Help with a outdoor PA System

[feeta]

Hi,

 

I'm new here and before I ask for help, I'd just like to say what a great community this is. I've been reading the topics for quite a while now as a guest and have to say that you all seem very friendly and willing to help! :D

 

Anyway, I need some help! :)

 

I've been asked to set up an outdoor PA system for a local horse riding school. I know it's nothing to do with theatrical stuff but I thought some of you may have an idea?!?

 

The arena is 60m x 30m. The owner would like one speaker in each corner of it. The installation needs to be fully waterproof.

 

I wasn't sure whether horns would be the best idea? It needs to beable to reporduce music and voice but doesn't matter too much about the quality.

 

It also needs to be of a decent volume so that riders can hear it while they're on ther horses riding around.

 

I would very much appreciate it if anyone could either point me in the right direction or just give me some tips.

 

We need the cheapest system possible really - around the £200 mark.

 

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

Feea :)

[paulears]

Hi,

60m x 30m is a fair sized area to cover. Main problem is time delay - you have a 1/5th second delay, just on the length, so with a speaker in each corner, 4 sounds will arrive at slightly different times, making speech more difficult to understand. Probably, 4 horns about half way along the long side angled out would be better. The horns are actually not that dear - £30 ish for a cheap plastic horn. The snag is they are all designed to be driven by 100v line amps - these are not so cheap. www.cpc.co.uk have a few cheap horns, but the cost of the amp will put you over budget. You could use a cheap amp and buy a matching transformer as another option. Horns are fine for speech, pretty well rubbish for music, no bass at all - but for outside PA this is the norm. Certainly ok for horsey style announcements at typical volume. Horns are quite efficient, so a 100W amp and four horns is considered quite loud! Horns are also water proof so rain isn't a snag.

 

If you want a music system loud enough for this space, then a little more budget is required.

[Andrew C]

I'd look at hiring if I were you. I don't know the field so can't recommend any specific companies, but there are many who specialize in this sort of thing.

[feeta]

paulears - That sounds exactly like what they're looking for. I'll have a look at the price of amps and go back to the owners and see what they say. Also, I bet the cabling for that distance won't be cheap!

 

Andrew C - Hiring not really an option as they want to use this on a daily basis for all the forseeable future.

 

Thanks for the help, I'll look into a horn 100v system.

 

Cheers! :)

[london sound]

8ohm horns are available quite easy to source, however I would go with 100v line system purely because I assume that the amp is gong to live indoors. There are plenty of amps available for around £125 mark, I sold such a system to a customer two years ago.

 

 

Ian

[paulears]

Cable - no problem at all and really cheap. 100V line systems can use any old 2 core. The beauty of it is that the losses in the cable are a small percentage of a high impedance system, so you only need look at the stuff as used for ceiling light drop cable, Mic cable works quite well and is a bit tougher, but no need a all for heavy stuff!

[Chris Beesley]

Looking for help with 100V audio ... the boys at Skytronic have put together a handy page.

 

Skytronic "How To"

 

 

Regards

 

 

Chris Beesley