Rogers 333 Olympic

[Guest]

My church has a Rogers 333 Olympic organ purchase around 1976 new.

We are looking to see if we can change from using the speakers that it currently run through and run it through the house sound system

Can anyone give insight into this?

We are also looking for a source to obtain the documentation manuals for this organ

Thank you

Dana

[toodles]

It is "Rodgers", not Rogers. It comes from the name of the founder of the company, Rodgers Jenkins.

While technically possible to run the audio through your sound system, it is not recommended. The bass requirements for an organ are significant and this might cause distortion or out-of-balance sound with the house sound system.

Incidentally, the 333 is actually designed as a Theatre Organ rather than a classical model.

If you send me a PM (private message) with your email address and can email the technical manual for this model.

[Melos Antropon]

I add my agreement to the post from Toodles. Running an organ through the church's PA system almost always results in a sound that varies from "unacceptable" to outright "unpleasant".

Tony

[Eric Mack]

While I don't disagree with Toodles, I do want to share another perspective and experience.

Last year, we did just this -- we routed the audio out of a Rodgers 925 Organ into the house sound system. This required mixing down the audio channels to two, feeding them through DI boxes up to the mixer console. At the mixer, the frequencies were split and sent to the various speakers as independent channels throughout the building including dedicated bass channels at floor level. The result, for us, is much better than the existing speakers that were were showing their age and mounted above the ceiling.

More important -- and this is what I want to share -- it was not about replacing bad speakers, it was about keeping the organ in the service.

The chief complaint, apart from sound quality was sound levels. Our organ will frequently accompany the orchestra, yet as a stand-alone instrument it was a constant challenge to get the sound levels to balance - often the orchestra would wash out the organist who would play louder (because she could not hear) or the sound team would wash out the organ. It was a challenging situation for everyone. As a result, there was opposition to the organ from the sound team. I learned of this and met with each lead sound technician on the sound team to learn what their concerns were. I then met with the organist to learn what her concerns were (mostly, that she could not hear herself play or see the conductor). Then, I met with a organ service tech to do a test with the house audio system. I installed the audio to the mixer and added a video monitor at the console so the organist can see the conductor.

The results were a significant improvement in sound quality. More important, it brought support from the sound team. As a result, we see the organ used more, not less.

Is this a perfect solution, no. However, it cost very little to do and the alternative was to see the organ fall into disuse. I think it was our best option.

My next mission is to encourage additional training in registrations so that we can really have the organ shine. As an organ enthusiast who loves the organ but does not yet play. I want to help promote the organ and encourage its use for future generations..

Eric Mack
www.ThisOld340.com