Tiffin University uses Amplivox S350 Adjustable Executive Height Lectern for Retirement Presentation

See how easily our Amplivox Sound Systems S350 Lectern with Built in Sound system is to use for multiple people in a presentation. Easily set up and be heard loud and clear no matter who speaks!

This is a retirement presentation held at Tiffin University in Feb of 2009 using our S350 Adjustable Height Lectern.

Click here to see a new blog post showing Amplivox lectern product demonstration videos!

The Name Game

Naming something is always a challenge isn't it? A pet, a child, a product, a plant....these are all very important times in your life to bestow a name or brand and create an image. I know, naming a plant isn't really that big of a deal, but my college roomate took it quite seriously.

What about naming a product to sell in the market? You have a lot of factors to consider such as marketing research, what the product does, what your competition is doing, and Google. Google, now being one of the biggest factors as we are discovering. We have been developing new products and updating some older ones over the past year and with this comes the name game. We have been naming products according to their predecessors and what the product does, which isn't necessairly good for Google searches, keywords and adwords. So the ultimate question is, do we change the name a little according to google keyword searches or do we keep it the same because its been on the market for a year and has a little recognition?

Stay tuned for the results...

Remote Control PA System -Remote Has Access to Many Functions

Ever work with a PA System and have to run up in the middle of a presentation because something went wrong, or because the person speaking just wasn't loud enough? Well Amplivox went the extra mile and created a Portable PA System with A... Remote Control! Extremely rare in portable pa systems and even installed sound systems our remote controlled Digital Audio Travel Partner Portable PA System is Remote Controlled so you don't loose your sanity when you just can't hear that expensive motivational speaker you just hired or that music group that's traveled across the world! Where the competition leaves off the Digital Audio Travel Partner picks up. It uses an integrated digital preamp to provide full function control and crystal clear sound with equalizer, voice ducking and many other features! You can modify volume levels for each channel, switch CD Tracks and change the Equalizer levels all from the comfort of your seat. And it won't matter where you're sitting either! We have installed IR Sensors on the front and back so that the line of sight will never be interrupted. Add the 250 watt amplifier, long life rechargeable batteries and wireless Mic included standard in this PA System and it simply can't be beat for value!

It recently was included in Top 10 List for new products!

Funnel in Traffic

Do you remember seeing those giant coin funnels in the mall where you put in a coin and you get to see it roll around and around the funnel slowly getting faster before it drops in the hole to be lost for good? Well getting website traffic is a lot like that funnel, only all the things that you put in the coin slot (search engines, blogs, press releases etc.) don't merely go straight to the bottom, they create a cumulative effect that multiplies your efforts. This is why its important to have a multiple armed marketing strategy so that your products and services can be found by as many people as possible.

This is how it works. Lets take search engines to begin with since they seem to drive the most traffic to our websites. Search engines LOVE links. What provides these links, and increases your search engine ranking? Blogs, Press Releases, Article Marketing, Advertising in online forums, dealers, Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Friendfeed, Yahoo Meme, etc.) and much more. Now each of these can be optimized, and improve how much they affect your search engine rankings, but the cumulative effect is much greater than if you just went based on one or two of them alone.

So its clear that Search Engines will drive more traffic if you have links in other types of media, but what about blogs? How can they benefit the volume of website traffic? Did you know Blogs can drive traffic to your website? Having a clear link structure designed in the same template as your website can make it easy for customers to get where they want to in your site! How can you drive traffic to your site more effectively with blogs? Make your content relevant! Search Engines drive traffic to blog that are relevant to people's needs and blogs drive traffic to your site. Mention your blog in your press releases, and advertising and if they find what they are reading interesting they will look for more information at your blog, and then click to visit your webpage. Dealers as well might like to visit the blog to find out what products your offering that might sell best to customers, or they may even find better ways to sell your products by looking at your blog. All this adds up and results in more traffic, and more sales for you.

The same thing is true for each area mentioned. They all feed into one another and the more each of these avenues are utilized the better the cumulative effect. The Lesson to learn from this? Make sure your marketing staff isn't forgetting any of these areas, or you'll be missing out on more than you think.

PA System Extended Battery Life Always Matters To Us

Battery Life seems to be something our competitors have forgotten. As long as it lasts long enough for one event seems to be their mantra. Not us here at Amplivox though! We have engineered our products to consume the smallest amount of power possible without compromising sound. Our SW805A Amplifier has the best battery consumption of any PA Amplifier in the industry with 200+ hours of operation with 10 D-Cell Batteries. When it comes to rechargeable batteries of course the battery life is dramatically lessened, but we have made great strides at increasing the battery life of our rechargeable systems.
Most notable is that our Digital Audio Travel Partner runs 30 hours on a rechargeable battery. For a 250 Watt PA System to last 30 hours on one battery charge is simply unheard of. Even more astounding is the fact that it has a digital preamp, and a wide array of features and yet it still out performs other systems.

