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Activity Forums Audio Adding wireless lav to existing classroom system

  • Adding wireless lav to existing classroom system

    Posted by Julie Newtin on January 5, 2017 at 3:54 pm

    We have a hearing disabled student that needs amplification in classrooms that were not originally designed with mics. She will be moving to different classrooms with different professors so I may need to add this solution to 7 classrooms (would be good for other students as well) so it needs to be cost effective. One consideration was issue the student FM system (like used for tour groups) but if we can use the rooms built-in speakers, that seems better.
    All our rooms have speakers but we only designed mic inputs for 4 large rooms. I want to add wireless mics to our other classrooms without involving our AV company because this isn’t budgeted at all. We do have an input for 3.5 mm that is used for the computer sound input.
    Sooo, the technical question is how much quality loss would I have if I got a standard wireless lav & receiver with XLR or 1/4″ outputs and put an adapter on it and plugged it into our 3.5mm input? Obviously, clarity is the utmost concern.
    Any other suggestions are welcomed.
    Thanks!

    Julie Newtin replied 9 years, 8 months ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
  • 2 Replies
  • Richard Crowley

    January 5, 2017 at 7:24 pm

    Most of the budget-price wireless kits (mic + transmitter + receiver) include a cable (or the option for a cable) to plug into 3.5mm. These are the mics I would look at:

  • Rode Filmmaker Kit $380
  • Audio Technica System 10 $ 380
  • Azden Pro XD $ 200
  • If any of them don’t come with the proper cable to plug into your system, they are commonly available for probably less than $10

    EDIT: Confirm what your systems want (mic-level or line/speaker-level) and that the receiver will provide that kind of output. If your classroom systems want line-level or speaker level, then receivers that output only microphone-level won’t be compatible.

    ———————————————————————————
    Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

  • Julie Newtin

    January 5, 2017 at 10:11 pm

    Thank you! I appreciate the comment about the mic/line levels.

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