QSC k212c speakers upgrade

[Simon59]

Hi guys

Looking to buy the new QSC k212c speakers to up grade from my old k-subs. Which have been excellent by the way.

But need help.

Were putting on a soul weekender for between 450-700 people. In big hotel ballroom. Question is there a sound formula per head of audience..I'm asking as not sure what sized sound system we will need. At the moment I'm using

4 x qsc k2/12's

4 x k-subs

But feel fairly sure this is not going to he anywhere enough sound, esp for the back of the venue...

Any constructive help gratefully received

Thank you in advanced.

[abbotsmike]

I'd say if you know your kit wont cover it, then you'd be best served speaking to a PA hire firm, telling them what you need to achieve and I'm sure they'd be happy to work with you to build a kit list.

[Simon59]

Abbotsmike

Thanks but dont want to hire kit alongside my own prefer to add to my own rig.

[Shez]

Rather depends on the size & shape of the ballroom. What's the length, width and height and where will you be set up?

[GR1]

The reason you hire kit is to find out how much you like it before buying. You are asking us to tell you what you prefer and we don't know that. Hire a few different systems and buy the one you prefer not what someone else prefers.It is best to do try things out and buy only once.

 

[Stuart91]

Also, how often are you covering a venue of this size? There's no point buying a bigger system for the sake of a couple of times per year. Factor in storage and maintenance and you'll never make the money back.

[NickNickNick]

How do you use the four top boxes? Do you put them as a pair on each side, right next to each other, or are they spaced out more as side delays? I ask as most point source speakers really aren't designed to sit right next to each other, and you end up with more cancellation that you realise, lowering the overall output of the system. Some boxes need almost a 45 degree splay angle between them before you get the effect you're looking for. One company I used to work for had special positioning bars made to go with certain speakers to ensure they were at the right angle. Meyer MSL2 boxes needed to be close to right angles to get about a 60 degree throw with higher power. Experimenting with placement and angles might really help you out and you could be surprised what output you really can get. It may look odd, but it can make a big difference.

 

[TonyMitchell]

I'm putting on a soul weekender for between 450- 6/700.

In hotel ballroom..

How big a sound system would I need to fill the room including to the back

 

How long is a piece of string?

There's so many considerations, size & shape of the room, position of main dance-floor, where you want sound to be more intense, fringe areas where you don't. A distributed system will achieve far favourable results to just piling up a big load of speakers and deafening the front of the room to achieve audibility at the back.

I'll echo the sentiment of others - hiring is your friend here - or better still, engage the services of a PA company with the right inventory and experience to put on a production that will exceed yours and your guests' expectations. Then you can concentrate on the DJ side of things and be remembered for an awesome gig.

Just adding more MI-grade boxes to make a >700pax rig is IMO never the best idea, many take this path and the results usually aren't pretty. It's good that you've asked the questions.

 

I've currently got a 12k qsc rig, but feel it's nowhere big enough.

Great for up too 300 but feel I need a bit more power. Is they're a sound formula/head or sq m2

 

No formula. From a quick Google, I see those QSC 'K' boxes are powered... therefore all the '12k' rating tells me is, if I were providing your stage power, for most music genres you'd be ok with a 16/1, but I'd probably run a 32/1, just to err on the side of caution. It doesn't indicate how loud each section plays, nor the pattern of the mid/high packs, nor anything else for that matter.

For ballrooms of this size we typically put a couple of stacks of Q on the dancefloor and E8 everywhere else as fills. Probably adds up to circa "3k" in dj speak, if pushed hard.

Edited July 3, 2019 by TonyMitchell

[Simon59]

Cheers guys

Plenty to consider there..

Most helpful.

[Tim McCulloch]

Greetings from the other side of the Big Pond, and inside Donald's Wall...

 

How much Light is needed to illuminate 800 people? It depends on how they are dispersed - packed tight or scattered about. Loudspeaker coverage is analogous.

You need to estimate how much area is covered by the loudspeaker at a given distance from the loudspeaker. You need to get the loudspeakers UP over the audience and aim them down (some loudspeakers have 2 pole mount sockets, one at 90 degrees and the other around 75 degrees.

How loud does the sound need to be, at what distance?

There is actual physics involved here and the better you can define the performance goals of the sound system the better advice you'll receive.

Have fun, good luck.

 

Tim Mc

 

[paulears]

those top boxes, for their spec (which seems to avoid using the RMS term) do seem to be able to go quite loud. What they sound like that loud, I have no idea. the subs worry me more - they go down 6Hz lower than the tops, so while having lots of forward power with the cardioid pattern, the actual air the 12" driver shift isn't that gut wobbling bass you might want for a soul weekend? Purely a guess, but I think I can predict the kind of sound you're going to get which will encourage stranger eq settings and a heavy fader hand which might make them all sound a bit harsh. At what volume point do these fairly compact speakers switch from high quality mode, to wedding DJ mode?

 

I get the impression that you want one of us to say, ah - excellent system it will do fine, when for a soul weekend, it might be a system we would not have picked - all things being equal. This is why you're getting the hire something else posts. I'm not certain, but I'm sure we were in a theatre in Cornwall somewhere that had a QSC system with very similar tops and different conventional QSC subs. They sounded very nice on our 60s tribute, but for more contemporary music with deeper bass requirements I'd have hated it.

 

My view is probably loud enough but the wrong choice for Soul Music.

 

Moderation: I'll tidy this topic up and remove the duplicates and comments about duplicates