How to Choose Live Sound Speakers
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- Опубліковано 6 лип 2024
- Speakers are the weakest link in your sound system. Choosing the right ones and putting them in the right place makes mixing a LOT easier. Here are some things you need to consider when planning a new system or upgrade.
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I love the emphasis on buy once cry once
Great speakers last a LONG time. You won't regret paying up for the right ones.
Yep. We bought a Danley system that cost us $20k. Hosted a concert last week which proved we made the right decision.
Very well done. I heard a story years ago of a new auditorium that just didn't sound right. A sound engineer came in and added cork to the underside of certain chairs. He was very strategic and did not use a lot of cork. They said, all was perfect after this. You are very knowledgeable. Thank you.
This is the best video ever and the best advice on choosing a sound system.
I enjoyed every second of it, thank you for the eye opener !!!
This is an excellent discussion James! You hit all the right topics. A wealth of information here, I will be sending all my clients to view
So glad it was helpful for you! Clients with the right info always helps the process
Great video and very informative, I put a new pa in my local church I went for 8x Lacoustics kara arrays with 8 x sb18 subs with lacoustics amps. I went for the kara due to their 110 degree wide dispersion and can throw over considerable distance
Hey James, thanks for all the videos you put out - they are extremely helpful! What are your thoughts on column array speakers?
Hi James, doing sound engineering here in South Africa myself as only a DJ in the world, that i can tell that you have acsepional experience off what you do. Thanks for your info, and stay connected to the ROCK of ages.
You’re a great teacher!
That was helpful, thank you!
WOW I've literally been shopping for a sound system for my church plant the last couple weeks! Such great timing
Nice! Glad I could help just in time
@@AttawayAudio , I am about getting new speakers. I wish you could see our space and make a recommendation.
Very informative video as always!
Thanks again! And thanks for your help 🙌🙌🙌
Thank you a lot for these explanations !
What do you think about Column PA Systems ? Can it be a great choice for mobile church ? Or for event for 300 people using two pair of columns (one is delayed at the middle of the room) ?
We are looking at the JBL VTX line array with our integrator but are possibly stuck going mono. When you said that the speakers are the weakest link that helped me realize we feel like are fighting too hard to get what we would call "good sound" from our speakers. Hoping this upgrade will make life easier for all! Thanks for this!
Hi there, I like how your analysis about sound system in general. I am planning to buy a LD Maui 28 G3 for home personal use. My room size is 15X25 feet do you think it’s to much power? I just love the specs of that speaker. Thanks
Hi, we currently have rcf hdl6a, 6 per side, and 2 db tech DVA30n. I feel like there isn’t enough punch due to it being a 6inch speaker. Do you recommend us getting speakers to cover the mid range speakers ? If so, what size? Or is there another solution that you can recommend us.
Kling & Freitag. This brand brings speakers into another level. Fits perfectly into the category "buy once, cry once". 😁
Sold.
Hey at 1:40 with the camera showing us the low back seats, what are those white speakers hanging there? Or at 2:30 with the delay speaker
A great video James. When I first started out doing live mixing, I bought some cheap Studiomaster speakers to get started; they're less than £70 per speaker. At low volumes, they sound really thin; they're really shouty in the mids, with next to no bass and the top end is almost non-existent. Push a couple hundred watts their way, they do sound a lot better, but still not great...then of course it's just too damn loud. I ended up buying Electro Voice; considerably more expensive (I went ELX as I like passive speakers and budget was still sensitive) and wow, what a difference. They sound great out of the box, they're great at low volume and at high volume are even better. It's definitely worth holding out and buying better; I wish I did.
But think of all the support you gave the headache medicine industry!
@@AttawayAudio True, though much of that financial bolstering came from my gear fund. :D
Omg I love been watching you for awhile now and I just realized you’re in my city Kansas City!!! Maybe I’ll bump into you one day haha
lol I've never had anyone recognize me in public from the channel. Amazing how you can have 1.5 million views, but in a world of 7 billion people, still be a stranger almost everywhere.
For the record. I’m for Sweden. Stockholm. Been looking at you channel for hours.
Which speaker is recommended for 600sqfeet sized lecture hall?
Hey I didn’t realize you were in KC till I saw this video, I’m in St Joseph. I’m curious which JBL system line array you were talking about, I’m currently installing a 24 box JBL VTX V20 system up here in St Joseph.
Hey neighbor! I can't remember model numbers unfortunately. Sounds like a fun install though!!!
At the church I run sound at, we just upgraded to two bose steerable array speakers.
"That's the way we've always done it" heard this one a few times. Ever heard this one "It's just plug and play" when rigging the PA and console on a sunday morning? :D
smh
Which line array was it
Question please , what is the different on standard power 12 or 15 speakers mounted on stands up to 7 to 8 feet height and having a large dual power speaker with 2 15s or 2 12s speakers.
lots of speakers up 8 feet high playing quiter is better sound than 2 twin 15s speakers playing louder
I have a question and perhaps you could do a video on it one day. I have heard about an electrostatic speaker manufactured by a company called Tectonics. A lot of claims are being made about how it tames a reverberant gym etc. I guess I am asking if you have had any experience with these. I am not that easily convinced these are a decent option for sound reinforcement and do not buy that a speaker can stop sound waves bouncing off a wall
physics aren't just good ideas... they're LAWS. But in all seriousness, no I haven't.
Commenting for the algorithm.
Would you recommend hanging the subwoofers too?
Depends on the room. Lots of considerations with sub placement, timing, room size, vertical seating levels, etc.