How does it do this? It is designed with a Class D Amplifier that dramatically increases its efficiency. Because of this higher efficiency, no large heatsinks and transformers are needed which corresponds to a lowering of product weight as well. A class D Amplifier works in this way...
"The input signal is converted to a sequence of pulses whose averaged value is directly proportional to the instantaneous amplitude of the signal. The frequency of the pulses is typically ten or more times the highest frequency of interest in the input signal. The output of such an amplifier contains unwanted spectral components (that is, the pulse frequency and its harmonics) which must be removed by a passive filter. The resulting filtered signal is then an amplified replica of the input." (See wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_B_amplifier#Class_B_and_AB). Our circuitry is designed with high quality sound and drastically reduced power consumption in mind.

Our amplifier uses a pulse width modulatation scheme, but with many Improvements over most of the class D implementations. These include...
-All of the power converters are synchonized. This prevents beat frequencies and noise from getting into the system.
-The ramp generator for the PWM is extremely linear reducing distortion.
-The control loop is designed to operate in a closed loop mode for low frequencies where there is the most signal power and highest likelyhood for distortion and then it shifts to an open loop mode at high frequencies. At high frequencies, the distortion components wind up outside of the human hearing range and the signal power is lower.


Before you find yourself frustrated with a competitor's product running out of power at the end of their presentation, consider Amplivox as your source for Portable PA Systems.

VHF vs UHF wireless - Which to buy for your needs?

Here at AmpliVox we sell both UHF and VHF wireless systems. A lot of our customers ask which is best for their setup. Here are some factors to consider when purchasing a wireless sound system and spending your dollar wisely. Factors to include are: where the systems will be used, how they will be used, and for what purpose or application. Other factors, such as whether the equipment will be used in many different cities, may also be important.

UHF wireless systems always cost more than similar VHF wireless systems. The extra cost of UHF equipment is due to the necessity of using more expensive ultra-high-frequency parts, the greater total number of parts required and the need for more expensive construction techniques. Other manufacturing costs are also higher, especially the amount of time required to adjust the equipment and verify its performance. While the cost difference between UHF and VHF equipment has been declining, it is unlikely to disappear.

If the wireless equipment will be used in different cities, VHF systems operating on the special frequencies in the 169-172 MHz range will be a good economical choice (applicable in U.S. and Canada). However, these frequencies, which are sometimes referred to as "traveling frequencies," are very popular, and are not a good choice for situations where large numbers of wireless systems are likely to be present, such as at trade shows and expositions. In such situations, frequency-agile UHF systems will be a better choice.

If the wireless equipment will be used in situations where several other wireless systems are likely to be present, UHF systems are recommended. This is because more frequencies are available, reducing the chances of interference. Such as a trade show or conference.

Wireless mic systems generally operate in several bands from 150MHz to 216MHz, which includes the VHF TV channels 7 through 13, or in the 470MHz to 806MHz UHF band (TV channels 14 through 69). TV channels 60 to 69 (746 to 806MHz) are being re-allocated, as of the date of this writing, for other applications. In addition, the band from 470 to about 516MHz is also being re-allocated for public safety applications. The demand for more spectrum usage is increasing while the available spectrum for wireless microphones is decreasing. Above the TV band is another part of the UHF spectrum from 902 to 928MHz. This upper UHF band is a "general purpose" band being used by a multitude of different applications ranging from garage door openers and amateur radio, to home-use cordless telephones. Generally speaking, the 902 to 928Mhz band is not a good choice for wireless microphone systems, especially for professional use in traveling applications. Interference is virtually guaranteed in this band. So again, it is unreasonable to assume that UHF is better by default.

Simply put, UHF systems do not hold any large technical advantage over otherwise similar VHF systems. The primary advantage of UHF operation is that there is less chance of interference because of more available frequency spectrum.

http://www.ampli.com/microphones.htm

Information from: Audio Technica, Sweetwater, Wikipedia

Importance of Audience Coverage with your speakers

Have you ever been to an event where you sat in the back or on the side and couldn't hear the presentation? Or you were so far away there was a delay? These issues are easily solved with using the proper speakers set at the proper angle for complete audience coverage. We have a white paper on our website that goes into this a bit more and you can find that here, http://www.ampli.com/pdf/Amplivox_Wireless.pdf

Our SW124 Ampli-Pod Podium PA is a great exapmle of a built in solution to this problem. Project crisp, clear, rich and intelligible sound with our Omni Speakers unique 180º Sound Coverage! http://www.ampli.com/SW124.htm

Close up of speakers set at an angle. These speakers are set at an angle to overlap and broadcast over 180 degree coverage.

Neodymium Speakers mean Lighter Weight PA Systems

Best Weight to Sound Output Ratio In The Industry!

