I just started teaching band at a Wisconsin high school and the band room is desperate for new speakers. The room is about 50'x40'x20' and currently has a pair of small Bose bookshelf speakers hooked up to a modern Yamaha receiver. As you can imagine, the best this system can do is fill half the room with horrendous sound - not very inspiring for the students. Any suggestions for projects fitting the following criteria?
- room = 50'x40'x20' carpeted floor, brick wals, celing tiles
- will play mostly classical/wind band music and some big band jazz
- successfully powered by retail reciever (100wpc)
- sound must be as impressive as possible for a high school listener
- large listening area (as many as 60 students at a time)
- cost around $400 and some enjoyable labor (your tax dollars at work!)
Here is what I've come up with so far (on the assumption that this situation calls for 95db+ sensitivity):
- Econowave (with a high efficiency woofer)
- Pi Speakers (2 pi or 3 pi)
- Vintage stuff? (not sure what to look for on craigslist)
what's the best I can do to get these high school punks better sound?
- room = 50'x40'x20' carpeted floor, brick wals, celing tiles
- will play mostly classical/wind band music and some big band jazz
- successfully powered by retail reciever (100wpc)
- sound must be as impressive as possible for a high school listener
- large listening area (as many as 60 students at a time)
- cost around $400 and some enjoyable labor (your tax dollars at work!)
Here is what I've come up with so far (on the assumption that this situation calls for 95db+ sensitivity):
- Econowave (with a high efficiency woofer)
- Pi Speakers (2 pi or 3 pi)
- Vintage stuff? (not sure what to look for on craigslist)
what's the best I can do to get these high school punks better sound?
To tell the truth, if I were not designing speakers to fit in very specific size configurations, I'd probably give up building them myself.
The Pi speakers would be a good choice if you just have to get the pleasure of being a wood butcher, but you could probably do better in terms of cost/performance by auditioning used speakers at a Music Go Round store.
Craigs list is OK, but don't buy unless you hear the speaker at a loud level, and preferably check the speaker out wit a sine wave sweep to check for buzzing or rattling noises.
Old Yamaha 4115H still are great if the LF and HF have survived.
The Yamaha club series are OK for the price, used would be less than the cost of a kit, and use Eminence speakers like the Pi.
JBL SRX series are a bit better, but will cost more.
There are many good Renkus Heinz trap cabinets that go very cheap, but are well built and designed.
The Music go Round store in Albuquerque (a fraction of the population of Minneapolis) regularly has good speakers for sale at far less than I could buy the components for.
Art
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Whoa, that thread is awesome. Something like that certainly satisfies the "impressive" category.
I should also ad that these speakers will probably have to be wall mounted so that they are out of the way of instruments and the general path of destruction. From what I've read, that thread talks about the BBBIB needing some help from the wall and ceiling to work right (band room ceiling is 20'-25' up). Is there another horn shape that could work with the same drivers (Eminence Beta-12LTA + super-tweeter)? Or similar thread I should check out?
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Thanks, Art. This sounds like a logical solution.
can one just use some sort of adapter to connect old PA speakers to a home stereo amp?
Yes, just cut off one end of the 1/4" or Speakon (or whatever type used) cord, strip the cord, and insert in to the amp for a permanent install. As usual, pay attention to polarity, make sure both speakers are wired the same.
Or wire a jack panel to the amp and use normal cords if you prefer to have the system portable, wiring bare leads is a PITA and can easily lead to short circuits if you are not super careful.
By the way, a small horn only adds about 3 dB midband sensitivity .
Going from a 12" PA type speaker to a 15" generally adds 3 dB sensitivity, equivalent to doubling power. If you are using a home stereo amp in a large room, look for 15" speakers for the extra output level.
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Why not ask around the students ( do you have a woodworking shop at the school??) and see if they can come up with any old speakers around the various homes and just cobble something together??
It could turn into a collaborative project between departments as there is a LOT of science involved as well as wood work.
It could turn into a collaborative project between departments as there is a LOT of science involved as well as wood work.
Give the project to a student!!!
If you know any of them like to build things or are into audio hand it over to them.
I am speaking from experience here, I am a senior in high school and I got my school to pay for me to build our football field a sound system. I am not profiting at all but it is a great project.
The student/students will not only get to work on a cool project on the schools dime they will have something to write about on college apps. One of my main focuses on my MIT app (and all of them actually) is the senior project. This video I made for MIT admissions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOwhWyn5ymE
If none of them are knowledgeable enough in acoustic design to come up with their own design or find one online that fits your needs then you should do the actual design and give them plans.
If you are thinking that none of them will be interested guess again. If my band director (I play sax) had offered us this opportunity I would have jumped on it
If you know any of them like to build things or are into audio hand it over to them.
I am speaking from experience here, I am a senior in high school and I got my school to pay for me to build our football field a sound system. I am not profiting at all but it is a great project.
The student/students will not only get to work on a cool project on the schools dime they will have something to write about on college apps. One of my main focuses on my MIT app (and all of them actually) is the senior project. This video I made for MIT admissions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOwhWyn5ymE
If none of them are knowledgeable enough in acoustic design to come up with their own design or find one online that fits your needs then you should do the actual design and give them plans.
If you are thinking that none of them will be interested guess again. If my band director (I play sax) had offered us this opportunity I would have jumped on it
Years ago, as a band director, I was very fortunate to get a pair of Klipsch Cornwalls for the band room. Bought unfinished, the kids had fun applying the finish. The combination of good sensitivity and dynamic range was just what the doctor ordered for the room. We had them on large casters, so they could be easily rolled into the locked storage room for safe keeping. If you're mounting speakers on a wall, try to mock it up and listen first. It's easy to make a decent speaker sound not so good by spreading them too far or not angling them properly. Good Luck!
These are great ideas! I'll start asking around to see if students and wood-shop teachers would be interested in doing this.
Thinking I would still need a good affordable design to get things started. I'll hit the archives for PA type builds for ideas. Any suggestions on where to start on a design to fit the room? Sounds like something based on a 12-15" pro woofer is the best bet at this point.
Thinking I would still need a good affordable design to get things started. I'll hit the archives for PA type builds for ideas. Any suggestions on where to start on a design to fit the room? Sounds like something based on a 12-15" pro woofer is the best bet at this point.
2 * 15s for bass; a single 10 or 12 for mids and a small horn or even a 3 inch wide range as the treble??
That is a reasonably big room and a small amp so sensitivity needs to be reasonable
I know that funds will be tight but if that receiver had pre-amp outs I would have recommended a cheap ( Behringer ) electronic XO and bi-amping.
Bi-amping can be cheaper and easier than a good passive set-up as second hand amplifiers can be much cheaper than good quality passive components
That is a reasonably big room and a small amp so sensitivity needs to be reasonable
I know that funds will be tight but if that receiver had pre-amp outs I would have recommended a cheap ( Behringer ) electronic XO and bi-amping.
Bi-amping can be cheaper and easier than a good passive set-up as second hand amplifiers can be much cheaper than good quality passive components
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