I just started doing worship sound at our local church and went through the system the other day. You will never guess what I found. Someone put monitor wedges up for main speakers, and then wondered why the sound was not optimal. Any recommendations for a fan shaped venue? I was thinking a 2x15 with horn stack.
Too many variables for a comment thread :)
Agreed. You’re best to find some local pros to give recommendations after seeing and measuring the space.
Where do you get the program from Martin?
I just put the link in the description
I would also add that a higher end speaker has a flatter sound - people new to sound say “flatter? Why do I want my audio to sound flat?”. Then once you explain what a flat response means they understand why a flat response is good - they get it. Lower end speakers also may not have the same db at the same frequency (e.g. two speakers may go down to 40Hz but one may have 100db at 40Hz while another only 80db.).
Unfortunately, these days, line array gets sold to nearly everyone...and its not always the best option.
Oddly, it seems the accountants at most churches cry over audio purchases--and never let you forget it, either. ;)
When I set up my own portable audio system in our church sanctuary for a comparison with the sanctuary system, I asked the person coming to bring along their favourite CDs of music. The purpose was to compare music they already knew how it sounded between my system and the sanctuary system--then they could easily tell what setup sounded good, and what didn't (and mine was pretty decent; with the purpose to demonstrate that our sanctuary speakers are not properly balanced/EQ'd, or they are in need of repair/replacement).
boss hope summer is roking ....do u set a limiter on main outputs ??? to speakers
Limiters are a speaker protection tool, not a mixing tool, so yes, but it's to prevent clipping and square waves from damaging the speakers.
@@AttawayAudio so to compres main mix more what would u do and why not do it with the limiter thanks a mill boss
Would a sub be better on the ceiling or floor?
It depends on a bunch of factors. You get more gain from the boundary coupling on the floor, but you get more timing issues if your main speakers are flown. If you fly them you need more power from the amplifiers, and if you have a balcony you can get a reflection off the floor that creates cancelation in the upper parts of the listening area. That's the cliff's notes version.
Our church is a rectangle room, i'm guessing we choose speakers with long range instead of wide and mono?
lots of variables that can't be answered in a comment :) crowd flow matters too
We have QSC K12.2 BUT 2 years it has a problem now no sound the other the B channel no sound it's expensive but cannot last long
The good news is that the human brain is very flexible and the vast majority of listeners are not that picky. Another issue with complex designs is reliability. If you have 100 components the chance of failure is significant.
No doubt, better speakers used as intended are a big advantage. I’m also a big proponent of integrators when justified by size, complexity, and budget.
One last note, the people are also a part of the room, affecting sound by numbers and distribution.
I call people hot water bags... 98 degrees and 70% water... and they definitely soak up the sound
The speaker don't really matter all that much as long as RMS power and efficiency is sufficient for the room, distortion is low & frequency range is reasonable. Speaker harmonic distortion is not a huge issue, as people really don't mind that type too much, in fact many like it, but you don't want other types of distortion. You don't even need the frequency response to be particularly flat. You just need clarity & low S/N from your system, so gain stage the whole system, not just the mixer. Set the amp gain to achieve your maximum permissible dB SPL for a full room when unity signal is at the amps input. That way, you only have attenuation from unity at the final possible point in the signal chain. This means the amp is never over driven into non linear distortion, but can still achieve maximum permissible SPL if you should ever need it. The Amp should have up to twice the RMS power of the speakers. This is OK as long as the speakers are more than adequate for the space, you won't blow the speakers because you have set the amp gain too low for that to ever happen, but it means the amp has plenty of reserve and is working well within it's linear low distortion range. With this & proper system EQ, your sound will be absolutely transparent and natural as if there is no electronics at all. That's the idea of sound reinforcement, people should not be aware of the sound system. They should be focused on the message & worship. If a sound system is bad or has impressive bass, guess what they think about.....
Just remember though that a system can never be better than the room acoustics will allow. If the room has lots of hard surfaces like stone or brick & glass, you are going to have lots of reflected sound messing up clarity. Room treatment can mitigate that to an extent. You will probably need some help with acoustics though. All rooms create resonant modes at some frequencies. This can be heard as beating of a specific note as you move around the room. The note may disappear entirely in some locations & be too loud when you move a few feet away. There will always be some room modes present, but badly proportions rooms create more of them. Moving the speakers can mitigate this to an extent. Just experiment a bit if it's a problem.
We had home built 100L sealed mains with Selenium drives & Motorola piezo tweeters & a similar arrangement is floor wedges. It took me a long while to to work it out with no allocated budget at all, but in the end it was the far far the truest, most natural sound reinforcement system of any church I know & visitors voluntarily said so too. I had comments like "I have industrial deafness & this is the only church where I can hear & understand the sermon".
After 35 years managing and maintaining a church PA, I can say that for passive speakers, reasonable speaker cables are most definitely part of that. I don't mean anything expensive, exotic or boutique, just something decently reasonable gauge mostly. Once you have fulfilled these basic things, then all that remains is system EQ, Then you will have achieved true sound reinforcement & your done with the setup.
However, there is maintenance because every connection, plug, fader, pot switch trimmer etc oxidises over time & will undo your system. So regular checks & Deoxit to the rescue, Vintage gear will need recapping too.
The point is that it really doesn't matter what you have as long as it meets basic adequacy for the room & for deploying PA, you can achieve true sound reinforcement if you are prepared to put in the time & effort. Most don't of course & that is why PA is generally bad everywhere you go, not just in churches, but it's particularly bad in most churches, from lack of knowledge, inadequate gear, historic room acoustics & most especially politics.
If your electric guitar hero won't turn their amp down enough for the congregation to hear and follow the vocalists, sack them, because what they are doing it the opposite to edifying the worshipers.