15 people able to hear and speak clearly from anywhere in a conference room? It's a lot harder than you think. For participants, poor sound quality "gets in the way"; good sound "just works." And a single piece of (expensive) office videoconferencing hardware is only a small part of the goal of minimizing distracting ambient noises and maximizing intelligible speech.

As you've discovered, sound quality is the hardest aspect of making video conferencing a good experience for speakers and listeners on both sides of the video link. It's easy to jack in a big-screen TV to a laptop for viewers at the back of the room. But the quality of the sound is shaped by the interplay of acoustics in both rooms. Reverberation within both conference rooms as well as noise captured by the microphones lead to poor sound quality.

Here's what you're up against: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/telepresence/endpoint/misc/u...

So the solution to the problem is not a better piece of office conferencing equipment, and it's not DIY acoustics management - it's a sound professional who has the skills necessary to tailor a solution for your specific office environment.

Large corporations hire an audio design consultant. But for your budget, ask an experienced local sound technician--someone who works with natural sound for a living--to come by and offer their advice. Inspect the office location together and review with him/her the specifics of how you intend to use the space. A good soundie will: consider all the factors that shape the room's acoustics, including floor, wall, ceiling dimensions and materials; evaluate all sources of ambient noise; decide on choice and placement of wired/wireless mic(s) and speakers, an inexpensive (automatic) mixer. Sound recording pros - whether on an indie movie set or at a local radio station - routinely make the best use of the available budget; an experienced soundie will get you better sound, usually for less money, often with a mix of more creative solutions that can include inexpensive, low-tech sound modifiers for the room's acoustics.