Finishing Touches

Ever noticed that after purchasing a piece of new gear that you need some accessory you'd never thought of before? Even worse, you often have to lay out the bucks for that accessory without being sure that it's going to solve the problem at hand.

You can almost bet you'll need to spend extra dollars on accessories in two areas: computers and digital audio recorders. There seems to be an endless pit of peripherals that one needs to make these devices usable. Choosing the right accessory for the job can be a crapshoot. This column features some winning add-ons I've used recently to solve real world problems.

Let's start with computers. For audio, you must first get the sound in and out of the computer. This, of course, is easy enough in fixed installations, but laptops are another matter -- especially in the field. The need to be compact and highly portable rules out the larger speakers, amplifiers and mixers we normally use in fixed installations.

The search for portability led me to … the four-pound, briefcase-sized Audio Portable Buddy by AmpliVox Portable Sound Systems of Northbrook, IL. Designed to amplify multimedia presentations before an audience of a hundred or more, this bite-sized monitoring/PA system packs a robust 50-watt amplifier, three channel mixer and super clean circuitry in a 10 x 13 x 3.5-inch package.

The Audio Portable Buddy, with a 6 x 8-inch Jensen 2-way speaker, leaves in the dust those cheap multimedia sound systems sold in computer stores. It can work off nearly any voltage in the world or be run for 200 hours on ten D-cells (or a rechargeable battery pack). There are connectors to handle extra speakers, and the unit can be ordered with an optional internal wireless microphone receiver for mixing a live presentation with pre-recorded sound sources.

Priced at only $399 in its basic configuration, we found this AmpliVox product a real workhorse portable sound system that will find dozens of uses for anyone working with audio. It offers a lot of bang for the buck.

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(AmpliVox can be reached at (847) 498-9000 or through their web site is at www.ampli.com.)

(Frank Beacham is a New York City-based writer and producer. Visit his web site at: http://www.beacham.com. Mail: 163 Amsterdam Ave. #361, New York, NY 10023. E-mail: frank@beacham.com )

© 1999 by Frank Beacham