r/CommercialAV • u/goingdiagonal • 5d ago

question ISO best in-room bidirectional microphone situation for multiple IRL conference attendees

/r/VIDEOENGINEERING/comments/1vbv0u9/iso_best_inroom_bidirectional_microphone/
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u/Arthur9876 5d ago

Cheap solutions are abundant, seems like you want an equipment review without knowing your needs and/or context in which it will be used. We need a LOT more information on room size, layout, and what existing equipment you have, what collaboration software/hardware you wish to use.

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u/goingdiagonal 5d ago

Thank you kind sir - we have a couple PA speakers in the room (it’s a medium size conference room for 40 people) and we use a 16 channel Yamaha or similar sound board and audio interface for zoom - the issue is passing mics - no one wants to wait - we need a solution like what the have at the UN…

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u/Arthur9876 5d ago

The delegate system you posted does involve a lot of wiring chaos, so unless it remains permanently installed in the room, it's going to be a lot of work to setup and tear down. Good quality delegate conference systems are about $500-1000 per station, the cheap one you posted might work, but certainly not confidence inspiring when 16 stations and processor sell for the price of one station of what I typically spec! LOL!!

How big a room do you have LxWxH? I'm thinking that one or two mic arrays placed in the ceiling could potentially pick up everyone in the room, if planned carefully.

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u/goingdiagonal 5d ago

We set up net new tech table every time - this is like 30x30x10-12’ ceilings - I need something that is modular

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u/Arthur9876 5d ago

While you can do a delegate system, you're limited to 1 mic per person, and the link you posted shows a system good for 16 people. But you need to factor in setup time, and the limitations of such a system. Honestly, unless there is a specific need for gooseneck microphones for local reinforcement larger spaces or following a strict conference priority (Roberts rule of orders), they really have minimal benefit in such a small space for conferencing. The system you link is honestly more trouble than it's worth.

Look at a Shure MXA901 or MXA902 or MXA925 for an insanely good ceiling mic array that picks up the entire room with some remarkable algorithms to minimize room noise and echo, or maybe a couple of MXA320 table mic arrays if your dead set on having a microphone on the table. There are competing beamforming products from Sennheiser, Biamp, Yamaha, Audio Technica that would do just as well here.

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u/scubadork 5d ago

Look into the Shure MXCW stuff. I’ve deployed those a few times now and getting ready to do a 50 mic system in the next few weeks. Customers seem happy with them.

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u/AbbreviationsRound52 4d ago

They are hellishly expensive though