AV News 196 - May 2014
A Q u a rt in to a P in t P o t
Jim McCormick DPAGB
There's an old saying that "you can't put a quart into a pint pot", for the benefit
of those younger than me, a quart was 'a quarter of a gallon', therefore the
measure equated to 'two pints'. I'm not even going to try and explain what a pint
is, or for that matter, a gallon, but all this talk about the convenience of small
speakers, 'Music Angel Friendz' for instance, brought a smile to my face.
During the 80's I tried every conceivable way to reduce the amount of
equipment I had to take with me when giving a show. At one point I used two
Leitz Pradovit projectors, a Yamaha multi track cassette recorder, an Imatronic
synchroniser, an integrated amplifier, a pair of large speakers, stands for the
speakers, a heavy stand for the equipment, a bag of assorted cables, projection
screen and of course my slides and tapes. It weighed a ton.
During the 90's I progressed to a 'Royale' system, speakers, stands, screen,
slides and tapes, it was less equipment but still heavy.
2003 I went digital with a laptop, digital projector, active speakers, screen,
stands and another bag of cables, but no slides or tapes. It was a lot lighter, but
still bulky. My quest to reduce the bulk continued.
It's now 2014 and I think I've cracked it, or until they change the technology.
To-day all of my important equipment (laptop, projector and speakers etc.) fits
into a flight case sized: 18 inches x 13 inches x 6 inches, sorry I should have
said, 46 cm x 33 cm x 15 cm.
It consists of a 12" Samsung laptop, (good spec. with dedicated graphics and
external
sound
card), used with the
lid down it gives me
7 hours of battery
life, so no need for a
transformer.
My projector is an
OPTOMA EW330e
measuring 8" x 6" x
2.5" (inches) with a
resolution of 1280 x
800 pixels, as I'm a
3x2 format man my
photos are projected
at 1200x800 pixels.
The projector might seem small in size, but it certainly punches well above
its weight.
The speakers are a pair of British made ' Minirig' speakers, constructed from
solid aluminium tubing, they contain rechargeable batteries, which last 20 hours
per charge. Each has its own amplifier delivering 15 watts, which is slightly
better than the Music Angels at 2x3 watts, but they do cost a wee bit more.
(For further details see www.minirigs.co.uk).
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