We are trying to build a PA system on our speed venue, and I'm looking for a little advice. It would be used for an announcer and occasionally music.
Since our time and budget is very tight, I'd really like to avoid running extra wire/conduit if at all possible. Does anyone have experience running a PA through timing cable? We have a 50 conductor, 24 gauge cable running top to bottom and only use ten conductors for timing. My original plan was to run line level audio signal through the timing wire and use powered speakers. We have lots of 120v power available on the hill from our snowmaking system. However, I spoke with our local audio vendor and he told me that powered speakers wouldn't work in the cold temperatures/extreme weather and that we'd need to use a 70v distributed system powered by an amp at the bottom.
My question is, has anyone ran a 70v system through a timing cable successfully? I'm nervous about getting false starts/finishes or having a bad hum on the com line. Or, has anyone run line level signals with powered speakers successfully in the cold?
Thanks a lot for the help,
Zach
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