New Sound sytem?

[MillburyAuditorium]

Hello everyone along with some of the little renovations we are doing as some of you may now,

We are kinda sorta thinking of a new sound system.

Its a big if though so don't worry

Some of you may of heard our story of our contractor swindling our surround sound speakers and ran off when the theater was being built, and so we only have two speakers we took from our stadium to use in the theater, they do the job and everything, but nothing special.
So I was just kind of wondering how much a good decent set of theater quality surround sound speakers would total up to, not counting installation and what not, or maintenance can just run the wires up into the rafters and straight across and down into the amps behind the stage, so don't need any installation fees. Just kind of like what brand, most likely Bose right?

But jsut a a ball park guess. We have more important thigns tog et first, so this is if we have some extra money somehwere or something.

As for the room, it is made out of the concrete bricks, like a lot of schools are, but it doesnt echoe in the room at all.

Thanks~

PS
Also, don't worry about computability and what not, as out theater was designed for surround sound, our amp cabinet has a controller in it with all the needed outputs and inputs, we just however, use two.

[DaveySimps]

It really depends on many factors. What is your definition of "surround sound"? Will you be using them with a 5.1 or 7.1 receiver to show movies, or do you intend to use them as effect speakers to help realize sound designs? What is the size and what type of events do you host? What is your budget? Do you already have amps for them, or will you need to get those as well? If you do have amps, what make, model, and wattage? The more info you can provide, the better we can help you.

~Dave

[MillburyAuditorium]

Hey Davey, Sorry I was a little vague,


I don't really meen surround sound, I just meen, more than the two speakers we have, because they aren't really meant for indoors, and anything but a theater.

We put on normal plays, concerts and dance recitals etc.

Budget I don't really know right now, not drastically expensive but too cheap either.

We do have two amplifiers powering our two speakers which I am sure is way enough to power then, I dont know the max wattage of the speakers, or the amps, I will check it out next time I am there. But I am pretty sure going from two big speakers to 4+ smaller ones should be fine. Also self powered is no problem as well.

[rwhealey]

Don't get stuck on a brand (and Bose is probably a bad brand to get stuck on).

You can throw up a couple of speakers & it'll probably be an improvement, but the best way is to have a consultant come in and make a CAD model of your theater. Speaker manufacturers will have data available for their particular speakers that can be dropped straight into the model.

You may find that what you have isn't compatible with what you need to install.

Definitely post brand names and model numbers as well!

[jkowtko]

Guessing that it seats around 500, here is a ballpark "guess" to respond to your initial question:

For brands I would immediately suggest looking at EAW, JBL, Yamaha, and Mackie -- to keep prices per speaker in the mid range ($500 each?) I would suggest not considering Bose unless your theater is actually just a movie theater (and even then I'm thinking most people would recommend someting else).

You will also need a sub for the low end ... count on $1000-1500.

So for five main speakers (they should all be the same size/power) and the sub, what I've mentioned totals $3500-4000.

Depending on the actual size of your theater, the needs could be smaller or larger. So you'll need to provide more info.

[museav]

You need to define what you want the system to do and your goals, then you can select speakers that support those goals, not just by brand but by actual performance in your application. That means considering coverage, output, sensitivity, frequency response, intelligibility, location, mounting and so on.

I'm not sure why you think more speakers would be an improvement, it might but there is no real basis for that assumption presented. An analysis of the speaker system, from processing through the speakers, should be done to determine what might be most effective rather than just making guesses. Speaker systems need to fit the specifics of the venue and application. Without knowing factors such as the audience area to be covered, the potential speaker locations, the expectations for the system and so on there is no solid basis for any analysis or recommendations. That analysis be modeling (EASE, CATT, Modeler, Ulysses, etc.) or it could be some manual calculations and sketches. In any case, spending money without any real basis for the specifics of your application makes little sense regardless of the components or how well someone liked those products in a different application.

And getting the system installed and tuned properly is critical to the end result. Your saying that here is "no need for any installation fees" and your description of an installation indicate that you may not realize what is involved in a proper, safe and legal installation. For example, how are you going to route the signals, process them and power the speakers? Have you considered the equipment, space, power and ventilation this might entail? Somebody should.

So my recommendation is to actually go through a design process for a speaker system for your space rather than just throwing something up and hoping it works and is reliable and safe. That may mean hiring a Consultant or Design-Build Contractor to provide that service but that could be money well spent.