speakerphone advice. (looking at Avaya) Trying to deliver echo free audio to a hybrid school club in classroom for cheap

TashaTime · September 28, 2022

I've been trying to find the cheapest way to cover a classroom with speakers and microphones in a way that they don't echo. (when I tested using microphones and speakers I own that were separate there was a lot of echo) My understanding is putting a mic and a speaker on the same device makes the device know what to filter out. That is what draws me to these speaker phones. All I care about is being about to hook up the mic and speaker to my PC. We might use Discord or Zoom. Looking at used hardware. I found the Emeet m2 which seemed like it would work if I Daisy chained 2 together. But with 2 of them and the proprietary cable it could be over $100. I wanted to find something cheaper. I started looking at ip phones with USB connectivity. It having a phone built in is useless and makes it bulkier but they are cheaper. I found some old cisco phones and was happy with how cheap and long range... then I realized that could not be connected to a computer. I found a off brand Avaya that looks like a great deal if it will work. There isn't a ton of info out there on this brand. I know very little about IP phones. People talk about registering their phone. I hope that is only for other functionality I couldn't care less about like phone calls. I just need to connect it to a PC. It has a usb cable spot. I'm looking in to the AVAYA B189 IP Conference Phone Station it is much cheaper and offers good expansion (I can add on a head set and 2 extra mics).

Do I have to do anything weird to use it as an external PC mic and speaker in Discord? I don't have to register it right? (I don't care if the built in buttons control Discord) And I'm aware you power it with POE.
Are there any other really cheap speaker phones that can cover a whole classroom (a couple hundred square feet)? My budget is $50-$100 (USD). Or does anyone recommend something besides a speakerphone?

Bombastinator · September 28, 2022

With echoes you can pick a microphone type that can’t pickup the background, can do noise cancelation, or line the walls of your broadcast area so there is nothing for your mic to pick up. Sound insulation can be very cheap but then it is also very large. Lining a wall with blankets would be one. There’s also this stuff called blue fill that is best when used end grain first. Absorbs an amazing amount of sound. So you cut narrow chunks and stack them. It’s not pretty but it works well. Another weird sound absorbent material is that cheapass particle board used to make ikea stuff. Sound has a chance to be absorbed every time it hits a new material and that particle board is basically glued together sawdust. Lots of phase change areas inside a board. The stuff is one of the very top sound absorbers. Very acoustically dead. It’s why it gets used for speaker enclosures.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Bombastinator

TashaTime · September 28, 2022

Thanks for the help bombastinator. Putting a blanket over the back of the speaker so it would not get picked up by a microphone helped. I think the audio is not great but useable. I tried playing a video and talking over in like 20 feet away from the blue snowball ice mic and a bluetooth speaker I found around the house Rohs brand.. Booth seem to be omnidirectional. the video playing over the speaker really overpowered the microphone. Maybe I can boost the mic or turn down in software. I do think people in the back of the class will be hard to hear we will see. I still want to know if anyone has experience with speakerphones. Does anyone think the avaya would be an improvement. I was finding them used for like $30 or a little less. If that specific brand would works with PC. It might be worth it I'm not sure.