Joined Dec 2003
L4: Apprentice
Forum Thread
Need to purchase reasonably priced equipment to run virtual meetings in a large conference room
March 29, 2022 at
01:33 PM
Hi, I am a tenant in a commercial space and a few times a month, I need to have Zoom meetings for group of about 20-40 in person and about the same amount calling in on Zoom. The problem I have is the room is very large and I am running it with my laptop with an external webcam mounted on a camera tripod.
The results are people who speak in the room can't be heard by the people on Zoom because the mic is integrated into the webcam and when people on Zoom speak, they can't be heard by people on the far ends of the conference room because the sound is coming off my computer speakers in the front of the room.
I am limited on where I can put my laptop because the ceiling mounted projector (so people in the room can see the Zoom on the screen) is connected via HDMI cable that only has about 6 feet of play.
I am requested your input/recommendation to an affordable solution in the $200- $250 range to fix resolve these issues The room does have a strong wifi signal.
Thanks
The results are people who speak in the room can't be heard by the people on Zoom because the mic is integrated into the webcam and when people on Zoom speak, they can't be heard by people on the far ends of the conference room because the sound is coming off my computer speakers in the front of the room.
I am limited on where I can put my laptop because the ceiling mounted projector (so people in the room can see the Zoom on the screen) is connected via HDMI cable that only has about 6 feet of play.
I am requested your input/recommendation to an affordable solution in the $200- $250 range to fix resolve these issues The room does have a strong wifi signal.
Thanks
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this is 9 bucks
https://www.amazon.com/Extension-...r=1-4&th=1
you need probably one or even two of these speakerphones
https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Spea...r=1-1&th=1
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71O+sdT4Q0L._AC_SL1500_.jpg
There is no miracle answer that can change the rules of acoustics at a low cost.
When I've attempted things along those lines many years ago I wasn't very successful.
I did notice a speakerphone product on amazon that has two units that are connected by a long cable. I'd trust the Anker brand more, but interesting.
When I've attempted things along those lines many years ago I wasn't very successful.
I did notice a speakerphone product on amazon that has two units that are connected by a long cable. I'd trust the Anker brand more, but interesting.
Do you have a link to that product?
I'm not recommending or endorsing this
I also saw this https://www.amazon.com/Portable-B...083XYYFLQ/ which can also be daisy chained but is much more expensive. Again IDK if it's any good. There's also stuff like this but it's a gamble https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DYGX1E8/
You're dealing with a relatively large room. It's going to be challenging, but almost anything is likely an improvement. With some third party software you might be able to combine multiple usb or bluetooth mics into a virtual microphone you can point zoom or other video conf software to. Something to research. It's going to take a decent amount of research and trial and error to figure out what's going to work for you.
The Polycom Poly 40 or Poly 60 allow you to pair two units together wirelessly according to the website. The Anker PowerConf S500 also supports pairing 2 units ($440 for a pair), the other Anker models don't https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08W24YDSC/ https://us.ankerwork.co
I'm not sure your budget is that realistic if you really want to mic the whole room and have 40 people in person participating, but again almost anything would be an improvement.
Another option is the used market: ebay, thrift stores, specialty confinement / pawn shops. Audio systems for conference rooms are the sort of thing big companies spend a lot on and sometimes rip out and replace without a lot of reason. They treat IP phones similarly.
As a "low tech" (lol) solution you could conference a few iphones on the table on speakerphone together and call into the zoom meeting.
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However it would take a bit of work to be able to interface something like this with a computer running zoom (either with a functional voip phone line or a SIP server and some other software). Who knows what kind of shape the batteries on those microphones are in or how easy they would be to replace. If you have an IT dept at your disposal, this likely one of the cheaper options.
for what op wants to do, the best solution is a ceiling microphone array with a receiver. no idea the cost. i think most conference room speakerphone bases only support 2 external mics.
we have sets of older polycon "starfish" that have a speakerphone base with 2 puck mics (w/ mute buttons). you can cover a decent conference room with 1 (10x25). i'm not sure the viability of using multiples since you'd likely run into the echo/feedback problem.
for what op wants to do, the best solution is a ceiling microphone array with a receiver. no idea the cost. i think most conference room speakerphone bases only support 2 external mics.
It's a pretty big room that may have a pretty tall ceiling which could make anything ceiling mounted challenging.
Acoustically it sounds like a challenging space, especially on a low budget. However, compared to using the mic built into a webcam almost anything's an improvement.
I'm not recommending or endorsing this
I also saw this https://www.amazon.com/Portable-B...083XYYFLQ/ which can also be daisy chained but is much more expensive. Again IDK if it's any good. There's also stuff like this but it's a gamble https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DYGX1E8/
You're dealing with a relatively large room. It's going to be challenging, but almost anything is likely an improvement. With some third party software you might be able to combine multiple usb or bluetooth mics into a virtual microphone you can point zoom or other video conf software to. Something to research. It's going to take a decent amount of research and trial and error to figure out what's going to work for you.
The Polycom Poly 40 or Poly 60 allow you to pair two units together wirelessly according to the website. The Anker PowerConf S500 also supports pairing 2 units ($440 for a pair), the other Anker models don't https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08W24YDSC/ https://us.ankerwork.co
I'm not sure your budget is that realistic if you really want to mic the whole room and have 40 people in person participating, but again almost anything would be an improvement.
Another option is the used market: ebay, thrift stores, specialty confinement / pawn shops. Audio systems for conference rooms are the sort of thing big companies spend a lot on and sometimes rip out and replace without a lot of reason. They treat IP phones similarly.
As a "low tech" (lol) solution you could conference a few iphones on the table on speakerphone together and call into the zoom meeting.
Just to follow up, I went with jkee's suggestion and tried the Luna 2 speakerphone system.
I hooked them up to my laptop via Bluetooth and set the Zoom speaker and mic to one of Luna speakerphones (only one connected on BT but the 2 speakerphones are connected together with a long cable).
It worked out really good and I could mute the mic through my laptop.