Any PA sound system experts

[schmittel]

Looking for a low budget option for a PA system for an event - will be broadcasting short messages to a crowd in a busy outdoor area with quite a lot of background noise.

Want to a) store prerecorded messages on phone and play them ad hoc and b) also have a mic that I can broadcast live messages "eg Will the gentleman in the red shirt please stop picking his nose?" or whatever.

I know I can do this relatively simply with a couple of second hand speakers connected to audio output of phone, but for reasons relating to the event and the theme I am after quite a specific look. Horn speakers like this:



Have spent a bit of time googling around I'm struggling a bit with this.

Sure I can buy a few of these: https://www.freetv.ie/horn-speakers/

Which has a 100V Transformer With Adjustable Power Settings,
Selectable Power Tappings
Power (RMS): 30W
Frequency Response: 380Hz - 6.5kHz
100V Line Tappings: 5 / 10 / 20 / 30W

And that all sounds great, but I have no fecking clue what that means!

Anybody here know about this stuff and if so could you explain it to me like a 5 year old?!

What power supply is necessary for these speakers?
Cabling requirements?
Presumably I need some sort of amp or whatever - ie I can't just connect a few of these directly to the phone jack with a splitter and away I go?!

And this would be even better because it is cheaper - https://www.freetv.ie/active-speaker/

It says: Low voltage power and line level audio are connected via a single 4-core cable for simplified cable feed and connection

Does that mean I can plug that straight into the phone?!

I'm a bit clueless, basically I'm asking what is the cheapest way of achieving the horn speaker look hooked up to a phone and a mic?!

[765489]

If you knew someone with an icecream van that would be available for the day you'd be sorted as it comes with a loadspeaker.

What about hiring ? There's plenty of places that you could hire out from for the day and they would have outdoor PA systems too schmittel. You get the whole lot and probably cheaper than buying it.

Edit, your links to the two speakers, I think they would need to be plugged into something like a line amp. You cannot just plug one of them into your phone. That site has line amplifiers for sale also. You'll probably need a mic aswell. 15 watt is low for a speaker, I'd be looking going higher than that. I'm basing this on guitar amplifiers so not sure if these are applicable to PA speakers.

[schmittel]

If you knew someone with an icecream van that would be available for the day you'd be sorted as it comes with a loadspeaker.

What about hiring ? There's plenty of places that you could hire out from for the day and they would have outdoor PA systems too schmittel. You get the whole lot and probably cheaper than buying it.

Unfortunately hiring not really cost effective as between travel, set up/take down and a 3 day event need the equipment for about a week. and the hire crowds don’t really do the basic stuff.

The better news is think I’m making some progress with the understanding. I can get two of the 100v line speakers and this amp, https://www.freetv.ie/mixer-amplifier/, and some speaker cable for a shade over 200 quid. And maybe that will do the trick.

Still not sure if the speakers require a power supply, but will ring them in the morning!

[765489]

Sorry I edited my post there man when you posted your reply -

Edit, your links to the two speakers, I think they would need to be plugged into something like a line amp. You cannot just plug one of them into your phone. That site has line amplifiers for sale also. You'll probably need a mic aswell. 15 watt is low for a speaker, I'd be looking going higher than that. I'm basing this on guitar amplifiers so not sure if these are applicable to PA speakers.

Power not provided by the line amp ?

If it's a proper speaker ( as in big square speaker ) it will need it's own power.

Don't forget the mic.

[schmittel]

Sorry I edited my post there man when you posted your reply -

Edit, your links to the two speakers, I think they would need to be plugged into something like a line amp. You cannot just plug one of them into your phone. That site has line amplifiers for sale also. You'll probably need a mic aswell. 15 watt is low for a speaker, I'd be looking going higher than that. I'm basing this on guitar amplifiers so not sure if these are applicable to PA speakers.

Power not provided by the line amp ?

I’ve abandoned the idea of the 12v 15w ones.

The more expensive ones are 30w and the amp I linked is 40w. I think the line tapping stuff means I can hook two of these up to the amp and achieve a 20w output of each.

My understanding is that a 20w horn speaker should be significantly louder than 20w guitar amp. But that might be completely wrong!

No idea about the power!

[765489]

There are cable options for that 30w speaker, 2 cables in each lenght choice, I take it one is one for power and the other for audio.

[schmittel]

There are cable options for that 30w speaker, 2 cables in each lenght choice, I take it one is one for power and the other for audio.

Am I being a bit thick? I don't see any cable options on the 30W speakers, I do on the 15W.

[765489]

Am I being a bit thick? I don't see any cable options on the 30W speakers, I do on the 15W.

Your right I was looking at the 15w active speaker. Doesn't give any choice for cable length. Probably need to give them a shout to find out if you have to buy the cables separately.

[schmittel]

Your right I was looking at the 15w active speaker. Doesn't give any choice for cable length. Probably need to give them a shout to find out if you have to buy the cables separately.

Powered by the amp, confirmed by vendor. Event organiser supplying an amp so just have to buy the speakers. Happy days!