[SCA-Dance] Powered speakers

[David Learmonth]

Hi Dance Instructors!

Regarding a discussion on portable speakers and such, I just have to chime
in with a recommendation that has worked well for me, and a few other
dancers who've purchase this unit since:  (excuse any jumble in the writing
of this email, I've taken the info from a previous email I wrote about this,
and have just rearranged / re-wrote parts of it)

Behringer EPA40

http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/EPA40.aspx

Basically, it is a portable PA system.  One plug on it is for a microphone
(included), while the other plug is just a line-in.  The line-in doesn't
have direct volume control, so you just adjust from your iPod or whatever.
 (works for anything with a regular headphone jack out.  But it doesn't come
with a cord for the line-in jack, so I'd recommend spending a couple of
bucks on a male to male stereo mini plug cord  (1/8 inch), say 3 ft long,
give or take.  A short cord can be tucked inside the unit itself.).

The unit isn't heavy, and carries over a shoulder nicely.  It is obviously
meant for tour guides and such to carry around all day.  And the lead-acid
rechargeable battery in it will last for something in the order of 8 hours.
 (it seems to also be able to run off the power cord if you are really
stuck, though I don't know if that impacts battery life)

I unfortunately did have the battery die at one point (would not recharge),
and had to order a new one.  But otherwise I'm quite happy with it.  It is
very portable, good audio quality, and quite loud.  There have only been a
few halls where I've decided to go with larger speakers.  (such as it
wouldn't have quite been enough for the whole hall at Terp, but it did work
for my classes, and it is really good for dance practices, and moderate
numbers at events)

As far as I can tell, it seems to play stereo fine  (of course it is playing
it through a single speaker, but I tried out some mp3s that have obvious
stereo portions of sound, and was able to hear everything).

Not sure where to recommend to buy it, but here is one link to it at B&H
Photo for $106.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/485365-REG/Behringer_EPA40_Europort_EPA40_40W_Handheld.html


And, although it isn't necessary, I also tend to carry around with me an old
portable cd player.  (one of the small ones that runs on AA batteries and
that you would normally plug headphones into).  That way I can always play a
CD if I need to, though with iPods and such it is fairly uncommon.  But I
wouldn't bother buying one, I just used one we had laying around.  It isn't
too much more to carry to an event.


Hope this is useful!  Let me know if anyone has any questions about it!
Darius
P.S.  I would also recommend my mp3 player  (MPIO FY600), however it has
been out of production for many years.  But basically, though the capacity
was only 1 GB, the benefit to this player was the ability to change the
playback Speed, in a fine increment of a few percent at a time, while not
changing the playback frequency.  Very handy for teaching new people, when
you want to take the edge off of a piece by slowing it down just a little
bit.  (and when you don't have a musician around to play for you)