Outdoor PA...

[Light Console]

Hi all,

Almost time for the village May Fayre, for which I run the PA. I have been involved with this event for 7 years and as my EV SX 200 cabs cost £50 each, never thought about protecting them from the sun. I now have new SXA100+ cabs and at £450 each, I am not too keen on damaging them.

My question to the floor is, does the sun damage either the plastic of the cab, or the drivers? I guess they will be in direct sunlight from 8am till 5pm. I can pop my E-Z up tent over the top of them, but I can't then get much height, as the heat builds under the cover, and these are powered cabs.

My current plan is to use some greenhouse shade fabric and make a cover for them, and only pop the tent up if it rains. Is it worth it for just one day?

Or am I mad - :)

Pic from last year, when it was overcast/raining all day, and I was around the corner from the main field, which faces south.

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/1866/mayfairta5.th.jpg

[notheruser]

Yes - you're completly mad!! :)

Well perhaps only slightly mad. I've never known speakers to be damaged by the sun - and when you think of what other people do regularly with PA outdoors, I don't think you need to worry too much. Bose I think it was, had a promo video where they showed a guy at the winter Olympics going round cabinets pouring water out of them, plugging them up again and keeping them running. Go to any big theme park and you'll see dozens of cabinets exposed to the elements all year round. Personally I've used lots of gear outside, and the sun has never done any harm - by the time it does, I think your speakers will be well worn, and probably in the condition your old SX200's are in now!

[Matt Riley]

Its the powered bit I'd worry about. Chances are, if you put something plastic and powered out in the sun for 9 hours solid, then the amp section might get too hot and cut out. I wouldn't worry too much about the drivers and the speaker itself. BTW, AFAIK, the theme park style speakers are specially designed to live outside all year round, with stainless grilles and different paint.

 

M

[paulears]

My venue is on the end of a pier, sticking out into the North Sea, and we have plenty of plastic bodied Tannoys outside, 24/7/12 - Over a year or so, the cabinets discolour - black ones going a little grey, and the white ones a little yellow. I've not noticed any other sunlight/UV issues with them. In fact, the scouring effect from the weather has been pretty inconsequential - so a month outside isn't likely to cause many problems. Protecting them from the rain is the biggest problem - non-vertical rain being the worst.

[PoppaDom]

As previously stated I would be more concerned about using powered speakers outside without protection. I would definately protect them (we all know what the british summer is like!!).

 

Personally for exterior gigs I prefer speakers with seperate amps, its easier to keep the amp dry! Wet speakers although not good aren't as life threatening!!

 

Poppadom

[Light Console]

Aha, just as I thought, I am mad then!! :)

I have some huge industrial bin liners as emergency and super fast protection from the rain. All kit feed via trips of course. Mixer and playback kit (always been a musically heavy event so reflex horns are not ideal here) in the back of my van so that is OK. The older SX 200s will be there too, so I have a backup system to the powered stuff. I did a gig in a small hall in July last year, and they got very hot indeed, but never cut out. I have plans to make a fan attachment that sits on the heatsink if they ever let me down.

Still at least I will stop worrying about the cab and drivers. Thanks folks.

[paulears]

If you put a lightweight bin liner over a loudspeaker cabinet while it is working, you may well get a surprise. The surpise is that the effect on the sound is minimal! Worth trying if the weather looks bad.

[i_hate_fisicks]

The effect on the bin bag might be noticable when it sits on a hot heat sink though!

[notheruser]

If you put a lightweight bin liner over a loudspeaker cabinet while it is working, you may well get a surprise. The surpise is that the effect on the sound is minimal! Worth trying if the weather looks bad.

When the bass end gits going it can be quite entertaining to watch the bin-liners flapping about in time to the music!

[Shez]

I did an outdoor gig last year on a very hot summers day. The amp rack & speakers were in the shade most of the time, but mixer & outboard rack were too hot to touch within less than an hour.

I had been told that there was a gazebo available but this turned out to be a huge 6 x 5m thing that was rather impractical for my needs. I ended up with a beer garden type sun shade that I had to keep moving to keep the kit in the shade. Not ideal but I really didn't fancy the chances of everything (including me!) still working properly after a full day in the sun...

[dbuckley]

... I've not noticed any other sunlight/UV issues with them.

Thats 'cos you dont get proper sun and/or UV.

 

The sun takes the paint of coloured GLS lamps outdoors here, plays havoc with your Christmas lights, as Christmas here is hot.

 

Well, usually hot, summer got cancelled this year