My workplace is looking into getting our own set of portable, semi-powerful speakers to use with their new projector setup (some fancy Epson model). My thought would be that wireless would be good to allow them to space them across the front of larger rooms (they present to medium-sized audiences in hotel conference rooms and the like), but I have no idea if any of those are decent quality and easy enough to use, plus things like battery life and whatnot.
Any suggestions for a good set or type of speaker to look into? I assume that “bookshelf” speakers and home theater stuff in general is out due to limited outputs on the projector–in fact, researching it online suggests it doesn’t even DO out, so if they’re routing HDMI video in, I assume I’ll have to hook the speakers to the PC directly and micromanage the audio devices.
Based on what I read of the specs on that projector, I guess the built in 2W mono speakers aren’t cutting it? :) It doesn’t seem to have audio-out so you’re kinda screwed in terms of hooking anything up directly to the projector for video and sound.
Are you planning on connecting the sound to many different devices (e.g., to multiple laptops that make it into the conference room), or is it going to be permanently attached to a single computer that remains there all the time?
If you’re interested in wireless, and you’re not going to need to pair it with more than 2 computers (or you don’t mind the hassle of constantly pairing), you can go with a Bluetooth audio, A2DP solution. Most laptops have Bluetooth built in, few PCs do so you would need an add-on dongle/card if you want this to work.
The Jambox Big and original size get good reviews. They also have built in microphones, so you can use them for a computer-based conference call, as well. The ad copy for the big specifically mentions conference rooms. Maybe it’s what you want?
Not the best solution, but definitely a wireless one.
Yeah, it’s likely to be one or two laptops gifted by one of our corporate sponsors, brought to locations to present (and show off their technology a little bit, too, maybe). Unsure if they have bluetooth built-in, but I can test the next time I play with them.
Of course, wireless isn’t ESSENTIAL. Might even have downsides: I assume those speakers have to have some sort of battery in them? I doubt our people are going to be presenting for hours on end, but I also doubt they want to constantly worry about charging them up the night before or what have you.
Ideal might be a speaker that can wirelessly talk to an audio source but can draw power independently; just set it/them up in the corners of a room near power outlets and go. Not sure if that actually exists or not, though :)
That D80 does look very nice, is far less expensive at $49, and I notice on that page that they sell a Bluetooth dongle right in Creative’s Web store for $39. There’s your full solution right there. Even if the laptops don’t have Bluetooth built in (they probably do), a D80 with a Bluetooth dongle is still cheaper than the cheapest Jambox. And as rei said, you can plug them in. Sounds like what you wanted.
Oh man, the D100 (which is essentially a D80 but with space for four batteries that last 35* hours) looks absolutely perfect. The place likes to spend a little, so they might opt for the D200 or one of the ZX00 models instead, but this is precisely the product line I was looking for.
