# Where to Purchase a fancy podium?



## gafftaper (Oct 18, 2007)

Hey there, the dean wants me to research a really fancy podium with the built in microphone and speaker and of course she wants the college logo across the front of it. Very expensive custom stuff. 

Any recommendations of where to shop?


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## soundlight (Oct 18, 2007)

Anchor audio is the company to buy from for those. Their site won't work for me right now, says that the server at the anchor audio site is taking too long to respond. If my memory serves me correctly, the Seville Lectern by Anchor Audio is the good one.

Oklahoma Sound also has some good ones:
http://www.oklahomasound.com/


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## Van (Oct 18, 2007)

Wow a really good podium can be very expensive. I remember working on one while at RA Reed I believe it was for the NBA drafts, it ran 5 figures. While I'm sure there are several places, including most "scenic Studio" < I bet TNP (?)> there in Seattle would build one a lot of times you can put together the specs and have a local cabinetry shop build one.


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## gafftaper (Oct 18, 2007)

Yeah I was originally thinking I would just get some nice wood and build it myself. Then the dean started talking about the built in sound system and the college logo on the front. So we are talking out of my league. 

Van do you mean Pacific Studio, PNTA's scenic shop? 

I was hoping to find something that is sort of "semi off the shelf" and not entirely custom made saving a few bucks.


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## soundlight (Oct 18, 2007)

I'd get this, and put the school's logo on the lower part.


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## Van (Oct 18, 2007)

No, not Pacific, although they might be able to do custom. I was thinking of these guys; http://www.tpnevents.com/ The Production networks.


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## gafftaper (Oct 18, 2007)

Thanks guys. That's a great start and I look brilliant coming up with this information so quickly. 

I'm told by the purchasing department that one of the options we have to consider is to have it custom built by the prison. Yep that's what I said. We have this deal up here where prisoners get training to build all kinds of things and state agencies are encouraged to purchase from the prison to support the program. All of the campus' large print jobs are done at the prison. On one hand it's a good program to help prisoners build some legitimate job skills. On the other hand it always sounds suspiciously like something they would do in China "for the good of the people".


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## avkid (Oct 18, 2007)

If you do get it custom built by finish carpenters make sure to put the holes for wire and such in the plans.
You will probably need to find a local shop with a CNC machine to carve the logo.


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## gafftaper (Oct 18, 2007)

It sounds like we might be able to get something custom built for significantly less. Design it with all the holes in the right place and then slide the sound system in myself later.


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## avkid (Oct 18, 2007)

Just be sure to dress all the wiring nicely so it blends in.


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## gafftaper (Oct 21, 2007)

Across the lobby from the new theater is new 4 story building of classrooms. Many of these classrooms are "mediated" meaning they are equipped with every electronic toy they can cram in one room all controlled from a teacher's podium. The podiums were custom built by a local cabinet shop and the prices were less than $1000 each. So I'm thinking a great solutions is to have them build something custom for us. Put a gooseneck on top with a xlr jack in the top of the podium, SM 57 and an 18" mic cable. If I want to use the house system, I can throw a wireless into the gooseneck and run it through the house system. Underneath the hood, we can design it so it'll fit something like a Mackie 350 or a JBL Eon 10 inside it and I'm ready to roll for under $2000.


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## avkid (Oct 21, 2007)

An SRM 350, are you crazy?
That would never fit into any podium I have ever seen.
Anchor has a nice lectern with a built in PA for around $1600
The speaker is arranged such that you can still mount a logo or decoration on the bottom.
http://www.seeoursound.com/anchor/lectern/seville.htm


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## gafftaper (Oct 22, 2007)

Mackie SRM 350: 13.1" w x 20.75" h x 12.25" d 32lbs
That should fit as long as the podium has hidden wheels to handle the weight. 

Perhaps you were thinking of big brother the SRM 450... there's no way one of those would fit.


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## avkid (Oct 22, 2007)

I know how big an SRM350 is, we just returned our rental units last week.
Still seems a bit large for the application.


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## gafftaper (Oct 23, 2007)

avkid said:


> I know how big an SRM350 is, we just returned our rental units last week.
> Still seems a bit large for the application.



I was throwing that and the Eon out as possibilities as a good sounding very simple system, there are certainly other options. I need to sit down with the cabinet guy and find out how much it would really cost to get it made vs. purchasing. From those earlier websites I can definitely get something nice in the $1600-$2000 range. The cabinet guy was building podiums that were much larger than I'm looking for at $1000. So if I can get something from him for less than a grand, the do it yourself system becomes a very interesting option. It could also be built with a little rack mount system in there instead of the big all in one.


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