I am a bit ashamed to post this query in a group devoted to Professional
audio, but I couldn't find a rec.audio.duffer group, so here goes…

Once a year, on Halloween in our small village, the most public-spirited
family I know turns their house and yard into an extravaganza for the
kids in town. This couple has been at this for more than 20 years. Every
year, they pick a theme and turn their whole place into a mini-theme-
park for just three hours. Between 6:00 and 9:00 about 1500 kids and
their parents troop through. Last year's theme was The Wizard of Oz,
complete with a poured concrete Yellow Brick Road that we busted up and
hauled away the next day.

My wife and I have been volunteers in this endeavor for a decade. I've
wound up as the "sound guy." I'm responsible for ambient sounds at each
of the 10 or so "stations" along the scary tour. I spend a week or so
before the big event devising sound effects for each station along the
way. To deliver the results, I use half a dozen real cheap CD players I
bought at the local &BigBox store. I make a sfx track for each station
(mono) and burn pairs of them on CD's. The tracks on each CD are
independent of each other and each player drives speakers at two of the
stations. Which brings me to amplifiers…

I use a couple of trusty Dynaco 2x60W amps I built back when I still had
hair. I augment these with whatever I can scrounge. Since this is a
college town, I've made it a practice to drive around each Spring when
school closes and scan the curbs. I've picked up a number of useful
castoffs, but two of them burned up last Halloween, so I'm looking to
beef up the collection. Thanks to generous support by local merchants,
we actually have some money to spend if sufficient freebies can't be
found. Fidelity is a primary issue, but the ability to run a high level
for three hours straight without melting is.

Any suggestions? and oh yes, I'm not too comfortable with Ebay…

TIA

Jason

--
Reverse the username in my email address.

J Warren wrote:

I use a couple of trusty Dynaco 2x60W amps I built back when I still had
hair. I augment these with whatever I can scrounge. Since this is a
college town, I've made it a practice to drive around each Spring when
school closes and scan the curbs. I've picked up a number of useful
castoffs, but two of them burned up last Halloween, so I'm looking to
beef up the collection. Thanks to generous support by local merchants,
we actually have some money to spend if sufficient freebies can't be
found. Fidelity is a primary issue, but the ability to run a high level
for three hours straight without melting is.

Any suggestions? and oh yes, I'm not too comfortable with Ebay…

Go to your local installed sound company and ask if they have any
multizone paging amplifiers that they have pulled out of existing systems.

Toa and Altec both made amps with a bunch of discrete channels for
multizone paging. They sound okay, and they'll run for months on
end without melting. They all have 70V outputs, which I think you
will find to be a good thing for long cable runs.

Many of these amps are lying in closets and basements and many of them
are just not considered solid enough to use in new installs, but which
would be more than solid enough for your application.

If you have a Dyna ST120 that hasn't blown up, you're doing pretty well
already.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

In article ,
says...
Fidelity is NOT a primary issue, but the ability to run a high level
for three hours straight without melting is.

Scott Dorsey wrote:

Go to your local installed sound company and ask if they have any
multizone paging amplifiers that they have pulled out of existing systems.

Funny you say that... I don't know where the OP is located, but I have
probably 4 or so old Toa amps (mono, 30 watts) that have been sitting
around for quite some time. I won't ship, but if the OP is anywhere
near the san francisco bay area, email

Can't help with the distribution issues, but here's the world's best
ambient-scary-noise generation method ever:

Find a local talk-radio station - sports events are the best, and then run
it through a very, very long reverb - listening to just the wet signal.
Scary as hell and it never repeats itself.

my .02

dik

In article ,
says...
Can't help with the distribution issues, but here's the world's best
ambient-scary-noise generation method ever:

Find a local talk-radio station - sports events are the best, and then run
it through a very, very long reverb - listening to just the wet signal.
Scary as hell and it never repeats itself.

my .02

dik
What a cool idea! Thanks. My wife is a composer and has a synth. With
suitable post-processing/torture it's a good source, too.

