Mike Piano

[John Dewey]

I installed one Barcus-Berry mike from Piano Disc as part of an
installation. The piano was part of a new house whole house audio system
that a local stereo dealer put in. To give you an idea of the house the
living room was 1500 square feet with marble floor and one wall of floor to
ceiling windows overlooking the lake. The control center for the audio
system was about 150 feet from the piano and the stereo guys had to put a
small amplifier at the piano to get a signal to the control center.

The customer has not complained about the quality and the stereo guys said
it sounded nice through their system. I thought it sounded nice when I
played it in my shop but I am not a stereo connoisseur.

It is a very easy unit to install. The one major disadvantage I see to the
unit is that they say the battery life is about 1000 hours and you have to
open the unit to change batteries. I checked with Piano Disc who said they
checked with Barcus-Berry and you can not use an external power supply. In a
church situation I can see it getting left on all week and after a few weeks
the batteries are run down.

It looked to me like this unit was designed for a professional piano player
who would play on different pianos and want to take the mike with him.

John Dewey

snip

> I service a number of churches and they tend to have some
>"primitive" miking setups. Is the Barcus-Berry the way to go? What is out
>there, and what do those that know recommend?
>
>Terry Farrell
>Piano Tuning & Service
>Tampa, Florida
>mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com
>
>