Small Portable PA

[Malcolm Gordon]

I have been asked to suggest a small portable PA to reinforce the speaker at a monthly luncheon club. Held in a private room at a hotel, there are usually 40-50 guests. It needs to be simple to operate by non-technical people and compact to transport. Funds are limited. Has anyone any experience of the Carlsbro SpeakEzee, described here and here? The power and price seem appropriate - the question is the quality of the sound.

 

Are there any suitable alternatives that don't cost the earth?

[ChrisTS]

hi there,

 

when you say simple to operate do you mean it can't even be a small mixer, amp, with two speakers and a mic? and what kind of budget have you realistically got?

 

Possibly something like this may do you with two small speakers and a mic and 3 cables and 3 stands (one per speaker and mic) etc? Behringer PMH518M

 

Chris :D

[Malcolm Gordon]

Thanks for the thought, but that looks like overkill to me. There isn't a budget as such. I have been asked by a fellow member to suggest to the committee that some funds should be spent on providing some amplification so that the harder of hearing can hear the speaker in an almost acoustically dead room; twelve half-hour talks per year.

 

The Behringer is way too complicated for them, and adding 2 speakers, mic, stands and cables would probably push the cost over £200, probably out of the question since total funds are only about £400. The attraction of the Carlsbro is the price and the fact that it's a one-piece set-up. If no-one has heard one, I'll have to move straight to a demo.

 

Thanks.

[ChrisTS]

Hi again,

 

fair enough bout the behringer, looking at the one you pointed out from portablepa, it seems fine to me and would do what you want... the best bit, as no one has heard them would be...

 

"Remember, if for any reason you're not totally satisfied with the SpeakEzee Portable PA system, simply return it to us in its original condition within 90 days and we'll refund you the full cost of the unit."

 

So in your situation I'd be tempted to buy it as I'd have 90 days to work out if it's good :D if not send it back and keep searching?

 

 

Chris

[Jivemaster]

Terralec (dot com) had some simple PAs with radio mic. alternatively look at a single powered speaker with a mic input.

 

Prob a portable induction loop would assist better the hearing aid equipped, without imposing your meeting on the neighbours.

[Ellis]

Prob a portable induction loop would assist better the hearing aid equipped, without imposing your meeting on the neighbours.

 

And if the hotel regularly have presentations, meetings, weeding speeches... they probably should have one under the DDA

[Jivemaster]

My gemini GX350 is a powered speaker with a mic input and a kettle lead for mains, and it's a one hand carry, very simple!

 

The big problem is going to be getting the sound into the system, unless the person speaking is aware of the mic and an important feature they will likely turn to make asides that get lost

[Simon Lewis]

The big problem is going to be getting the sound into the system, unless the person speaking is aware of the mic and an important feature they will likely turn to make asides that get lost

 

 

Which is why a loop isn't always the best solution for these venues. Many venues slap one in, and assume that it is correctly set up and/or correctly used, and tick their "DDA compliant" checklist.

 

In reality, few of these "unmanned" systems work properly, and those with hearing loss are still left out....

[bruce]

Also see this thread and this one and this one and... oh, just search for "portable" in the sound forum....

[Malcolm Gordon]

Thank you for the suggestions. Searching on "portable" unfortunately brings up 157 hits, of which very few are relevant. I'm sorry if you think I hadn't tried hard enough. My original post related to Carlsbro, on which I had searched. Obviously the trick is to use lateral thinking to come up with a search term that produces the right result.

I do not yet know if £100 (25% of available working capital) will be deemed acceptable expenditure, so cannot contemplate units twice this.

Apart from a radio mic, I would think a lavalier the most reliable way to get the sound into the system.

The Gemini is a fairly chunky speaker and 19kg - 24kg (opinions seem to differ on different websites) rather more than a one hand lift for this 62-year-old.

Pending an audition, I'll test the water with a £100 spend and see what the committee's reaction is.

 

Thanks for your contributions.

