System for a gym

[Madhouse]

Hiya Everybody. New guy dropping in looking for advice on a situation you don't see everyday. My wife owns a competitive cheer gym and for either Christmas or her birthday early next year, I'd like to install a real sound system over the little portable boom box she uses today. The driving factors are:

1) Large space - the workout area itself is a good 50x50 with 25ft. ceilings
2) Harsh Environment - the workout area is not environmentally controlled...more of a large garage with a big heater than anything else. It can get pretty warm and humid in the summer.
3) Quantity over Quality - strange, I know. The music at competitions is more loud than anything. They are mixes of popular music that changes every 8 or 16 beats. There is a lot of techno and pop/dance riffs. Example: http://www.cheermusicmadness.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/premade1-14-230min.mp3
The stuff hurts my head (and my tastes), but it is what it is. What I am getting at is they like loud more than concert quality.
4) Employee's and Kids - so kids and employees don't have any investment into the business and think money grows on trees. Sooner or later (and probably sooner) someone is going to come in and crank dat stuff. I'd like to make sure that when they do, they don't blow apart the speakers.
5) I am okay with buying, but would much rather DIY the speakers. My workshop isn't high end, but I have the right stuff (table saw, router, clamps, wood glue, etc, etc). I think DIY would be more personable and I wouldn't be okay with decorating it in gym colors/logo's. My fear is getting the right kit/components.

I am hoping some of the good folks here can share some advice and input on receiver/amp (MP3 plug in required) and speakers for a bit of a noob (I haven't researched a new audio system in years).

Thanks, in advance, for the input.

[blackraven]

If you don't want to buy PA or Pro speakers take a look at Cerwin Vega, they are cheap, sound decent and play loud. Bic is another company that has inexpensive decent sounding speakers that play loud.

Parts express sells speaker kits but you will pay more in the long run.

diy speakers - Parts Express Ships Fast and Ships Free. (http://www.parts-express.com/Search.aspx?keyword=diy%20speakers&sitesearch=true)

For an amp consider Crown XLS

XLS DriveCore Series (http://www.crownaudio.com/usa/amplifiers/xls-drivecore.html)

[Mr Peabody]

I would really not recommend DIY unless you've built speakers before, a lot more goes into ti than putting drivers in a box, there's a science to port size, tuning to a frequency, crossover etc.

The most cost effective would be go to a musical instrument store and look in the DJ department, maybe use a powered mixer and some speakers, you can even buy the speakers that mount on poles. Brands like Yamaha Pro or Peavey would be good middle road, some of the other stuff like Gemini is cheap but you usually get what you pay for. Electro Voice & JBL is getting into the really good stuff. You want to find speakers with a sensitivity or "SPL" rating of over 100dB, on an amp the more power you can afford the better. Many of the budget Pro amps tend to exaggerate power output. You can probably find both speakers and amps with circuit breaker protection in case some one gets crazy with the volume.

The price of home gear would probably be as much or more so it's best to get the right gear for the job. If you want to look at home speaker check out Cerwin Vega, Klipsch or Zu Audio, all high efficiency, the Zu would be best for playing loud and clear but CV would have more bump. Maybe look at the Onkyo stereo receiver to see if it has the features you want.

[recoveryone]

I second the crown amps 2ch 200-400 watt and a pair of peavey speakers, get a used mixing board 6 or 12 channels. This will give you options on source input. from a ipod, cellphone, laptop to a CD deck. Going with stands is also good, it will allow you to be able flexable for room use.

[bfalls]

Check out Behringer on eBay. Also check out Parts Express on the Internet. Behringer seem to be pretty reasonable and capable of playing in multiple environments. Parts Express has a sound reinforcement section selling multiple brands including DIY kits.

[Madhouse]

lots of good info for me to digest and links to read up on - thanks all.

Sounds like DIY may be more complex than I thought although I knew it was more than a box. If I go that route, it would be kit based, not self design. Thanks all for the good input...I'll digest and read up more in the next day or so. Glad to know I have a great spot to ask questions!