Our church is wondering about getting a small pa system in the future and I was wondering what kind of mixer to suggest. I'd love to get a DA 7 but they are thinking small and inexpensive. Anyone have a suggestion? I guess the DA7 is small and fairly inexpensive when you consider what you are getting, they are thinking even smaller and less expensive than that.

The speaker arrangement will just be one each side likely. I guess a cluster up above would be the way to go but that is out of the question for us. I guess I'm searching for info and advice from someone who might have experience. I'm trying to avoid pitfalls. Also, as the person suggesting a course of action, I don't want to be shot for them getting something they won't be happy with.

I do have a couple Traynor monitor speakers and a snake and a good lapel mic. Is that even a sensible start? Thanks.
carl

Carl,

That kanji must translate to read "RAMSA speakers, amplifiers and mixers are the most underrated in the world".

But, FYI…many of technical white paper reports I’ve read said that RAMSA speakers imaged better and played louder with less distortion then speakers-systems 3 and 4 times their price and...

and I know for a fact that Sound Image one of today’s top rental companies has 6 or more RAMSA WR-SX-1A mixers in use on tour with major acts...

But seriously, before recommending just any "run of the mill" cheaply made, surface mount I.C. disposable mixer, I’d advise you to look at a used but well made professional RAMSA mixer.

FWIW, there's tons of them selling for just pennies on the dollar on the used market.

http://panasonic.biz/ramsa/index.html

As usual,
YMMV,

Hey Carl,
Give us more info. what your space is,what your trying to do(music speech and type), budget etc...Might be able to help you out. Im on staff at a church as head tech/production coordinator. Been throught a multitude of upgrades as well as upstarts. feel free to contact me if you wanna get in depth.

Ceb,
Is this to be portable or a permanent or semi-permenant install? Voice, music, preformance? Size of space? Our chuch has a 30 ft ceiling, seating for 400 to 500 and a choir loft. To my dismay they purchased a BOSE 501 speaker system (without sub) and a Crown amp with a Mackie 24 channel mixer. They paid way too much but it handles everything they need it for and it sounds surprisingly natural. It is mostly for the voice of the pastor and acoustic preformances (choir, children's choir, soloist) with some music playback. There is no musical amplifiers, acoustic or electronic drums that are used though. The system is very unobtrusive.
What is your budget?
Jim K.

try a 24 channel behringer board. awesome board for the price. some jbl's and crown ce-2000's...that is the cheapest with the best results that i have run for live sets even churches

IMHO...this would be a better choice...current bid $10.50

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3704193650&category=23785

Hey Carl,

A church I play at frequently asked me to put together a portable system for them to use. I included (2) Mackie SRM 450 speakers, (1) Mackie 1642VLZ Pro board, (1) Mackie 1400 amp and (4) Behringer 1220 wedges. They love it and use it both inside and outside for all sorts of different music programs. I think the board went for something like $700 new.

Try to get the aforementioned Ramsa board. It will sound better than a Mackie and it is really versatile. What more could you ask for. I would think $150 would buy it(mabye).

While it may sound better, the cost to ship (truck freight) it to Canada might cause the deal to sour pretty darn quickly!

Hi Guys,
The church building is as follows. You walk into a room where the pews are which is 27 feet wide and 40 feet long. The walls go up 12 and 1/2 feet then the ceiling slants from there to a peak. I would think from the peak to the top of the wall would be about 6 feet - I don't know what pitch that would make.

Anyway, as you walk to the end of the 40 foot dimension, you enter the other room which houses the choir, pulpit, the piano and organ. The width of this second room is wider - by 6 1/2 feet on each side. The choir sits on the right side ( in the 6 1/2 foot additional width) and on the left 6 1/2 additional width, there is a stairway to the basement and the piano and organ are on that side too. This room has the same continued ceiling but is 40 feet wide, considering that it is 6 1/2 wider on each side than the first room. It's all one open area. I forgot to measure the added length of the second room, but it isn't long, say 12-15 feet. The walls in the first room are wall board and the second is gyprock. The ceiling is made up of acoustic type ceiling tile but with no space behind it - just tacked to the boards I guess. This is an old building!

To put the dimensions another way - if you look at it as one big room, the width is 27 feet with 6 1/2 feet more on each side as the first room opens into the second room and a total length of perhaps 55 feet. The height is 12 1/2 feet floor to ceiling then it slants to a peak - about 6 feet more.

The system will be mainly for the pastor's voice but people sing into a mic at the front as well. I imagine that people will sing to tapes/cds once we get the system going. The pastor wears a mic that transmits to little receivers that people wear who are hard of hearing - this doesn't get heard by anyone else. There is a boundary mic on the pulpit. Believe it or not they have Radio Shack speakers - about 3 on each side of the first room (where the pews are). They tell me that they can't turn up the volume because it would squeal. I can tell you that there isn't much sound coming from the side speakers either. The church isn't that big but there are lots of people who are hard of hearing, I'll bet. They record the message to cassette. I've never heard a tape. The pastor walks to the front of the pews to talk to the children before they go downstairs and of course this doesn't go to tape because he is away from the pulpit mic.

The system will probably be permanent and I don't have any idea what the budget will be, but it won't be much - they would likely faint if it got over $5k Canadian. My plan would be to purchase in stages - get a mixer first. I (personally) have a good lapel mic, a snake, two Traynor monitor (foldback) wedge speakers, a Peavey PA amp 1.3 K - 1000 watts x 2. I also have a Bryston 2 B - I think that's a 50 watt stereo amp. I could let them use this stuff since it is just here at home in my way anyway. They are buying a Shure SM 58 mic. I know the speakers wouldn't be great but if we got the wedges up high enough at the front sides, they might be better than the RS speakers on the sides of the walls.

The church just agreed to buy the mic. It will take awhile to get the agreement to buy a mixer - so there goes the idea of the one on E-bay, but that type would be fine, I guess. It wouldn't need to have too many channels - say 12 to 16 unless it was a deal but then they wouldn't want a big one either because of the space it would take up.

I want your input because I don't want to sell them any of my stuff if that's not the best way to go and I don't know if it is silly to plan on speakers that shoot down the sides of the room as opposed to a high cluster. I'm not up on the newer stuff either. It will probably take lots of time for them to raise money for everything they need so I thought of using the stuff I have and getting them to purchase a mixer first- then we would have something anyway. Thanks. Sorry for the loooong post!
carl