Installs Professional Dorm Room Setup?
- Thread starteranonymous381
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You betcha. Plus two VHS and a MiniDisc player on the other side!
If I'm not mistaken Derek is also using Junk But Loud speakers...
Are those SVHS or just the garden variety?
Where's the Betamax machine?
I'd have thought one of the most likely things to cause issues with this proposed switcher box was the multitude of different ground references and such junk being injected in by the sources. good shielding will be paramount and some iso transformers would assist the process.
Footer, I have to wonder if the noise floor of a Behringer would be higher than the noise floor of a couple of switches if wired nicely.
Re switches, in most cases, it is not just the switch itself (particularly characteristics like make before break or break before make) but the way the various poles get used...
Are those SVHS or just the garden variety?
Where's the Betamax machine?
I'd have thought one of the most likely things to cause issues with this proposed switcher box was the multitude of different ground references and such junk being injected in by the sources. good shielding will be paramount and some iso transformers would assist the process.
Footer, I have to wonder if the noise floor of a Behringer would be higher than the noise floor of a couple of switches if wired nicely.
Re switches, in most cases, it is not just the switch itself (particularly characteristics like make before break or break before make) but the way the various poles get used...
3dB
Member
toyboyt122
Member
soundman1024
Active Member
There's a reason few people get too fancy when it comes to electronics in a dorm room.
Also you stated something about QSC amps, but nothing about the size of the amp. At the levels you'll be driving them your signal-to-noise ratio may not be that favourable. Most of the time you'll be pushing 20 watts or less over the whole system, divide that by 5 channels and we'll guess 4 watts/channel. 4 watts per channel works out to be 4% of a 200 watt amp, 2% of a 400 watt amp, and 1% of an 800 watt amp--and that's if you're even using 20 watts on the whole system. I didn't add in the LF channel, which makes 20 watts more generous. I'm not too familiar with QSC's amps, but I have a hard time guessing that many products on their lineup are under 400w/channel.
The point, if you're using such a minuscule percentage of the amplifier a smaller amplifier--say 80 watt/channel if you can find it--would do the job. Look for passive cooling too instead of a noisy fan.
Also you stated something about QSC amps, but nothing about the size of the amp. At the levels you'll be driving them your signal-to-noise ratio may not be that favourable. Most of the time you'll be pushing 20 watts or less over the whole system, divide that by 5 channels and we'll guess 4 watts/channel. 4 watts per channel works out to be 4% of a 200 watt amp, 2% of a 400 watt amp, and 1% of an 800 watt amp--and that's if you're even using 20 watts on the whole system. I didn't add in the LF channel, which makes 20 watts more generous. I'm not too familiar with QSC's amps, but I have a hard time guessing that many products on their lineup are under 400w/channel.
The point, if you're using such a minuscule percentage of the amplifier a smaller amplifier--say 80 watt/channel if you can find it--would do the job. Look for passive cooling too instead of a noisy fan.
I know a guy that had 2 Studiospots in his dorm room...
I can't imagine what was going through people's heads when he came to move in with 2 roadcases.
Anyway, I might recomend (provided that no one here can talk you out of actually doing this) adding a mixer before amp. This will allow you to have better control over what you are hearing and where. Also, then you can 'monitor'... what you roommate is... looking at on their computer through your headphones back at your computer.
And don't forget. You have to do the school bits of school sometime as well!
I can't imagine what was going through people's heads when he came to move in with 2 roadcases.
Anyway, I might recomend (provided that no one here can talk you out of actually doing this) adding a mixer before amp. This will allow you to have better control over what you are hearing and where. Also, then you can 'monitor'... what you roommate is... looking at on their computer through your headphones back at your computer.
And don't forget. You have to do the school bits of school sometime as well!
This reminds me of my freshman year of college:
2005 I had started booking my own small sound gigs - so I decided I would order myself a QSC HPR setup - I had it all shipped to my dorm room (on the 9th floor) to hide it from my parents at first...
