Thread: What kind of sound system do I need?

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This year my haunt will have a n outdoor sound system for thunder, wofman, and other "scary" sounds. I am just nit sure what kind if wattage is enough. What do all of you use?


Thanks

Well nothing is better than 1000 watts and plenty of speakers. But us poor people have to make due with what we have. The acoustics outside are different than inside. The sound will travel from your home speakers out. How ever you use your speakers remember to point them towards the incoming victims(toters). I have found that you cannot hear the sound at all unless you are in front of the speakers. In a closed area the sound will bounce off walls, but outside the sound travels outward. Hope this helps. I'm hoping to have four speakers this year.

I'm going to have a nice set of boom box speakers for the ambient sounds, and two pair of powered computer speakers at specific props. When the boom box is playing in the front yard, I can here it pretty good in the back, so I think they will serve their purpose well.

User "NorthernTouch" made a nice system using 4 car stereos in a cabinet with a couple of XT power supplies.

He has posted it on this forum and on hauntforum.com.

I plan to do the same thing as soon as NorthernTouch hooks me up with a good price on the stereos.

Speakers outside pose the problem that they send sound EVERYWHERE. Without any walls to bounce off, the sound "falls off" in relationship to the distance from the speaker. So, the key to making the sound usable outside is to move the speakers near where people are.

Last year, my system contained a computer as the sound source, a 265w per channel home stereo amplifier (note, *just* an amplifier), and 4 infiniti speakers made for the outdoors. So, the only volume control I have is how much volume the computer sends out. Cranked up, the sound is clearly audible over a 450 foot distance, and barely audible at 600 feet. I'm typically using it at less than 1/4 volume, since I've positioned the speakers within 25' of where people walk. I want the people visiting to hear it without being overpowered by the volume. This year I will be adding a second sound system for one prop, and a hacked mp3 running through amplified computer speakers for a second. The both new sound systems are significantly less powerful because the props are meant to be viewed close up, with the speakers less than 5 feet away.

Craig

We have speakers around our pool in the backyard. Luckily, I was allowed to have my haunt next to the pool (a safe distance). I used the pool speakers, pointed at the haunt, as well as placing speakers in the windows of my house (also pointed at the haunt). Worked great for me! I'm on a low budget

this year i am using a surround receiver run by exorcist on my computer, outdoor speakers and a large PA system with sub for thunder

I used those faux rock speakers for my lightening/thunder display and they were powered by my 300w DVD/radio system. Plenty of sound and loud enough to scare people walking up the pavement to my house. Could easily hear it from across the street and a couple houses down but not loud enough to hear down the block.

Be sure to use decent sized (gaged) speaker wire though---the thin stuff for indoor satellites won't cut it for distances over 25 feet.

I found a pair of rock speakers on amazon for 80 bucks and they more than did the job.

wanna know the truth?
boom box.
period.
the neighbors don't need to hear the stuff...and I can get the damn thing replaced at a pawn shop or goodwill for next to nothing if it gets kicked or have stuff poured on it or if someone makes off with it...

I had many people giving me all kinds of audio advice for years, what I should own, what would not work....
What I had was a boom box with a whole many speakers wired into it and it worked fine for many years even though it wasn't supposed to!
I have small displays that "talk" but no yard or whole-house sound system because the natural creaks and moans of this "Haunted ", haunted house should really not be ignored or muffled, it's called something like "Natural Ambience?"
Another reason I have no outddor sounds is because this is a very small village and I found out any little such sounds from my house go directly to the houses on the next hill. Just the actual customer screams are enough to intriegue most waiting customers outside in line.