PA Systems are essential pieces of equipment for the modern school.
They serve a variety of purposes such as playing back music for school assemblies, making announcements at outdoor fun days and providing sound reinforcement for concerts and plays.
However buying a system can be a daunting decision, leaving those unfamiliar with audio systems bewildered by double-dutch technical specifications and cryptically labelled knobs and buttons.
Don't let this put you off though; armed with just a little bit of knowledge and straightforward advice you make a confident decision on what to buy.
In this article we will look at some of the most common PA system solutions on the market.
Portable PA Systems A portable PA is one of the most common choices for schools due to their ease of use, versatility and cost.
Portable PA systems include everything you need in one box that can be moved around the school and set up in classrooms and school halls, hassle free.
These systems often integrate one or more wireless microphone receivers, a rechargeable battery for using away from mains sources, an SD card/USB stick MP3 player and audio sockets for plugging in external sources such as iPods and CD players.
Installation PA Systems For a permanent solution in school halls and gymnasiums getting a PA installed can often be the right choice.
Speakers can be mounted onto walls and into ceilings to keep them safely out of the way and free up floor space.
The mixer/amplifier that the speakers are wired into can then be mounted into a rack along with any other equipment such as a CD player or wireless microphone receiver.
Once installed you're done- just turn on the system when required, no set up or fiddling with wires required.
Installation systems often use 100V line technology meaning multiple speakers can be used over large areas and in separate rooms if necessary.
Outdoor PA Systems For outdoor events such as sports days and fun days a school can often require an outdoor PA System.
Because the PA is exposed to the elements and is often required to reach over a large area a more specialist solution can be necessary.
Outdoor PA's use weather resistant speakers and are designed to be heard from a distance.
Like installation systems they use 100V line technology for using 3, 6, 8 or more speakers for maximum coverage.
They can be used with microphones for providing announcements and CD Players or iPods for providing background music.
Band PA Systems For school plays, concerts and other performances you need a PA that can take multiple inputs and mix them down to one source for amplification.
Band PA systems include a large mixer that has 2, 4, 8 or more microphone channels to amplify multiple performers and one or more stereo channels for playing back music and other audio from external sources.
They can be used with wired or wireless microphones as necessary.