Hello,
I'm a band director at a small public middle school in Iowa, and am also involved in the technical side of our theatrical productions (fall play and spring musical). Though, I am primarily a musician, I also have a strong background in building speakers and feel very comfortable digging into the workings of our PA.
A month or so ago, my principal came to me with complaints about our PA from the community. He made a presentation to our school board about making upgrades this year, and they have agreed that we do need an upgrade. Unfortunately, they haven't given me a budget to work with yet (I'm going to guestimate under the $15,000 mark, but they may give me more), and I highly doubt any acoustical treatments will be possible since it will still have to function as a gym.
I do have something of a wishlist, but no specific components picked out yet. We are looking to upgrade everything. Right now, we have an archaic 12 channel powered yamaha mixer, a pair of mismatched speakers, and a pair of equally archaic monitors. I'm looking for (at the very least) a 24 channel mixer (unpowered), a power amp, and new speakers. I imagine we don't need a ridiculous amount of power, as the 200-300 watt (RMS) output of our powered mixer is more than enough to fill the space. I would like to build a setup that has a relatively flat frequency response, provides even coverage for the audience (linear array?), and is fairly easy for me to train other staff members. I am not in the least bit afraid to build the speakers, as we have all necessary tools and a maintenance guy that is very helpful.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
I'm a band director at a small public middle school in Iowa, and am also involved in the technical side of our theatrical productions (fall play and spring musical). Though, I am primarily a musician, I also have a strong background in building speakers and feel very comfortable digging into the workings of our PA.
A month or so ago, my principal came to me with complaints about our PA from the community. He made a presentation to our school board about making upgrades this year, and they have agreed that we do need an upgrade. Unfortunately, they haven't given me a budget to work with yet (I'm going to guestimate under the $15,000 mark, but they may give me more), and I highly doubt any acoustical treatments will be possible since it will still have to function as a gym.
I do have something of a wishlist, but no specific components picked out yet. We are looking to upgrade everything. Right now, we have an archaic 12 channel powered yamaha mixer, a pair of mismatched speakers, and a pair of equally archaic monitors. I'm looking for (at the very least) a 24 channel mixer (unpowered), a power amp, and new speakers. I imagine we don't need a ridiculous amount of power, as the 200-300 watt (RMS) output of our powered mixer is more than enough to fill the space. I would like to build a setup that has a relatively flat frequency response, provides even coverage for the audience (linear array?), and is fairly easy for me to train other staff members. I am not in the least bit afraid to build the speakers, as we have all necessary tools and a maintenance guy that is very helpful.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.