Your message was forwarded to me by one of our curators.  I manage exibits for the Arizona Historical Society.  1000 per is not outragious and it depends on exactly what you are getting for your money.  Is the vendor processing the audio for you or are you producing it?   We have used a company in Canada called Stop and Listen. You can get a heavy duty 4 minute digital repeater from them for under $500 with a button and small speaker.  It is really easy to load your audio content on to their unit using any analog audio source like a head phone connection from any cd  or taped player.
I am happy to discuss our other experiances with audio if you want to call me at 480-929-0292 ext 131 

>>> [log in to unmask] 08/08/02 09:57AM >>>
Greetings, museum folks:

We are planning 20 brief recordings for various exhibits in our museum.
The plan includes a digital recorder, speaker, and push-button to
activate the sound for each display.  The quote that we have is about
$1,000 per systen -- $20,000 total.   Seems too much to me.  Any other
suggestions?  What is working in your museum and at what cost?

Ron Fellows, Associate Director
Heritage of the Americas Museum

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