Small primary school has a terrible PA system. Now they try to broadcast the school choir singing for 5 min each morning before school start as a signal starting time is nearly there. It is a very good idea. But it sounds awful. Probably/Possibly poor recordings in the beginning and then almost certainly poor PA system. Knowing I could do a better job of 'broadcasting' sound from my pc with Audacity and typical desktop speakers I imagine that it'd be fairly easy and inexpensive to give this school a better system, either overall or an an enhancement or modication to the existing. I wonder if there are people on these forums with the expertise to give me some advice on this, some suggestions as to what might work, what might be a good way to go?
What do you think is the main cause of poor quality sound on the public address system, the speakers or the amplifier?. Sounds like the amplifier is too small and they are forced to overdrive it?. In such a case the solution is simple, an amplifier with more watts, and if you want you may hook it to your soundcard. Note, however, that "more watts" could easily be twice or quad your present spec, human ear is logarithmic and doubling the output can be a surprisingly small improvement. Of course, first check the power handling and impedance of the loudspeakers after deciding on a new amplifier. There should be a plate stuck to the devices with these specs. An interim solution for scarce power: turn down the bass control. Sacrificing the bass sounds enables you to increase the power in the spectrum where most intelligence resides without clipping the audio. On the other hand, if you suspect the speakers status, try to borrow another amplifier to test them.
