My kids go to a small school with your classic small gym that get's used for lunch, music recitals, and P.E. The room's probably 40' wide x100' long x25' high. It has concrete walls with a ring of glass windows way up at the top. The ceiling is fairly flat, with a slight arch... probably 3 or 4 feet rise to the centerline. It has that old ceiling tile that was installed in every classroom in the 60's (remember killing time in math class trying to count all the holes?). Nice hardwood floors. The hard surface reflections in this room seem to go on forever!
There is a single cone speaker that must be 40 years old at one end with a barely functional amp to match. Most of the time they use the portable system which consists of a small speaker (Brand unknown) about the size of a Macke 350 which is powered by an all in one mixer/amp box (brand unknown). I think the only mic the own are Shure pg 48's... which they use for everything from solos to long distance choir mics. There is a LOT wrong with this system.
The principle just told me she has about $1500 to spend. My thoughts are as follow:
1) I don't have enough money to even scratch the surface of the speaker, amp, dsp, mixer problem. I really want to do a good full installation... which is probably going to cost $7500-$10k to do it right. There are several parents who are contractors who I could team up with to do this project labor free. There is also a movement underway for a big capital improvement drive and this could be part of that project in a few years.
2) I could address the microphone problem with this money, but I question if this improvement would even be noticed with the rest of the problems. I'm not sure that it's wise to throw my money after better mics when the system sucks and the reflections are so bad.
3) I could buy a lot of heavy weight velour and have a team of moms make monstrous "banners" to hang on as much of that wall surface as possible. This would make an immediate impact on the reflection issues and make both the existing system and the future system sound better.
Do banners seem the wisest move to you acoustics gurus?
Anyone have a better idea how to spend this pot of money?
EDIT: Footer sent me a link to http://www.acousticalsolutions.com pointing out several cool products. These look great but doing the math I can cover 1000 square feet of wall surface with 20 oz velour with my $1500. With the cheapest product on that site (4'x8'x2" PVC pannels filled with fiberglass) I can only cover 480 square feet at my budget. What are your thoughts on the effectiveness of 1000 sq feet of velour vs. 300-500 sq feet of a professionally designed acoustic tile product? Is quality or quantity more important?
There is a single cone speaker that must be 40 years old at one end with a barely functional amp to match. Most of the time they use the portable system which consists of a small speaker (Brand unknown) about the size of a Macke 350 which is powered by an all in one mixer/amp box (brand unknown). I think the only mic the own are Shure pg 48's... which they use for everything from solos to long distance choir mics. There is a LOT wrong with this system.
The principle just told me she has about $1500 to spend. My thoughts are as follow:
1) I don't have enough money to even scratch the surface of the speaker, amp, dsp, mixer problem. I really want to do a good full installation... which is probably going to cost $7500-$10k to do it right. There are several parents who are contractors who I could team up with to do this project labor free. There is also a movement underway for a big capital improvement drive and this could be part of that project in a few years.
2) I could address the microphone problem with this money, but I question if this improvement would even be noticed with the rest of the problems. I'm not sure that it's wise to throw my money after better mics when the system sucks and the reflections are so bad.
3) I could buy a lot of heavy weight velour and have a team of moms make monstrous "banners" to hang on as much of that wall surface as possible. This would make an immediate impact on the reflection issues and make both the existing system and the future system sound better.
Do banners seem the wisest move to you acoustics gurus?
Anyone have a better idea how to spend this pot of money?
EDIT: Footer sent me a link to http://www.acousticalsolutions.com pointing out several cool products. These look great but doing the math I can cover 1000 square feet of wall surface with 20 oz velour with my $1500. With the cheapest product on that site (4'x8'x2" PVC pannels filled with fiberglass) I can only cover 480 square feet at my budget. What are your thoughts on the effectiveness of 1000 sq feet of velour vs. 300-500 sq feet of a professionally designed acoustic tile product? Is quality or quantity more important?
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