Being the anxious student that I was, I got them in and set up my 2 HPR 15" tops and 2 - 18" subs in the middle of my 15'x12' room, hooked up my laptop with a small mixer and let it rip.
I thought I was being polite testing it in the middle of the day, but apparently I woke up a few people on the 3rd floor who came and hunted me down with an RA... System had to go home :-(
2005 I had started booking my own small sound gigs - so I decided I would order myself a QSC HPR setup - I had it all shipped to my dorm room (on the 9th floor) to hide it from my parents at first...
Being the anxious student that I was, I got them in and set up my 2 HPR 15" tops and 2 - 18" subs in the middle of my 15'x12' room, hooked up my laptop with a small mixer and let it rip.
I thought I was being polite testing it in the middle of the day, but apparently I woke up a few people on the 3rd floor who came and hunted me down with an RA... System had to go home :-(
bobgaggle
Well-Known Member
Yeah bro, if you want to spend money to put this thing together, scrap the plan and get yourself a nice pair of bose headphones. Personal experience, your roomie will inevitably want quiet to study when you want to blast.
soundlight
Well-Known Member
I second the motion - from personal experience, if you make other people's life hell, they will make yours hell. No question about it. Didn't happen to me but there were some serious disputes down the hall and in other places on campus. Basically, headphones are your friend, or a small desktop speaker system. To keep my sound localized, I just have 2 sets of small stereo computer speakers and then my nice, small 2.1 Altec Lansing setup for the desk. One set of the small speakers is for my keyboard setup (2 keyboards and a small mixer) on one side of the room, and the other set is for movies on the opposite wall. I also have a few stereo minijack cables around the room that allow me to hook them all together if i want to fill the room with sound, at a low level from all of the speakers (what I do when I clean my room). I also just use headphones most of the time - because I prefer to keep my sanity as well as the sanity of others in my vicinity.
Also, the theft thing is a major issue, especially if you will have a roomate. That means two people have keys to the room other than the RA, public safety, and housing, not just one. I know people who leave their room unlocked all the time, but I personally lock my door any time that I leave the building, and sometimes even when I'm just going down to do laundry (I'm on the 4th floor).
If you want to spend money, a decent data projector is something to spend it on, along with a DVD/VHS combo (a lot of school libraries still have plenty of good movies on VHS) and a Blue-Ray player considering where technology is going. Get a movie night going and your room will be a popular spot, and they'll probably leave food for you accidentally. If you get a projector, you'll want a multi-source video switch unless the projector has enough inputs.
If you want to get some nice small monitoring speakers, then get studio monitors. Or something like a Crown studio amp or two and some little JBL AC15s. That could be a nice setup. I'd leave actually building speakers to the pros who have tried and true designs, unless you have a good speaker design program or good plans from someone who knows what they're doing.
themuzicman
Well-Known Member
From a person living in a dorm right now with a terrible roomate - screw the fancy setup until you get yourself an off campus apartment with friends who can appreciate the setup. For now, invest in a pair of very good noise isolating/blocking headphones. This is for your own sanity, and everyone else's sanity.
Once you move out to your own apartment, than you can consider setting up something like that. My apartment next year has two sound techs living in it, which will be loads of fun!
Once you move out to your own apartment, than you can consider setting up something like that. My apartment next year has two sound techs living in it, which will be loads of fun!
tweetersaway
Member
Was that pun intended, or have I just spent too much time around the amps?
I thought about getting a huge setup for my dorm next year too, but it's really a bad idea unless you use it for gigs a lot. Otherwise, it's not worth the space it takes up, especially because you really can't let 'er go in the room. A decent set of desk speakers(like these bad boys Amazon.com: Logitech Z-2300 THX-Certified 200-Watt 2.1 Speaker System (Silver): Electronics ) and a good pair of headphones just works so much better. They can get pretty loud when you want them to, and they don't have a huge footprint.
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