Anyone knowledgeable on PA systems / powered speakers / studio monitors?

Codlord

Codlord

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I know about home hi-fi/surround sound stuff but nothing on studio/PA systems. Long shot if anyone could advise on this or point me in some direction?

A private "warehouse" building is currently setup with a Sky box outputting to a projector and a cheap £300 Samsung soundbar/sub for watching sports.

It's fine if there are just a few people quiet/watching, but on occasions where there are lots of people there all talking/drinking/moving around it's no where near loud enough. Looked at other soundbar systems but they all seem physically small speakers so not sure it's going to help much.
Obviously could go AV receiver with normal speakers but not sure a "home" type solution is the right way for this "warehouse" setting.

So that lead me to looking into PA systems and studio monitors/powered speakers but it's a bit baffling so far!

Sky box only outputs optical audio out (no Bluetooth). Ideal simple solution would be a box with optical input and a volume control which wirelessly connects to 2 or 4 mains-powered speakers/monitors. Does such a simple thing exist?
 
Matt@Nearfield said:
Budget?
Click to expand...
Say £1000 max?

When I did some searching on PA system prices (for example here) they seemed on the face of it a lot more sensible than home/audiophile HiFi stuff but don't really know what I'm looking at or if any of it is compatible with the Sky optical output.

Need something simple (idiot/kid friendly) easy to just turn on and use and change volume. Which is possibly a reason to stay away from surround receivers which have a thousand inputs/outputs/buttons/settings?
 
I was high end car audio (Nearfield) for many years. Some of the lads now do sound systems for yatchs, others do shows and arenas. I've stuck it on the WhatsApp group and will come back to you chap. I'm strictly 12v🙂
 
So a good and very simple recommend seems to be the JBL party box's. You can link them together. Connect via Bluetooth l. Have as many as you want. Wheel them about. Seems like a lot of wins?
 
Thanks!

Matt@Nearfield said:
Lads are asking for room. Dimensions if poss? Or a rough idea
Click to expand...
Hmm, the entire place is big, talking 4.5m high at roof peak, 3m high at edges, floor space is I think something like 22m x 12m.
BUT not looking to fill the entire area with sound only the several square meters around the projector/seating area which is probably 6m x 6m and 4.5m high?

Matt@Nearfield said:
So a good and very simple recommend seems to be the JBL party box's. You can link them together. Connect via Bluetooth l. Have as many as you want. Wheel them about. Seems like a lot of wins?
Click to expand...
One of the kids has a JBL party box, that's the first thing I thought of BUT the Sky box does not support Bluetooth. The Sky box only has sound output via HDMI (which is already going to the projector) or optical (which currently is going to the soundbar).
 
Codlord said:
Thanks!


Hmm, the entire place is big, talking 4.5m high at roof peak, 3m high at edges, floor space is I think something like 22m x 12m.
BUT not looking to fill the entire area with sound only the several square meters around the projector/seating area which is probably 6m x 6m and 4.5m high?


One of the kids has a JBL party box, that's the first thing I thought of BUT the Sky box does not support Bluetooth. The Sky box only has sound output via HDMI (which is already going to the projector) or optical (which currently is going to the soundbar).
Click to expand...
Arse. They look like a great solution.
 
The lads are saying you can use an optical to rca adapter. About £10 on amazon.. if your lad has one you could buy the adapter and try it.

One of rhe lads has recently done a set up for a sports hall (5 badminton courts) and they are doing an excellent job.
 
Matt@Nearfield said:
The lads are saying you can use an optical to rca adapter. About £10 on amazon.. if your lad has one you could buy the adapter and try it.
Click to expand...
o.k. I see now JBL does have 3.5mm input so I guess a Dac converter with 3.5mm jack could go into party box aux-in.

Multiple partyboxes can be combined wirelessly but the manual does not make it clear if aux-input will be sent to the other speaker/s or only sound via bluetooth. But anyway, thanks, will try the single partybox first...
 
Matt@Nearfield said:
The lads are saying you can use an optical to rca adapter. About £10 on amazon.. if your lad has one you could buy the adapter and try it.

One of rhe lads has recently done a set up for a sports hall (5 badminton courts) and they are doing an excellent job.
Click to expand...
I use one of these for optical to analogue phono conversion to connect to an amplifier

Very good results
 
I finally got a cheap (£25) DAC (HDMI audio return DAC) as recommended by @Matt@Nearfield so in case anyone is interested it goes:

Sky USB port is powering the DAC. And DAC outputs to all outputs at same time so:

Sky optical out to DAC optical in.
DAC optical out to existing soundbar.
DAC phono outs to JBL 3.5mm headphone aux-input.

And so far seems to work very well. Possibly a very very slight time delay between the two outputs so found it's best to turn off soundbar when using the JBL rather than run both at the same time but a simple solution without any controls or settings and all-in with cables for about £40.

Thanks
 
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