ProSoundWeb Community

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: [1] 2 3 4   Go Down

Author Topic: PA-a misnomer?  (Read 7024 times)

_______

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 168
PA-a misnomer?
« on: January 08, 2008, 02:03:26 PM »

Back in the day I was taught that a concert sound system should not be referred to as a "PA".  A PA, my distinguised instructor stated, is a system used purely to address the public (think back to announcements made by your elementary school principal).

Problems tend to arise for me, however, when I describe my "sound system".  People immediately start asking me to help them with their car stereos and home theaters.  If I say "PA", folks generally know what I'm talking about.

Am I splitting hairs here, or should I stick to my pedantic guns?

-Matt
Logged

Tony "T" Tissot

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3902
    • http://www.4dbsound.com
Re: PA-a misnomer?
« Reply #1 on: January 08, 2008, 02:14:56 PM »

Matthew Whitman wrote on Tue, 08 January 2008 11:03



Am I splitting hairs here, or should I stick to my pedantic guns?

-Matt


Call it whatever the person hiring wants to call it!
Logged
MNGS
ProSoundWeb - Home of 50,000 audio professionals - and two or three curmudgeonly SOBs.

Dave Dermont

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2011
    • http://www.geocities.com/livesound101/
Re: PA-a misnomer?
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2008, 02:29:36 PM »

Yeah,

...I have given up trying to get people to stop calling a lectern a podium.

I call them "PA Systems", but the PA stands for "Performance Audio".
Logged
Dave Dermont - Chief Lizard, LAB Lounge

WARNING: Dates In Calendar May Be Closer Than They Appear

Brad Weber

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2476
Re: PA-a misnomer?
« Reply #3 on: January 08, 2008, 03:31:17 PM »

How about sound reinforcement or performance sound?  Those seem to be appropriate for systems related primarily to live performances.
Logged
Brad Weber
muse Audio Video

eric (e.t.) torgerson

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 346
    • http://www.et-av.com
Re: PA-a misnomer?
« Reply #4 on: January 08, 2008, 03:42:04 PM »

I've taken to calling them SR, Sound Reinforcement systems just like the graphic up there in the corner, but still get a lot of calls from folks wanting their car-stereo installed.
Logged

Bennett Prescott

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8924
    • http://www.adraudio.com
Re: PA-a misnomer?
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2008, 04:15:54 PM »

If this is what keeps you up at night, you must live a wonderful life.
Logged
-- Bennett Prescott
Director of North American Sales
ADRaudio d.o.o.
Cell: (518) 488-7190

"Give me 6dB and I shall move the world." -Archimedes

John Roberts {JR}

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 0
Re: PA-a misnomer?
« Reply #6 on: January 08, 2008, 04:16:24 PM »

Dave Dermont wrote on Tue, 08 January 2008 13:29

Yeah,

...I have given up trying to get people to stop calling a lectern a podium.

I call them "PA Systems", but the PA stands for "Performance Audio".


I believe PA stands for "Public Address" , while SR "Sound Reinforcement" is more inclusive covering speech and music. PA generally connotes a speech bandwidth system, but I doubt these are hard and fast definitions.

JR
Logged
 https://www.resotune.com/


Tune it, or don't play it...
-----

SteveKirby

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2102
Re: PA-a misnomer?
« Reply #7 on: January 08, 2008, 04:54:16 PM »

When I have room for multiple sylables (or am talking to someone who might understand) I saw sound reinforcement.  Otherwise I say PA.  SR could mean too many other things, so I only use it when I'm sure the receiver knows what I'm talking about.

In the old days, PA was all we had.  University horns and Bogen amplifiers.  Unless you were really big time, then you had some Altec A7s and the rest of a cinema system.
Logged

_______

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 168
Re: PA-a misnomer?
« Reply #8 on: January 08, 2008, 05:59:27 PM »

Quote:

If this is what keeps you up at night, you must live a wonderful life.


I do live a wonderful life.  However, it isn't acronyms that keep me awake, but rather the pitter-patter of invisible gremlins as they scamper across the ceiling.

-MW
Logged

Collin Donohue

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 507
Re: PA-a misnomer?
« Reply #9 on: January 08, 2008, 08:54:33 PM »

Matthew Whitman wrote on Tue, 08 January 2008 16:59

Quote:

If this is what keeps you up at night, you must live a wonderful life.


I do live a wonderful life.  However, it isn't acronyms that keep me awake, but rather the pitter-patter of invisible gremlins as they scamper across the ceiling.

-MW


Even though PA for me stands for a system designed only for voice and muzak, my clients call any reenforcement system I bring in a PA, so that's what I call it.

The gremlin that keeps me awake at night isn't invisible.  She's about 30 inches long and about 20 pounds, has some really loud lungs and an insatiable hunger for pureed apples mixed with sweet potatoes.  She also has an uncanny ability to make all of my money disappear.   Sad   But she makes me smile, so it matters not.
Logged
Pages: [1] 2 3 4   Go Up
 

Site Hosted By Ashdown Technologies, Inc.

Page created in 0.022 seconds with 18 queries.