Amp & speaker recommendations for outdoor movie series

May 25, 2006 6:00 PM

Outdoor cinema-fi - I'm running an outdoor community movie series in an urban park. Should attract up to 200 people. I need recommendations for an audio set up. Last year I used my NAD amp/receiver with some home-made speakers; this set up occasionally shorted the amp (it switched off). This year I have a budget of about $1k for amp, speakers and wiring. Any suggestions? What are the major considerations? Thx
posted by libelula to technology (11 comments total)

Make friends with some local DJs that have good audio gear and arrange to rent it.
posted by b1tr0t at 6:08 PM on May 25, 2006

I would recommend self-powered speakers designed for PA applications. Each of these has an amp in it already. I bought a pair a number of years ago for house parties.
Because you are outdoors, I would also recommend that any equipment you use be connected with XLR cables. They are the "pro" way to go and will ensure that your gear works all the time, everywhere. The Mackie speakers above have XLR plugs on them, and so you will need to convert at some point in your audio stream- just after the dvd player, usually. A small mixer that has a few tone and level controls on it will do just fine, and will let you mute and talkover the music/film as needed. (I'd love to offer more info, email in profile.)
posted by wzcx at 6:10 PM on May 25, 2006

Yeah, I've worked with those mackie's, they're great for the money! I'd love to own a pair...
posted by phrontist at 6:17 PM on May 25, 2006

(By which I mean the SRM450's, really excellent for the money)
posted by phrontist at 6:23 PM on May 25, 2006

In university I rented speakers and used my own amp for parties. If you go to a music store you can rent speakers for dirt cheap.
posted by substrate at 6:51 PM on May 25, 2006

Make friends with some local DJs that have good audio gear and arrange to rent it.

I second that emotion. Get a few prices from PA hire companies. Less hassle in the long run, and better results.

FWIW those mackies are excellent - I've been using them for 2 or 3 gigs a week for the last year or so and they've always done the trick.
posted by chrissyboy at 7:12 PM on May 25, 2006

Call a local sound company -- it's a simple enough gig that you might even get them to do it free if you point out it's a community thing and can plug them as a sponsor.
posted by Opposite George at 7:38 PM on May 25, 2006

I would recommend purchasing a pair of these guys: Behringer B215, a set of Speakon cables, stands to get the speakers up to a point that's just above the heads of the crowd, and an amplifier to drive them.

The subtotal I got after shipping for all of this stuff at zZounds was $876.64, which would leave you with money to buy extraneous cables and maybe even some storage for all of this. It would be very nice to purchase another amp and a pair of subwoofers to give the low end a little help in an outdoor environment.

Additionally, I'm assuming you know that you are required to "purchase the copyright" from a MPAA reseller company like Swank, right?
posted by yellowbkpk at 9:07 PM on May 25, 2006

There are several groups who do sort of what you want to do. Maybe you could get on their message boards and ask them about the technical stuff that they use.

Mob Movies

Santa Cruz Guerilla Drive-in
posted by i_am_a_Jedi at 4:57 AM on May 26, 2006

> and an amplifier to drive them.

Forgive the iggurunt question--that's just a power amp. Are you saying the audio out from a movie projector can go direct to a power amp, without any sort of preamp stage, or were you assuming the presence of some sort of sound board to accept the projector's audio feed and in turn feed the power amp?

More generally, is it true that any "line level" signal can go directly to a power amp, and it's only the things that output at very low levels (mics, elec. guitar pickups, vinyl record players) that need a preamp? Straighten me out here. Thanks!
posted by jfuller at 7:25 AM on May 26, 2006

Jfuller, you're absolutely right. Pre-amplification is for those low-level sources. Many microphones also need a 48v DC supply. Phono preamps and mic power are built into many mixers.
posted by wzcx at 1:14 PM on May 26, 2006