[rubenmiranda]

The environment is a classroom. I purchased a Shure wireless receiver with a PGX4 body pack and lavalier mic which works great but only picks up audio from the teacher but not the students. I contacted Tandberg to ask about the Audio science ceiling mount microphone but the sales person laughed as he rattled off the price and told me to just buy a regular microphone and put it at the front of the class. I think I need a mixer in order to continue to hear the teacher's mic, and I know I want minimal wiring on the ground to avoid any accidents. I would really appreciate some tips on how best to approach this.

Thanks!

[tom9933]

Well you have several options and the decision will be based on not only audio quality, but also your budget. In all of the options below you will need some sort of mixer. I would recommend an active mixer (Clear One or Vortex) if your budget allows but any automatic mixer will work if your room isn’t too lively. Your options are as follows:
1) Ceiling mounted mics. While this solves the cabling problem you don’t have push to talk capabilities and the sound quality is general not as good a table mic.
2) Wired table mics. This is probably the most common setup and also one of the easiest to setup. Generally a mic for every 2 to 4 students is a good rule of thumb but this can vary based on the student seating. I would also recommend using push to talk mics if you plan to do any multipoint calls. We generally install floor boxes in our DL classrooms to address the cabling problem. Another good option is to mount the tables off of the wall and run your cabling through the walls.
3) Wireless table mics. This is a more costly version, but fixes your cabling problem. You should also consider the battery life of the mics you choose to use. We have evaluated the Shure mics and were very impressed with the performance, but the cost and battery issues have made this an unattractive solution for us.

[Entropy3XD]

I agree with Tom on the ClearOne or the Vortex. I haven't worked with the Vortex myself, but some of the guys I work with tend to prefer them over the ClearOne as they say it is easier to configure. I have always been happy with the ClearOne mixers and their tech support has been outstanding. I don't know how much money you want to spend, but I can say that the Tandberg Audio Science mics are great, and they would solve any issues with cables across the floor.

[rubenmiranda]

Thanks for the replies. I should have mentioned how this is being used. We have several students who cannot come to school because of illness. We purchased an Axis 213PTZ network camera and a body pack mic which has worked well. We are now looking for a way for the student at home to hear the rest of the class (he can hear the teacher just fine) with minimal interruption to other students. I would prefer something that does not require pushing buttons or moving from one location to another for the students in the classroom. The classroom measures 23 x35 with a 10 foot ceiling. I spoke to someone at B&H and they recommended a Boundary microphone. I also looked up the Vortex mixer and Polycom keeps showing up (do they make it?). The price is about $3,000. I guess there really is no easy answer to this. The table mics sound good, but they are planning to move the equipment to another classroom sometime in the future. The audioscience sounds good for about $1,500, but the mixer is so expensive that I have to wonder if I can get by with a cheaper non-active two port mixer. Now I'm really confused. I guess I'll just have to try one solution and keep trying until I find what works for me. Hopefully I can purchase from someone with a good return policy.

[emello]

I have several classrooms with various configurations. In the simplest form, we just added a boundary mic (in a Tandberg roll around cart set up) and put that mid way on one of the student desks. Not an ideal solution, but it worked.

Another room has the Audio Science mic. This is a configurable classroom, and even when the student seating is changed, it still picks up a good size room, and works rather well.

In our distance classrooms, we have either the Polycom Vortex systems or the Clear One automixers. In some cases, there are ceiling mics with a lav for the professor. In a couple, we actually went back and retrofitted the rooms to add in push to talk mics, which make for much clearer audio for the far end. In moveable classrooms where we didn't have the PTT option, we mounted Clock mini-shotgun mics to pick up the students.

It all depends on what you really need (just need for these students to be heard, or heard well in a VC or webcast, etc.) and how much you want to pay.

[djackson]

Originally Posted by rubenmiranda

. I contacted Tandberg to ask about the Audio science ceiling mount microphone but the sales person laughed as he rattled off the price and told me to just buy a regular microphone and put it at the front of the class. I think I need a mixer in order to continue to hear the teacher's mic, and I know I want minimal wiring on the ground to avoid any accidents.

I would stick with a ceiling microphone - Tandberg AudioScience as preference 1. Table mics pick up things great - paper rustling, students hitting the microphones, all noise you don't want. Students don't like using Push to Talk microphones.

We have all types of ceiling microphones going to Clearone XAP400 mixers - I have not tried the vortex but I will in the future. The tandberg audioscience microphones is simple, and it works great going directly to the codec. The only draw back is the size. It might not work in some rooms. It also works best with Tandberg vtc systems.

The Tandberg AudioScience is over priced for a PZM microphone attached to a piece of plexiglass. Try to get them to bring the price down major...maybe with another future purchase of vtc equipment. However, if you look at the list price $1,500, it is still competitive if you count how man standard mics and mixers it can replace, and give you better quality.

[Shawn Jones]

[QUOTE=djackson]I would stick with a ceiling microphone - Tandberg AudioScience as preference

The Tandberg Audio Science is only good for picking up sound up to ~14feet from the front of the mic. I would suggest some PZM's mounted to the ceiling grid, about every 15 ft or so. Should be able to get them from a local Crown or AT Dealer, or on the web.

-sj

[shogun2]

[QUOTE=Shawn Jones]

Originally Posted by djackson

I would stick with a ceiling microphone - Tandberg AudioScience as preference

The Tandberg Audio Science is only good for picking up sound up to ~14feet from the front of the mic. I would suggest some PZM's mounted to the ceiling grid, about every 15 ft or so. Should be able to get them from a local Crown or AT Dealer, or on the web.

-sj

The Audio Science mic works by concentrating the sound in the apex of the perspex. This is not available in a standard PZM. The TB documentation states that one AS mic takes the place of up to 6 ordinary PZM's. From my use of the AS mic I would have to agree.

[shogun2]

[QUOTE=tom9933]Well you have several options and the decision will be based on not only audio quality, but also your budget. In all of the options below you will need some sort of mixer. I would recommend an active mixer (Clear One or Vortex) if your budget allows but any automatic mixer will work if your room isn’t too lively.

I like the Vortex better than the Clear One. Better sound quality and setup. However, my first choice would be a Biamp Audia with AEC2 cards. Harder to set up and more expensive, but far better audio quality than both the others.

[Entropy3XD]

[QUOTE=shogun2]

Originally Posted by Shawn Jones

The Audio Science mic works by concentrating the sound in the apex of the perspex.

Please tell me I am not the only one who had to break out a dictionary for "perspex"?

Excellent word Shogun.