Jason

In article ,
says...
Scott Dorsey wrote:

Go to your local installed sound company and ask if they have any
multizone paging amplifiers that they have pulled out of existing systems.

Funny you say that... I don't know where the OP is located, but I have
probably 4 or so old Toa amps (mono, 30 watts) that have been sitting
around for quite some time. I won't ship, but if the OP is anywhere
near the san francisco bay area, email

Drat! Wrong coast...

Jason

In article , says...

Go to your local installed sound company and ask if they have any
multizone paging amplifiers that they have pulled out of existing systems.

Toa and Altec both made amps with a bunch of discrete channels for
multizone paging. They sound okay, and they'll run for months on
end without melting. They all have 70V outputs, which I think you
will find to be a good thing for long cable runs.

Many of these amps are lying in closets and basements and many of them
are just not considered solid enough to use in new installs, but which
would be more than solid enough for your application.

If you have a Dyna ST120 that hasn't blown up, you're doing pretty well
already.
--scott

Thanks, Scott. I'll track that lead down.

Two ST120's - both still going strong 30 years later.

Jason

"Dik LeDoux" wrote in message
...
Can't help with the distribution issues, but here's the world's best
ambient-scary-noise generation method ever:

Find a local talk-radio station - sports events are the best, and then run
it through a very, very long reverb - listening to just the wet signal.
Scary as hell and it never repeats itself.

my .02

dik


LOL, cool idea!


--
John L Rice

"J Warren" wrote in message
.. .
In article ,
says...
Scott Dorsey wrote:

Go to your local installed sound company and ask if they have any
multizone paging amplifiers that they have pulled out of existing
systems.

Funny you say that... I don't know where the OP is located, but I have
probably 4 or so old Toa amps (mono, 30 watts) that have been sitting
around for quite some time. I won't ship, but if the OP is anywhere
near the san francisco bay area, email

Drat! Wrong coast...

Jason

sometimes Goodwill or Salvation Army stores have old electronic systems for
a few $ that can be modified. (an old 4 track might cover 4 stations).

the local 2-way repair shop that fixes the cop cars might have some old
siren/pa amps laying around... these will work on 12 volt batteries.

churches, schools, and bands are possible sources of loaner equipment.

In article ,
Dik LeDoux wrote:
Can't help with the distribution issues, but here's the world's best
ambient-scary-noise generation method ever:

Find a local talk-radio station - sports events are the best, and then run
it through a very, very long reverb - listening to just the wet signal.
Scary as hell and it never repeats itself.

This is an EXCELLENT idea! I worked on a film once where the music
track was someone playing a Bach solo piano piece, run through the
Triple Flanger preset on the Sony DPS V-77 set to about ten seconds,
and it was really creepy. I could see a voice being even creepier.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Dik LeDoux wrote:
Can't help with the distribution issues, but here's the world's best
ambient-scary-noise generation method ever:

Find a local talk-radio station - sports events are the best, and then
run
it through a very, very long reverb - listening to just the wet signal.
Scary as hell and it never repeats itself.

This is an EXCELLENT idea! I worked on a film once where the music
track was someone playing a Bach solo piano piece, run through the
Triple Flanger preset on the Sony DPS V-77 set to about ten seconds,
and it was really creepy. I could see a voice being even creepier.

Musical saws are also good. Almost anything you can do with a theremin, you
can also do with a musical saw, for a lot cheaper.

Peace,
Paul

Dik LeDoux wrote:
Can't help with the distribution issues, but here's the world's best
ambient-scary-noise generation method ever:

Find a local talk-radio station - sports events are the best, and
then run it through a very, very long reverb - listening to just the
wet signal. Scary as hell and it never repeats itself.

Hell...on most of those programs, the *dry* signal is scary enough....

jak

my .02

dik