QuestionWe have a chicken barn that is 224 ft x 78ft x 14 ft ceiling. We would like to put in a sound system so that music could be played as background music to keep the 25,000 chicks calm. What size system do we need? Wattage? etc. to use????
AnswerDo you have a sound meter? Can you tell me what the ambient noise level is during the times when you wish to have the chicken music going? And can you give the type of music that you are going to choose for the BGM system?
And, do you have some information about what spl (sound pressure level) is needed to match the chickens hearing acumen? According to this site:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultrynews/15890/music-used-to-calm-poultry-flock...
they prefer classical music or other genre that is smooth in sound level as opposed to rock which has loud spurts of music/spl.
Do you have a budget in mind? Have you seen such an installation used by other chicken farmers? Does your agency or group organization have any recommendations or white papers on the subject?
So far as a design of a system, here are some things to consider:
ONE: The amplification depends not only on the SPL you want to reach but the number and kinds of speakers you will be using.
TWO: The sensitivity ratings of the speakers being used is critical in determining the amplification needed.
THREE: The number of loudspeakers used will be important as it will determine how smoothly the sound is distributed around the chicken coop space. The more speakers employed the more smooth the sound will be distributed throughout.
FOUR: The space you have is very big; 245,000 cubic feet. The power from the amplifiers will not be trivial; you will need a big amplifier - or more than one.
FIVE: The ambient noise with that many chicks is probably quite high; maybe 85 to 95 db; so you need a system that will smoothly produce sounds over the top of that.
SIX: Let's assume you need loudspeaker units spaced every 25 linear feet from each other. You would need a total of 20 speaker units and they could be mounted in the ceiling, but better if they were hanging down to the 10 foot level.
SEVEN: They should be loudspeakers with wide dispersion characteristics and weather proof or water proof for the conditions of the barn.
EIGHT: Each speaker should have at least 10 watts being applied to it assuming the speakers are, let us say, 92db sensitivity. More power if they sensitivity is less than that.
NINE: Decisions would need to be made for amplifiers depending on the impedance ratings of the amp and the speakers. But, series parallel wiring would be okey. Or, you could go with 70v line feed and a big Public Address amplifier if desirable.
TEN: The above set of assumptions is only one target idea. Maybe it will give you some ideas of what to do. For example, you could go with much fewer speaker boxes and less power since it is not clear to me what the real requirements are.
CONCLUSION: Think this over, let me know the answers to the beginning questions or discussion relating to them and we can go another iteration. Sounds like an interesting project.
You can email me directly at: cleggsan at ieee dot org or send followup via allexperts.com.
