speaker plans

[PSi]

hi all,

 

Any one got any plans for decent long throw mid/top cabs. I'm thinking about building some sort of line array rig with very narrow directional HF horns in the top cab then a long throw horn loaded 12" cab under that of mid. both facing at the mid/rear of the audiance, then under them two cabs, another HF cab with a wide angle short throw horn, then under that a double 10 cab for mid. both these cabs will be angled down more to face the front of the audiance. this is to tackle the reverb problem we get when we do jobs in a masive 1800 capacity club. you can never here vocals/MCs properly unless you're right at the front.

 

also the last time we done a job at this venue we used 8x 1850 folded horns 4 of witch had 1000w void 18s in them and the other 4 had 600w fane 18XBs. the voids had 1 side of a 5k crown macro-tec each and the fanes had 1 side of a pv2600 each.

I know you're not supposed to run different drivers together but we had no choise. it was either the fanes, the voids, or both and in a club that big we though all 8 would be best.

the bass was still not that good though, it doesnt seem right to me I feel it should have been alot louder if I compare folded horn rigs I've heard in the past.

 

any one know what the problem might be and does any one know of any plans for long throw bass cabs, maybee cabs with 2 18s. are the usb cabs any good?

 

Cheers

[Dj Dunc]

http://www.speakerplans.com/forum/default.asp

[lightsource]

hi all,

 

masive 1800 capacity club. Cheers

 

Interesting to see that your BR name is Precise, but your spelling and grammar is far from it.

 

Why is there only a budget available for self builds, surely a venue of this capacity would be able to invest in a quality system built to high standards.

 

We're currently doing gigs in a 450 capacity venue that has a 20K Turbosound rig, Powered by a 20u rack of FFA amps, now that's 'headroom' , power, and investment!

 

How much money is available for your gear / build.

 

Edited to add,

 

Is this a single venue, or a company that uses different venues.

[noiseman]

I'm thinking about building some sort of line array rig

 

Unless you are willing to invest the 100's of thousands of pounds in development you will not achieve this.

A line array is a precision tool that needs very carefull planning and deployment. You can't just throw a system up, point it at the audience & fire, it just won't work.

 

I would suggest an investment in some used kit. There's plenty around with all the line arrays being bought by the big boys. For example you can get Turbo floodlight for around £800ish a box or if you're after a tighter pattern and "longer"throw, Flashlight for about the same price.

Quality name with guaranteed, time proven results, don't waste your time on anything less.

[paulears]

I think that suggesting that designing and building a line array is only possible with hundreds of thousands of pounds of development is, while true for some of the arena style products, not universal.

 

I know we've dealt with the problems of close coupled loudspeakers before but the question nobody is asking is what is the benefit you are trying to obtain from designing your own?

 

Narrow vertical dispersion?

Low cost?

Hi Fidelity sound?

 

If you NEED the narrow, but wide pattern, but are not seeking really high quality sound, then buiiding your own is certainly an option. The snag s that your design is going to mean building lots of the cabinets and then having a listen - by skill, or luck, it could sound great. If it sounds average, or perhaps horrible - you have already built the damn things. For me, that's not an option. You only have to look at our German retailer. They now have their own brand line array cab at over £500 each. So obviously to get them to sound right and work properly coupled does take more effort.

 

I have a novel thought, if you fancy building your own - and simply want what looks like a line array system.

 

Why not select an appropriate tested design from the nice people at speakerplans, and then modify the visual appearance to make the one box look like 4 separate stacked ones. Most ordinary style boxes stack quite well, certainly when just a couple are plonked on each other. Hang one beneath the other and you have what looks like, but doesn't perform as - a line array.

 

At PLASA there were many line arrays that appeared to be compact, and pole mounted on a sub - presumably to act as a floor standing fairly traditional system, rather than being flown as per the big systems. I can easily imagine one big cab that looks like them being quite simple to produce.

 

Comments?

[Brian]

At PLASA there were many line arrays that appeared to be compact, and pole mounted on a sub - presumably to act as a floor standing fairly traditional system, rather than being flown as per the big systems. I can easily imagine one big cab that looks like them being quite simple to produce.

Am I the only one to think that these designs owe more to marketing than engineering? As in 'We need a line array product in our portfolio but it has to be cheap'. The whole point about line arrays are as their name suggests. It's an 'array' of drivers in a 'line'. A couple of little boxes on a stick satisfies neither criteria.

 

EDIT

 

How Line Arrays Work.

[mervaka]

yeah, I saw those too. martin and JBL in particular were dedicating a lot of space into these bizarre tops, and had the words LINE ARRAY splashed all over it. I had to wade past the JBL line array stand to get to the QSC amp leaflets :** laughs out loud **:

[MarkPAman]

Am I the only one to think that these designs owe more to marketing than engineering?

 

No definitely not. While the HF element of these little systems may be long enough to behave like a line, the mid component in some cases (only two boxes high) looks wider than its height. If that makes a line array, then so does a Marshall 4x12. :** laughs out loud **:

[noiseman]

then so does a Marshall 4x12

 

And if you've ever had the misfortune of standing in front of one of these, full-tilt at 150ft, you'll know that these things are possibly the most directional & long throw cab ever invented. :)

 

There you go. Sling a couple of Marshalls together. Instant line array, problem solved!