusic.co.uk. It saids that the cable terminates in 4-pin lemo connector. It doesn't look like it would go into a standard jack socket on an amp so is there some kind of adapter I could get do you reckon?

saibhne

Because it's a wireless (radio) mic you also need to buy a transmitter and receiver - the lemo connection goes into the transmitter so add a couple of hundred quid extra..

I recently recommended this mic here to a client, nice and cheap but in the Sony ECM family so should be decent quality, haven't heard anything adverse back from them as yet. They were using it to record lectures onto mp3 recorders.
Depending on what you're going to use to amplify you'll need to get an extension cable and a connector to change from mini jack to 1/4 inch or XLR.

Eoin Madsen

mordeith wrote:

Thanks for the replies guys. A guitar amp and a lapel mic sound fine to me. I'll check out a few shops and hopefully get sorted by the end of the week

A normal guitar amp doesn't have the frequency range to reproduce a voice at all. You'd be better off shouting for all the good it would do. Besides which, the inputs would be fairly incompatible with a microphone or a wireless kit.

You need a full-range speaker. Something like this would suit, it's self-amplified, and should have plenty of volume for a classroom. All you need to get with it is a mic and wireless kit.

I recommend you look on Thomann for that as well, unless you want to pay through the nose.

saibhne

Eoin Madsen wrote:

A normal guitar amp doesn't have the frequency range to reproduce a voice at all.

I used to use a guitar amp and mic to amplify vocals when I was a youngster jammin in my garage..
Also have lent an amp and mic out for a few pub quizes..

It's not a great option but if on a tight/no budget it can do the job..

Eoin Madsen

"Doing the job" is a bit subjective. If you want to be intelligable in a classroom, a guitar amp is going to work against you. The frequency response of a guitar speaker is only 60-5000hz at best (not to mention the input impedance being completely wrong for a microphone). All you'd achieve is to drown out the clarity of your own voice.

saibhne

I hear you, I agree but it may work in moredith's situation..
Since the suggestion was mine maybe I should clarify - the combination of a mic and a guitar amp are not designed to do the job of voice amplification, if you try it you don't get great results (as Eoin has pointed out), if you have any money to spend on the event hire/buy a piece of kit similar to that which Eoin suggested.
However if you have no budget i think it's worth a try as you may get adequate results relative to the situation you are in.. needs to be tested first to find out though.

Rustar

Eoin, just mention the old 'sounds like a box of feces' bit....applicable here, and always gets 'em rolling in the aisles! :v:

A great solution for classroom work might be the aforementioned powered speaker (on a stand for maximum throw!) and one of these headset mics:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Live/Sound/Microphones/Wireless?sku=270595

Maximum freedom, volume doesn't need to be as high, and you'll look stunningly high-tech.
Lavaliers/tie clips/lapel mics suck big green donkey whatevers.

mordeith

Well a lot of debate there. The wirless option is obviously the best choice but it's not worth the expense. I take on board the suggestions about a guitar amp not being suited for voice as well but second hand it'll be a lot cheaper than any wireless setups. I wonder if I could rig up something with two spare hi-fi speakers I've got at home? They just have the black/red wire connections. If I could pick up a cheap hi-fi amp it might do the trick. The tie-clip mic will have to do as well. (To hell with what the kids think )

Eoin Madsen

Intelligibility is vitally important in a classroom, it not really the same as "getting by" at some social pub event. PAs in classrooms seem to be becoming popular with some schools at the moment, but they're fullrange systems. A guitar amp is a completely inappropriate piece of equipment for this scenario, especially given that suitable alternatives are not by any means beyond a reasonable budget. Really the suggestion to use anything else seems entirely irrational.

Eoin Madsen

Really, the HiFi is unlikely to provide enough power to make it worth your while. I assume the intent is to amplify so you don't have to raise your voice any more, but a HiFi isn't going to be a whole lot louder than you are, before it starts to distort. Unless you have a fairly hefty HiFi that is.

In total this is going to cost you 400 or 500 euros to do even half-properly. If that seems expensive to you, then I would suggest you not bother until you can afford it.

mordeith

Eoin Madsen wrote:

Really, the HiFi is unlikely to provide enough power to make it worth your while. I assume the intent is to amplify so you don't have to raise your voice any more, but a HiFi isn't going to be a whole lot louder than you are, before it starts to distort. Unless you have a fairly hefty HiFi that is.

In total this is going to cost you 400 or 500 euros to do even half-properly. If that seems expensive to you, then I would suggest you not bother until you can afford it.

Fair enough Ted. The whole thing is for my wife anyway so the cost is ultimately up to her and whether she values her voice over her wallet
Ta for all the advice.