Portable projection sound system

I'm looking to upgrade/neaten up our primary presentation cart system (with some found money in the general budget!). I'm wondering what everyone else is using for these types of portable systems.

What's there now:
An old Radio Shack 40watt mixer/amp
An old Radio Shack speaker
Epson Projector
Laptop
VCR/DVD player

What it's used for:
Mostly presentations for student assemblies and meetings. This is the main presentation system for the Jr/Sr high - it's used in the auditorium, the library, the cafeterias. It's used to show PowerPoint presentations, movies during "babysitting" nights. It needs to basically be self-contained because of the variety of spaces it inhabits. Any suggestions from what everyone else uses?

Thanks!

Chris

How much of a windfall did you stumble upon? I have recently used and been impressed with the Anchor beacon line array and the Anchor liberty platinum. They both have built in wireless mic's, a small mixer,and can have an mp3 player and even Bluetooth

Those sound like some medium large spaces, calling for a bit more sound amplification ability if you want people to actually hear the material well. A pair of QSC K12 self powered speakers could handle a wide range of audience sizes, though you'd want to set them on speaker poles to get them in a good position above heads. QSC K10's can also do quite a bit and are lighter weight to deal with, though are going to reach their upper volume limit quicker in large noisy spaces. Both have very versatile connectivity options on the back allowing you to plug in a combination of two sources and have independent volume control (mic and RCA, mic and mic, mic and computer, etc). Often you can skip adding a mixer due to those dual inputs covering what you need.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/qsc-k12-12-powered-pa-speaker

I've used the K12s before for different applications and I do love them. I'm leaning against using simply a built-in mixer on this project for two reasons - it would be nice to not have to reconfigure for each application - realistically I only need 3 or 4 inputs, but I'd like to have them always connected, and 2) bearing in mind that I won't always be present when the system is used, having individually labelled, easily accessible volume controls would be helpful. I do think a powered speaker is probably the way I will end up going, but given the fact that we are currently using a 40-watt speaker, I can't imagine needing more than one 1,000 watt box.

The Anchor system looks very interesting though - a built-in wireless receiver would be a nice addition that we don't currently have. As to how much budget - as is usual, no one's willing to go on record. My best guess would be around $1000.

Does anyone have any experience with avrover.com? Looks sort of like the form factor I'm looking for...

urban79 said:

I've used the K12s before for different applications and I do love them. I'm leaning against using simply a built-in mixer on this project for two reasons - it would be nice to not have to reconfigure for each application - realistically I only need 3 or 4 inputs, but I'd like to have them always connected, and 2) bearing in mind that I won't always be present when the system is used, having individually labelled, easily accessible volume controls would be helpful. I do think a powered speaker is probably the way I will end up going, but given the fact that we are currently using a 40-watt speaker, I can't imagine needing more than one 1,000 watt box.

The Anchor system looks very interesting though - a built-in wireless receiver would be a nice addition that we don't currently have. As to how much budget - as is usual, no one's willing to go on record. My best guess would be around $1000.

Click to expand...

I would DIY a cart and put in one powered speaker and a simple mixer like a Shure SCM262. Use a single EV ZxA1 or QSC K8 for small audiences and an EV ELX112p or QSC K12 if your audiences are bigger.

Watts by themselves have nothing to do with how loud a speaker gets. 40W into a horn type speaker with a sensitivity of 103 dB SPL 1W/1M will be just as loud as 1000W into a home stereo speaker with a sensitivity of 90 dB SPL 1W/1M. The power rating in a powered speaker is meaningless anyway, since you get the amp as part of the entire system. Manufacturer's shouldn't even provide power ratings for powered speakers - only max SPL ratings. Unfortunately, big numbers look good for marketing so we get ridiculous ratings like "1000W" for an 8" two way.

The AVrover looks like a bunch of Middle Atlantic parts assembled for you. I don't know anything about pricing but you could probably make the same thing for less if you figure out what parts they use.