In response to complaints about heavy cumbersome so called Portable sound systems, Amplivox has designed our new Digital Audio Travel Partner with weight in mind. However most smaller PA Systems sacrifice quality of sound for the lower weight, and skimp on the quality of the speakers, the power of the amplifier and the durability of the product. Amplivox has not taken this low road, but has ensured that the the Digital Audio Travel Partner has great sounding speakers, a powerful amplifier and an incredibly rugged enclosure. In fact our Digital Audio Travel Partner has the best sound output to weight ratio in the entire industry!

How did we accomplish this task? Well there are many design features that made this sound output to weight ratio possible, but one in particular stands out as a great innovation in the industry. Amplivox Sound Systems has incorporated the latest technology with its lightweight 6"neodymium speakers. Neodymium is a rare earth metal often used in magnets, cryocoolers and welding hoods, and thankfully neodymium magnets are the strongest permanent magnets known (Read More About Neodymium Here). Neodymium magnets are very strong relative to their mass as well holding more than 1300 times their own weight (Read More about Neodymium Magnets Here). With the use of this extremely strong magnet in our speaker design the Digital Audio Travel Partner can get better sound projection with lighter weight magnets, which means less back strain and more sound. Usually the larger and heavier the magnet the better the speaker is, but with neodymium magnets we can compress all that power into a much smaller more powerful package.

Digital Audio Travel Partner Top 10 Product!

AmpliVox is pleased to announce its TOP 10 ranking for the SW915, Digital Audio Travel Partner, from American School & University Magazine in the December 2008 issue.

http://www.ampli.com/pdf/AmericanSchoolUniversity12-2008.pdf


Digital Audio System AmpliVox Sound Systems
The SW915 Digital Audio Travel Partner is a portable public-address system with remote control, built-in echo/reverb and talk over with enough power to cover audiences up to 7,500 people and rooms as big as 25,000 square feet. It includes a UHF 8-channel diversity internal wireless receiver, a CD/RW MP3 disc player with pitch control and USB input with choice of mic: handheld, headset, collar, or lapel and transmitter.
Select RSN number 159 for more information at freeproductinfo.net/asu.

Come and see for yourself why this product is so great. http://www.ampli.com/sw915.htm

http://asumag.com/Maintenance/top_10_products_2008_1208/

Search Engines and Customers Alike Eat Up Web Crumbs

These days companies across the globe are trying all kinds of tactics to get an edge on the competition in the world wide web. Search Engine Optimization competes with Marketing strategies for design features, code volume and screen space. Whether your goal is to drive more traffic to your website, or get customers to stick around longer and buy more stuff we've found a great way to satisfy that goal.

The answer is Web Crumbs. This is a throw back to your childhood and the story of Hansel and Gretel! No Joke! As you recall from this childhood tale, Hansel and Gretel leave behind bread crumbs as they venture into the forest so that they can find their way out, but they get detained by a hungry woman in a quaint gingerbread house. Well when it comes to the web we too want to leave breadcrumbs for the customer to find their way back where they came from. The solution is web Crumbs. These great little features can be utilized in several different ways, but I want to share with you how they will help both consumer and webmaster alike.

First... Why implement this on your website, and why did we implement them on ours? Here are a few reasons...

• Customers can find their way back to other pages with one click so that they can go on to purchase other products or find one that better suits their needs
• Browsing gets complex! When dealing with as few as 10 products, categories need to be introduced to make it easier for the customer to find what they are looking for, and web crumbs allow the user to navigate back and forth within these categories.

Its also great for search engines because...

• Search Engines can navigate your site and figure out what the category structure is more easily and therefore drive more customers and more importantly the right type of customers to your site.
• The most important category pages get the most links from other pages so your not watering down your highest ranked pages down with 10's, 100's or 1000's of product pages that have the exact same relevancy to search engines.

• Its easy (and important) to include keyword rich text in the links because they must be short and simple.

So what do web crumbs look like? There are several varieties, but here are the two most common...
Home -> Top Category -> Second Category -> Product

The Second Type generally has a more extensive listing of the site...
Matthew Ricci Gives these Recommendations for implementing web crumbs regardless of what method...

• Incorporate breadcrumbs into online catalogs
• Checkout catalogs
• Have keyword-rich anchor text
• Limit the number of crumbs to 6 or fewer (In the second example this would mean greater than 4 layers)
• Avoid use of abbreviations
• Capitalize the first letter of each word
• Use full title when it is short
• Titles must be short

See His EZine Article Here

See how our new template design and addition of web crumbs has made finding products at Amplivox Portable Sound Systems (Click to See Visit our Website) easier to find!

Click below to see our websites new design and our...

1. Implementation of Web Crumbs
2. Mouse over Product information which keeps things easy to find, and details easily within reach
3. Smaller Images with Short Description so you don't have too much to read to find what your looking for and can search for products at a glance!