[TomLyall]

I have been asked to suggest a small portable PA to reinforce the speaker at a monthly luncheon club. Held in a private room at a hotel, there are usually 40-50 guests. It needs to be simple to operate by non-technical people and compact to transport. Funds are limited.

...

Have you tried contacting the hotel about this? If they use this room for a similar purpose often they may have had other groups enquiring about the same thing, and may be willing to invest in something that they could charge people for using.

 

If this was sucessful, the hotel would probably be able to put a bit more money to this, and it would mean the luncheon club wouldn't have to purchase the equipment outright or maintain it.

 

It's also worth being aware that the hotel have every right to, and may, refuse to let you bring your own electrical equipment in without it being PAT tested first. While this may sound a little extreme, if it's a condition of their insurance, you could hardly blame them...

[bruce]

Searching on "portable" unfortunately brings up 157 hits, of which very few are relevant.

 

True. But the 3 that I listed were very relevant, and had titles that jumped out - "all-in-one PA", "small pa for speech reinforcement", "Portable PA system for old people".

 

I'm sorry if you think I hadn't tried hard enough.

Not at all - I do appreciate that there is a knack to knowing what to search for. I was fortunate in that I remembered the original discussion, and got a strange sense of deja-vu...

 

What surprises me is that it took a day for someone to refer to the previous discussions.... :)

 

Going slightly off-topic, a colleague recently bought a system (which would be completely out of place in this discussion) based around an A&H PA12-CP, which is a 500Wpc powered mixer. But mindful of bad backs and manual handling regs, he chose lightweight ally speaker stands and the choice of (moulded budget) speaker cabs was largely govered by weight rather than anything else. He eventually chose 4 of the 12" Wharfedale units, as they were the lightest in their class.

 

I've not heard the system yet, but he used it at a conference in a hotel recently,and said it sounded amazing, bearing in mind the budget cabs.

 

 

Have you tried contacting the hotel about this? If they use this room for a similar purpose often they may have had other groups enquiring about the same thing, and may be willing to invest in something that they could charge people for using.

 

Or they may already have something!

[Malcolm Gordon]

Searching on "portable" unfortunately brings up 157 hits, of which very few are relevant.

True. But the 3 that I listed were very relevant, and had titles that jumped out - "all-in-one PA", "small pa for speech reinforcement", "Portable PA system for old people".

Unfortunately I chose to use the Google search bar, which doesn't give a Forum option and doesn't bring up those titles at all (they are are buried). I now know that the general search on the opening page doesn't give the Forum option either. This is only offered in the top menu bar and (of course) the Sound Forum itself, which is what you said.

 

Have you tried contacting the hotel about this? If they use this room for a similar purpose often they may have had other groups enquiring about the same thing, and may be willing to invest in something that they could charge people for using.

Or they may already have something!

 

I haven't tried yet, but shall do. If so, it's surprising the committee hasn't asked about it.

 

Thank you.

[Bad_Rock]

To me before buying Behringer I would pick a cheaper chinese active box. If I had some more money to spend I'd choose JBL's EON G2 or the Mackies 450's.

[paulears]

Nobody seems to have commented at all on the actual product - the Carlsbro Speakeasy. Radio mic, amp and single speaker housing, with 20W output. Even runs on batteries for £109 reatil price on the carlsbro site! Excellent value for money, when you look at the cost of the individual components. Assuming that these components are products that reflect the price, then I'd expect it to be functional. You MUST hear it. Our usual comment for cheap kit is "what has been missed" - could be sound quality, reliability, or ease of use. I'd guess Carlsbro wouldn't badge it with their brand if it was unreliable, or difficult to use - that leave sound quality. Guessing? Lightweight, thin sound - but that really is a guess, so if you hear one and it sounds great to you - buy it.

 

 

You have 12 speakers a year - how much (if anything) do they cost you? expenses, even fuel for a year would be a lot more than the price of this thing. To get the next kind of thing upwards then your budget will go up quite a bit. In truth, if your members are not audio experts, this may well do the job - but quality it isn't! - As for value for money, definately!