And then there was sound

They're almost done.

There's nothing more frustrating than trying to speak to a crowd when the public address system isn't working.  The result can be shouting and sore throats, or worse, people who just can't hear the message that needs to be shared.  This has been an issue in this place for a number of years now.  In fact, even getting the right people to check it out was somewhat of a challenge but finally I managed a bit of persuasion.

Over the past few weeks, they discovered a few things:

• there are a series of cat walks in the attic of this building (that's a good thing, because it means that it's relatively easy to get to the wires that soar to the ceiling and then criss cross over the barel vault);
• some of the wiring that's here has been in place for more years than this author has been alive (that's not necessarily a bad thing, except in some cases where the ends of wire were left exposed and needed to be properly encased);
• four of the six speakers that were in place on the pillars were connected in series (the fact that two of the pairs were sharing a connection to the amplifier meant that the resistence was altered, resulting in less sound being created through the speakers);
• the two monitors which had been relatively recently installed had actually not lasted even two years (one of them had a blown woofer, and the other a blown tweeter, resulting in even less efficient speakers).

Over the past couple of weeks, bit by bit, all these challenges have been addressed.  All the wiring has been secured and is much more safe than it has been in quite some time.  As of today, the four larger speakers are hooked up and working and the two monitors that were *ehem* less than up to par, have been replaced with new speakers which are balanced and equalized with the other speakers.  All that's left is to install two more monitors and the job will be complete.

It's already immensely better than it has been in years, and the best part is that the message can now be proclaimed!