Mid Size 8 Channel Portable Sound Systems
NOTE: All of our Portable Sound Systems
can include whatever equipment you desire. These are only examples
of typical configurations.
To determine what you need, and obtain a price, please Contact Alectro Systems.
This is an example of a Mid Size 8 Channel Portable Sound System
which might be used for speech as well as some live music with up
to 7 vocals and instruments.
This example includes the following equipment:
A pair of speakers with telescopic stands and cables.
Speakers make or break your sound system. You need to start with a pair of decent quality professional sound
reinforcement speakers. Live music is more demanding than speech, therefore you need to be even more careful with your speaker selection. You need to provide accurate sound and project itaccurately throughout your room.
These speakers need to raised on tripod stands to provide "line of sight" for all the people listening and wired to your powered mixer.
Two
Compact Monitor speakers with cables.
If you are dealing with singers and musicians, you will probably need to add monitor speakers so they can hear themselves properly. Compact Reference monitors are usually the best choice, especially for a smaller room. Learn more about Monitor Speakers.
A stereo powered mixer.
You need some type of Powered Mixer. This can be a very basic unit with 8 or 12 inputs, depending on how many sources you want to connect. These sources can be microphones, instruments, CD and MP3 players, Computer sound etc.
If you are using monitor speakers, you need two channels (stereo). One channel is for then main speakers and the other for the monitors.
A powered mixer consists of a mixer to accept and mix the separate sources, plus a power amplifier to power the speakers. It also includes an equalizer to adjust the speakers to suit your room. By combining these functions into one box, you can simplify your set up process.
Microphones, cables and and high quality telescopic boom
stands.
Now you need to add your microphones, cables and stands. Microphones can be wired, or wireless. Since the choice of microphones is also critical to your sound (second to speakers), you need to be very careful with your selection. You can refer to our Wired Microphones and Wireless Microphones sections in this web site for more information.
Cable and stand selection is also important. You generally get what you pay for. Cheap stands are awkward to use and don't last very long. Double Balanced microphone cables provide better interference and noise reduction.
A Direct Interface box or cable is needed to connect musical instruments to a microphone jack.
A Direct Interface Box is the best way to connect an electronic instrument to your mixer. It converts the keyboard or guitar output into a balanced microphone signal which will connect directly to a microphone input on your mixer. This usually eliminates hum, buzz and interference problems. The DI box requires a cable to connect from the instrument to the box, and another cable to connect from the box to the mic input on your snake or mixer.
The Direct Connect cable is a 25 foot cable with a mic connector on one end and a 1/4 inch phone connector with built in transformer on the other end. It plugs into a keyboard, guitar, VCR etc. and converts from the high impedance unbalanced signal out of the instrument to low impedance balanced mic level. The other end plugs into a standard microphone jack. This cable enables you to plug any instrument into any microphone jack without picking up hum and electrical interference.
A Microphone Snake.
You will need a microphone snake to run from the front of the room, where your microphones are, to the back, where your mixer is. The snake should have the same number of channels as your mixer has mic inputs.
You should never wire your main or monitor speakers (except powered monitors) through the snake. This can produce ultrasonic feedback which can destroy your amplifier.
If this helps, all the electronics, microphones, and cables fit inside a rolling rack which you can store in a room, or load onto a truck. This also provides quicker set-up and strike.
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Portable Sound System