Turbo Floodlight

[andylink]

I know there are quite a few Turbo users on this forum, so I would like your opinions. I am a small hire company and am looking at buying some floodlight to do some outdoor events I usually do in the summer months, local mini festivals ect. I freelance a fair bit as well and have used floodlight a fair few times over the years and had usually had good results. At present I use some old Meyer MSL3s and although they do the job, they are just to big and heavy, over 100kg with the steel wheely boards. I was looking at something a bit more managable. I did a festival in Spain a couple of years ago, with a floodlight system and it was the best I had heard, the guys told me that they changed the crossover points from the standard to get more vocal clarity, does anyone know of this proceedure? I normally use 3 msl3a a side with a few UPAs for infills, would 3 floods a side with in-fills do the same job?

Any thoughts welcome.

[jack the ripper]

I heard Turbosound Floodlight at a rave in the 1990's and thought it sounded absolutely amazing. It was like cleaner, cleaer than any other sound system I'd heard at the time, and to be honest, I still think its the best sound system I've ever heard.

[Rob_Beech]

Hi,

 

having used floodlight ...... ALOT... There's a few things I like to do to the DSP settings to get MY sound, but it's all academic really. They're an old box but a good one, even if they do need a bit of taming here and there to stop them making your face sore.

 

Use your ears. That's the only advice I can really give. It's very subjective. The 6.5 are supposed to run from 1.3kHz to 8kHz inbetween the 12 and the 1. They WILL run lower, but if you start pushing much below 1kHz you'll have to limit the power you give them, this might tidy your vocals up a little but might reduce the volume of the box which might be a compromise you can only deal with on some events. There's nothing to say you have to run them the same every gig. You could have a setting for a more intimiate setting and one where you need every last dB out of them to keep the client happy. If you use 718's with it you can run those up to 250Hz without too many problems (they don't sound great at that point but they manage). Then you can really give the 12's a seeing to as they're not having to run down to 180 or below. But again, on SMALL shows where you're only going to be putting a few watts through each box, you may consider a 150Hz crossover point to be more acceptable (if you're careful with what sort of power you put into the 12).

The 1 inch HF is a bit less flexible. It WILL of course run down a fair bit lower than 8kHz, but with a good 6.5 you'd never need to. If you ever do REALLY small stuff with them (stuff where it's completely unsuitable but perhaps the only thing you have) then the 6.5 does run out to 12kHz or more without too much trouble, although some EQ is needed.

 

The 12 meets the 1 at about 3.5 to 4kHz without too much trouble if you ever need to get yourself out of the **** if you know what I'm saying.

 

So really, there's lots and lots you can do with them. They stack nicer with 718's than they do on a number of 760L's, there are very few 760L's about, I assume you'd be running them with 718s?

 

 

Finally, cheeky advertisement time. I have a pair of 760H for sale.

[minty]

Hmm, I tend to tweak around the LMS a bit on a gig for gig basis. I regularly freelance for the same company using their flood rig and have saved a personal patch on their LMS which I have altered over the course of the last couple of years, I recently wondered how far I had travelled from the factory recommendation and was surprised to find that I have ended up almost exactly where I started, the only change I seem to have made is dropping the cross between the 12 to the 6 to around 1k.

Play around (with obvious care) see what works for you.

 

As to coverage, have very little experience with Meyer (have white gloved on a few Meyer rigs but can't remember what was what...)

 

3 floods and 3 718s a side with a few infills will cover a small to mid outside festy quite well (depending on area / program etc) Give us a few details of size and program and I'm sure there are plenty on here who can find a parallel or two in their own flood experience.

 

Martin

[Rob_Beech]

It's surprising what you can do with just 4 stacks of it with some front fill. But with the right amps, if you need lots of coverage there is no real problem with hanging 3 or 4 tops from your amps. Just the subs need a bit more looking after.

 

I have regularly run 4 subs and 8 tops from the 1 amp rack with no problems if you need coverage aswell as the volume.

[minty]

I have regularly run 4 subs and 8 tops from the 1 amp rack with no problems if you need coverage aswell as the volume.

 

Your obviously not using the standard issue C audio 707s / 3801s etc that so many flood rigs seem to end up with then Rob, that would be the mother of all amp racks to run that lot with C audio.

[Rob_Beech]

Macrotechs, a 5000 a 3600 2400 and 1200 in each rack <_<

[minty]

Macrotechs, a 5000 a 3600 2400 and 1200 in each rack <_<

 

Yes, that would do it... I too like to use a sledgehammer to crack a walnut whenever possible!

[andylink]

Thanks for your comments so far, am I right in thinking that the box runs fully active? didnt some boxes have passive HF? I have a fair few QSC powerlights spare, PL4s,2HVs, and PL1s will these be ok? also have an XTA DP 448 is there any eq/delay in the set-up?

[Rob_Beech]

There IS Eq, AND delay in the setup yes. The boxes run tri-amped. Very few were made with a passive network between the 6.5 and the 1. Though the one out of the TQ440/445 works fine as a drop in unit but I recommend tri-amp operation for these where possible.

 

They don't need ALOT of power to get them going to be fair.

[tolley1466]

Macrotechs, a 5000 a 3600 2400 and 1200 in each rack <_<

 

Have you ever had any problems with your amps overheating?

 

I remember hearing a rumor somewhere that Macrotechs can overheat quite easily...

[Rob_Beech]

Someone has some knackered fans or blocked filters somewhere.

 

I can knock seven shades of something out of them at 2ohms and not get them warm. They're sealed racks with a 3u 3fan panel in the back. After a hard night the air from the fan panel is warm, but not hot, and the amps are cold.

 

I have a few in non sealed non fan assisted racks but even when driven hard, these don't get warm either.

 

Just look after them, keep things clean and dust free, replace the fans when they get noisy, and keep things maintained. It's no different to any other bit of kit. If you look after them they'll look after you.

[rlower]

We also use Macrotechs with our floodlight.

5000, 2400, 2400 and 1200 with Nexia SP processors. Not overly handy with Phoenix connectors, but you can do loads with them.

Can't remember all the crossover points I've setup, but the 718's and 12's crossover at 180.

 

Never had an amp overheat. In fact the macros are the only amps in the venue that haven't overheated in the last couple of years.

Fanned cases and clear filters is good way to take care of them!

[Rob_Beech]

We now use the same racks for the aspect wide so the 3600 on the low mids is useful to say the least.

 

We're set at about 180 too which IIRC isn't too far from the recommended. It's a whole octave higher than the crossover point from the aspect wide which really makes the 718's very narrow in their use but the boxes you have are better than the ones you don't have.

 

 

Rob