Audio volume

We just had a new audio system installed not too long ago and so far I an underwhelmed by its lack of flexibility and unnecessary complexity. During stake conference we have a problem with the volume levels being a bit too low at the back of the cultural hall, and there is no no volume control. The entire system can be turned louder at the pulpit but anything higher than one tick up from the middle setting overwhelms the entire system with feedback: as it is there is a little bit of feedback that is heard in the overflow rooms when a speaker edges his voice up in volume or gets too close to the mic.

FM says that the official church policy is that there can be NO volume controls other than the master at the pulpit and that everything is handled by a password-protected closed box system which requires somebody to be flown in for even minor leveling adjustments. Has anybody else run in to this policy?

The policy has been my experience as well. Note that installation is usually in two phases. The installer will do a rough set of the levels. A couple of weeks later, the tuner from SL will come and set it properly. I suspect this hasn't happened yet.

Well, this probably explains why we cannot hear in our cultural hall during stake conference. They will not set the level there high enough to get over the noise of a few small children, so no one in the back can hear anything. You can barely hear it when the cultural hall is empty, but when anyone is there, or when the heater or air conditioner turns on, that is the end of any listening and hearing from the pulpit.

Is there really only one "tuner" from Salt Lake who does this? We need to get the primary children into the room at the same time they are setting the listening levels.

lajackson wrote:Is there really only one "tuner" from Salt Lake who does this? We need to get the primary children into the room at the same time they are setting the listening levels.

Not sure, it's just my experience. From other posts, it's not the same company everywhere in the US.

I think they adjust the volume for the same signal level, but perhaps are not compensating for the louder noise levels.

I'm sure complaints from a stake president will have some weight. The more chapels that need retuning, the more more practical it becomes to fly the guy out there.

Tuning the feedback filters requires some experience, and there are a couple primary contractors, but there are people everywhere that could theoretically do it. Adjusting just the volume is straightforward and our FM group uses a number of contractors; it doesn't seem that they need to get anyone from HQ involved. Our problem has been the opposite -- the volume is too loud in the cultural hall.

craiggsmith wrote:Adjusting just the volume is straightforward and our FM group uses a number of contractors; it doesn't seem that they need to get anyone from HQ involved.

From what I know, only one contractor is authorized to adjust the levels. (And the levels are documented in a diagram using voltage levels.) My understanding is if someone gets into the cabinet and starts adjusting things, the warranty on the system as a whole is null and void and it's the FM group that pays the airline ticket to come out and fix it. Needless to say, that provides a great incentive to the FM group to keep people out of the cabnet.