Advice HT setup Conference Room

[magma]

Hello all

Being a close friend of trustee in a small non profit childrens school i need to setup a surround system in a conference room

The room is quite large
about 18 feet by 30 feet
System to be arranged across the length of the room

Here there will be a projector is on the 18 foot wall

The rig is required for presentations, documenteries,interactive activities and short eductional films in surround

Though i know little about Stereo rigs for home use , the above requirements i have NO clue about
i know nothing about HT

The projector and screen is being handled by another fellow where i have no say
I have been entrusted with audio part of this

Please suggest according to requirements

What i can gauge is - what is important here in not the need for that high end transparent speaker system but what will work without much maintainence and something that can service such a large room well

i am guesssing the HT in a box is out of the question here correct?

I will probably need a good reciever(well powered) and some good wattage no fuss speakers
is that correct?

Also do you think i require to go 6.1 or 7.1 here?
5.1 is suffiicent?

Also im a bit wary about how the centre channel or even the two fronts will serve such a largish room
Do you guys think this is possible

Professionals in this field would chagrge me quite high for their advice
Since my post in non profit i do not wish to employ a professional

As for budget - let me say im willing to spend as much as is required ( the key word here is what is REQUIRED) . Keep in mind there are going to be no movies and serious movie watching here

Though my colleague is asking for towers do you think thats advicsable
i was thinking with children moving about would it not be better to have wall mounted spekaers(or something on brackets) that are a bit difficult to reach
If towers would serve this room better then maybe i can tuck them away in the corners
i have no clue

Please help

 

[rikhav]

Hi Ali, good that you are working for a noble cause. I also have not much experience with HT but let me put in my bit


"The rig is required for presentations, documenteries,interactive activities and short eductional films in surround"

Do you think this type of content will be ever in surround sound? I dont think so. Maybe whats important is that the sound is even in all areas of the room. So my advice would be to go for a good multi channel amp and maybe 4 pairs of speakers and space them out in such way that sound is even everywhere.
I think small bookshelves will suffice for this as most important would be clarity of speech. Adequate bass from a sub would not be the most important thing in the list

 

[magma]

there are some documentaries and short films in dolby
and they increase everyday

but i do agree stereo in this application makes more sense and it is probably the last route i will take using a mixer and pro bookshelf speakers in the end

 

[venkatcr]

One way to reduce on the requirement for a high end and powerful amp is to go for powered speakers that can be mounted on the wall.

You can also look at a inexpensive AVR that has pre-outs and use a commercial Class-D amp with 2,3,6,8 channels of amplification. These are made to be abused, have ample power, and can run for hours without any issue. Even if you choose a 3 channel amplifier that would be enough.

Look for something like http://www.crownaudio.com/index2.htm

Cheers

 

[rallynut]

magma,dont companies like DNM have vfm solutions for requirements like this?

 

[magma]

yes the crown thing is exactly what ive been thinking
either crown or phoenix

Currently using surround with line arrays is just too expensive
so i will probably use 3 sets of 2 channel speakers

use a 12channel mixer (which should allow 3 inouts lus some mic inputs) and then an commercail amplifier

however this is just something
i still dont know the brand and choice of amps

please do note this is a bit more than a PA system!