Microphones not working

Looking for any ideas on what may be the problem here. Due to the use our building receives, we have quite the sound system - 4 chapels each with independent audio feeds. For stake conference, audio from one chapel can source all of them. Same thing for CES firesides/satellite broadcasts.

This morning, there is no power to the microphones on half the building. The organs still play just fine, but the pulpit and sacrament microphones have no power to them.

What we've checked:
1) Circuit breakers in the chapel - all are on
2) Circuit breakers for that side of the building - all are on
3) Amplifiers - all are on, although 2 of the 3 have an orange light on something called "par". Not sure if that's an error or just an additional connection.
4) Digital signal processors - all are on
5) Audio mixers - one is on, one has no power.
6) Input expander - powered

I'm guessing the mixer, but would that kill sound in half the building?

crislapi wrote:Looking for any ideas on what may be the problem here. Due to the use our building receives, we have quite the sound system - 4 chapels each with independent audio feeds. For stake conference, audio from one chapel can source all of them. Same thing for CES firesides/satellite broadcasts.

This morning, there is no power to the microphones on half the building. The organs still play just fine, but the pulpit and sacrament microphones have no power to them.

What we've checked:
1) Circuit breakers in the chapel - all are on
2) Circuit breakers for that side of the building - all are on
3) Amplifiers - all are on, although 2 of the 3 have an orange light on something called "par". Not sure if that's an error or just an additional connection.
4) Digital signal processors - all are on
5) Audio mixers - one is on, one has no power.
6) Input expander - powered

I'm guessing the mixer, but would that kill sound in half the building?

We just went through the same thing and yes, a mixer can take out a large portion of a facility. It really depends upon what kind of a system you have. If it's one of the newer digital (programmed) mixers they're running software that can be completely lost if the battery backup goes out. This sounds like the situation as your description mirrors what we saw.

In this situation the mixer must be removed and returned to the manufacturer for service. I strongly recommend that you contact your FM group as they are responsible for the maintenance of the system. They will probably have a service technician come out who's familiar with the system.

Thank you for the rapid reply. We have confirmed here that it is indeed the mixer that went out. Luckily, it was just the power supply and not the mixer itself. We were able to play around with the power supplies and get half of the building working again. Once we replace the busted power supply, we should be back and running.

crislapi wrote:Thank you for the rapid reply. We have confirmed here that it is indeed the mixer that went out. Luckily, it was just the power supply and not the mixer itself. We were able to play around with the power supplies and get half of the building working again. Once we replace the busted power supply, we should be back and running.

Good job of troubleshooting. I'd say that luck was certainly on your side.
When our mixer went out we were without a portion of the building for a little over a week. Thanks for the feedback.

I have a situation where I have the old system and the new digital system in a couple buildings. The sound system in the chapel works fine and microphones and volume work fine and various locations like the material center the mother‘s lounge and foyers. The problem I am having is the volume in the relief society room, young women’s room and primary room. The local Mic barely puts out any sound and also when we put on to listen to what’s going on in the chapel, it’s very quiet. Have checked the volume controls on the sound panel. Everything‘s fine. Is there something I am overlooking?

dkawaters wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2024 11:03 am The local Mic barely puts out any sound and also when we put on to listen to what’s going on in the chapel, it’s very quiet. Have checked the volume controls on the sound panel. Everything‘s fine. Is there something I am overlooking?

When you say "equipment panel" is this is a locked away area, or something accessible to the users of the room? Many setups I see have a small electrical box in the room with a source selector switch and a volume knob. If you're having to open up a cabinet, that's the wrong place.

If that knob is turned up and it's still faint, then I'd report it to FM via the FIR app.

If on the older systems (Ivie or BLU) there is going to be a knob or set screw on one of the main large amplifiers that says "Perimeter" The Perimeter circuit is what transmits the chapel (and sometimes cultural hall) audio to the foyer, RS, Primary, and other rooms that are capable of receiving the chapel audio in that room. Additionally on the older systems (Non QSC) The Primary and RS Room will have it's own separate amplifier in the sound cabinet that controls the local audio for that room. Meaning when the switch is in Local Mic mode or RS room or Primary room depending on how it is labeled in the room, you can bump up the audio a bit on that separate amplifier, if the audio is already turned up to the max volume on the room switch. As the amplifiers age, sometimes audio levels will have to be bumped up. This is especially true for the amplifier that feeds the white/pink/static/masking noise to the speakers above the bishop's office door.

As for the new updated systems (QSC brand) those have a central amp that controls up to 8 zones, which needs to be adjusted by a professional and often times they may be able to log in remotely to do it. Don't try to mess with it yourself, you might screw things up even more.

Submit a FIR and be specific as to what you are having issues with.