Typical post looking for recommendations for Dante enabled ceiling speakers for a
lobby PA installation. The ideal use is background
lobby music and announcements. I do not need broadcast/overflow space quality. I've been looking into SoundTube and several of the other Audinate listed partner products, but am looking to hear if anyone has particular experience with something they like. Budget is a non issue, as much as budget is ever not an issue, but this will fall under a capital request at which
point I can ask for as much as I need... within reason.
SoundTube 6.5" In-Ceiling Background Music Speaker with White Seamless Magnetic Grille. If you are looking for black, purchase the optional black grille ( GRL-CM-BGM-II-BK ) and the white speaker.
soundtube.mseaudio.com
My life has devolved to an endless chore of designing and spec'ing mostly commercial ceiling-speaker systems so I may be able to offer some assistance.
Are you looking for self amplified units that run of
POE?
Or a bunch of
conventional speakers running 70v off an amp that's Dante capable?
-your link is to a
conventional style 70v
speaker but SoundTube do make the
POE ones also.
I've found that the
POE ones just don't get loud enough to cut through a busy large restaurant with substantial
BGM, but for a smaller theater
lobby just carrying vocals and announcements they might do OK. Unlike the
conventional 70v setups, you have to
home-run a
line from every
speaker back to the
POE switch or
PSU. This could be a considerable amount of work if you have a lot of speakers.
Conventional style systems have just one
line that jumps from speaker-to-speaker -and very little service access required in the future.
I personally hate active electronics in permanently installed hard-to-reach spaces so I recommend a Dante
amplifier with
DSP driving a
conventional 70.7v
line to all the speakers. Powersoft Mezzo series is a good place to start, but most commercial audio companies are now offering similar products.
For speakers I've found that so many are intended for
BGM and just don't have good clean vocal projection -so audition your speakers thoroughly before committing. I use a lot of the Community D-series (now
Biamp), the EV EVID series and QSC's ceiling products, but there are so many out there to choose from in that 70v type (but not so many to choose from in the self-powered type.)