Sound System

[sasmfb]

I have been asked to find a good sound system for my chorus.
We would like it to be portable, easy to operate, support at least two mics, output to cassette (external) for recording and input from cassette and/or CD (external) for broadcast. It needs to have enough power for an audience of approximately 250.

I have seen a few systems that I like and that have all the bells and whistles we could ever need but they are way too expensive. Any ideas?

[Gidge]

how many $$$ are you looking to spend and what type venues will u be playing (size wise)?....

[sasmfb]

They are hoping to keep the cost to around $400.00. I'm not sure that is even possible. The venue would normally be around 800 to 1000 square feet.

What about used equipment?

[Treeline]

That's not a budget, that's a downpayment.

Portable, easy to operate, and OK for 1000 sq. feet = Fender Passport 250. Even that (a limited system) is going to set you back about $750 - 800 with decent speaker cables and a couple of speaker stands.

How big is the chorus, and does it sing at the same place all the time? Good room acoustics? How about background noises? Are you trying to get kids to sing (shudder) the same tune at the same time, or are these adults of consenting age that you can appropriately abuse with a recording of how they Really Sound, to get them to shape up for the concerts...

It seems to me that the real sound is going to be in the mics. How about springing for a couple of condenser mics with appropriate booms or stands, and renting a system when you need it? That way you could put the money in the mics.

If you rent a system, you could get a few hundred watts in the head, a small mixer (or a combination amp / mixer setup) and an outboard graphic equalizer to tame an unruly room. That way, you spend the money on the mics and the occasional system rental is a cost of doing business.

Check the archives in the microphone forum; there's enough information there to choke a small horse. . . Good luck; chorus micing is a challenge!

[JimH]

I'm no mathematician, but 250 people into 1000 sq. ft. sounds a little cramped. Four sq. ft. per person?

[Treeline]

Ed's got a point, fer sure, and he's speaking from experience.

My point was that something is better than nothing, you have a small room, and (no) budget. You can still accomplish something worthwhile without dropping $5,000 on the beginnings of a pro system.

I just finished wiring a new ceiling system for the parish hall at our local church. Not much now, but it replaced blown junk (as Sonusman suggested) that people had endured for the last 20 years or so. There had been a 70 volt blue light special kind of thing with ten speakers on one circuit, pulling 3 or 4 ohms and hooked up to a Radio Shack P.A. amp. A few of the speakers were blown, and the rest "worked," so to speak. The whole thing came to a head when some preamps burned out. Then there was that in-wall mic circuit that ran along a hot copper pipe. Mmmmm.

Now we have twin 8-ohm arrays, with a modest (200 watt or so) stereo amp planned somewhere down the line after we raid the coffee money for a few months. At least it now has a mixer... and you can actually hear. But the overall sound quality -- AAK. We need a real amp before this one gets hot again. And an outboard EQ. And, and, and...