Classroom sound sytem models?

I'm moving classrooms this summer (by choice) and I'll be losing my beloved sound system. When I realized the new room didn't have one I seriously considered backing out of the move. For various reasons (primarily health and a terrible airflow problem in my current room) I'm making the move anyway.

Sooo, given the budget status in CA if I want a new system I'll be buying my own. Can anyone tell me what system they use and the cost? Like I said I love the one I have now but that model is no longer sold by the company and I don't much like the new one.

Basically I'm looking for a system that support a wireless handheld mic and at least two channels of audio simultaneously so I can hook my pc up to it as well.

Also, I've considered trying to the PC itself as my audio mixer so if anyone has used that option please let me know as well. Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Cameron Foster on June 4, 2009 at 2:50am

You buy your own gear for the classroom? Is it at least a tax deduction?

(sorry - this doesn't help answer your question)

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Permalink Reply by Kev on June 4, 2009 at 6:47am

I buy stuff if I know it will make my job easier. It can be used as a deduction to an extent but I've never bothered as I never spend enough to top the standard deduction in the US since I've never had a mortgage payment.

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Permalink Reply by Brad Overton on June 5, 2009 at 10:40pm

Check this out. I heard a demo on it, it is portable and you can take it on your next move. Cost is a little over 1000.00, not many out there any cheaper.

http://www.lightspeed-tek.com/Default.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupp...

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Permalink Reply by Toby on June 22, 2009 at 4:33pm

I would really recommend against this brand/model. We have one that was purchased, and it's been nothing but problems. The unit we have has a very bad problem with feedback when you get close to it, volume and fidelity is not good at all, and it just looks and feels "cheap".

With a little help, the same place that I quoted the wireless mic, also sells ceiling tile speakers for under 200 that project 360degrees x 180degrees. One speaker will fill the room. It, the wireless, about $10 of speaker wire, and a cheap amplifier that has 8ohm output, and you have full room coverage for under $400. If/when you change rooms, you get a ladder, pop out your speaker, put the ceiling tile back, and you're ready to move.

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Permalink Reply by Monica Brown on June 22, 2009 at 9:01am

The high school I work at uses Front Row Pro Digital which runs a little over $1000 a pop, without mounting costs. Our teachers like the fact that the speakers are mounted in the ceiling, and that their cordless microphone pics up from every corner of the room. Front Row though has had a number of recalls on small components since we purchased the units 11 months ago. First it was the audio cabling, then is was the rechargable batteries. Right now we're having issues with a few sporadically shutting off - we've mailed one in but after the repair it still shuts off.

If I had to choose again, I'd go with a different brand - Lightspeed or the Smart sound system both seem to be a good option. The specs for the Smart system can be found here: http://www2.smarttech.com/NR/rdonlyres/F95864C1-16A1-4E8D-A26C-70D1...

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Permalink Reply by Toby on June 22, 2009 at 4:26pm

We order quite a bit from proacousticsusa.com

http://www.proacousticsusa.com/productdetail.php?pId=8831

The item I linked to above is a wireless lavalier mic from peavy, for $109.00

What many of our teachers do is connect the receiver unit to a small desktop home theater system that has an aux or line-in input.

A cheap Y cable can be purchased from any Office Depot, that can input both the PC and and Wireless system into a single input. Range is really good ... over 50ft and we've even used these for referees in basketball tournaments.

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Permalink Reply by Kev on June 23, 2009 at 9:11am

Toby, thank you, I was looking into this as an alternate option and I'm glad to hear others are doing it!

1. Do you get much "hiss" or audio loss due to use the unpowered y-splitter?

2. Do you know if you get mic audio out of all 5 speakers from the home theater or just the right and left front? I don't see how you can really control what speakers are used in what cases with the home theater I have so I'm wondering if maybe higher ends one can do it. I'd really like to get the sound spaced throughout the room.

I'm all about the do-it-yourself option as my $30 webcam I use for a document camera will attest so if this option is even close to clear enough I'll go with it. Our band teacher was able to provide me with an old mixer that I can use but the problem is that I'd have to buy speakers and it only has 1/4th in speaker outs so hooking it up to a home theater set would be a mess at best.

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Permalink Reply by Toby on June 23, 2009 at 10:26am

There is a bit of feedback if you have both on at one time. Best practice is to turn off the body unit for the mic off while you're playing audio or video through the PC.

I've even tested it by hooking the microphone receiver up to the PC's microphone input. A bit of a hassle
getting the input mix set to a good balance, but a nice portable rig.

You should get sound out of all of the speakers if you have a 5.1 system, Really no different from an AM or FM station, but even a cheap 3:1 or old stereo unit would work well.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Yearout on June 24, 2009 at 9:27pm

I don't know anything about this company: http://www.projectnow.com/mediaphile_product_listing_home.htm
but the Cetacea Sound Ensemble series produce incredible sound in a very small package. There are ceiling mounted versions of this as well as ones intended for portable use. Cetacea apparently does not sell direct, but you can make a dealer inquiry on their website. There are a couple other online vendors with their products, and prices vary from mid $100s for just the speaker to mid $300s for one with a wireless mic. Of course you could just buy your own wireless mic for less than that $200 price difference. Hope this helps!

Another link, different company, same/similar product: http://www.midwestcomputerav.com/Catalog.aspx?search=cetacea&ca...