Help with speaker placement and,DO's & DON'Ts etc. for better sound...

[windsweptdj]

I'm looking for everyones input on getting the best sound out of our equipment.....
Speaker placement and direction...
Distance apart...
Do's & Don'ts...oh and lets not forget about mic feedback....

[LunchieTey]

That's a very vague question. It depends on the venue,what speakers you have and the shape of the room,location of the dancefloor/stage etc,seating of guests etc etc.
There are a couple of rules though.
ALWAYS have the high frequency driver ABOVE the heads of the dancefloor(I have my horns 7 foot from the floor,and always have bass speakers on floors preferably near a corner for extra bass.
ALWAYS check that people won't be seated DIRECTLY in front of the speaker within a few meters!
Try to get the speakers as far apart as is possible WITHIN REASON! try to cover the whole room with low level music and then re-aim the tops when the music gets loud so they point at the dancefloor.
Try not to symetrically place bassbins in a room(you get cancellation) A gig I did on saturday(lovely high paid corporate gigs are my fave :) ) had a strangely shaped alcove at the front where I had to set up. The ideal place for the bassbins meant absolutely no bass on the dancefloor until I moved one of the subs out of the alcove and into a corner near the dancefloor. Result was nice even bass just about everywhere. You can even stack all the bass bins in one corner which means even less cancellation for some rooms(should still sound good) and especially beneficial for horn loaded subs.
ALWAYS have all the gear where you can see it!
Always use proper stands/spacer poles,don't be tempted to use shelves(house parties) or inferior products. Speakers like to jump off and hurt people :spin: OR rip the shelf off the wall cause they aren't strong. I HAVE seen someone break a cheap speaker stand with a heavy double 12" home made box a few years back,fell onto a table and the corner went thru the woofer cone.
As far as microphone feedback goes,make sure from the mic,you can't 'see' the front of any speaker bins,that's a great start. Also keep mic's as far away as possible. If you're stuck,try a feedback destroyer(borrow/rent to try it first) or use some eq cut(3k is always a problem for some reason!)

Other than that,the gig itself will present many challenges which will be different every time. Just have a listen(walk around,crank it up,stand near tables,on the dancefloor etc and move them if necessary)

[windsweptdj]

Man thanks,thats all great stuff....This is what I have...

Two Behringer 18 inch subs....

Two Sound Master tops with 3 each piezos,1 each mid horn and 1 each 15 inch woofer....

One Peavey PV-1500 amp that is bi-amped at 150 hz (I think)....

I set the tops right on top of the subs so I guess it puts the highs smack dab in your face....but I do point them away a bit....The subs have a speaker pole mount on top but the tops don't have one on the bottom....It sounds like I should change that so I can get them up in the air.....

[LunchieTey]

Or you can just put some pole mounts in... Just take the woofers out and buy yourself a hole saw and some pole mounts! Balance the box(use a broomstick to find front/back balance and put the hole in the middle(left/right). This will cost all of about $15us I'd think.
By the way(just to be pedantic) your system isn't Bi-amped(literally means TWO amps). It's 3/4-way passive(the piezos are prolly just all wired together). The crossover in the behringer is a passive one(after the amp) and you're right its about 150/175(that's what my 15" B1500x are)
In my oppinion,seeing as things seem to be going good for you(riverboat post you made) maybe get the matching tops(b1220). I've got the 10" b1020's and the combo with subs was WAAAY better than the JBL's I used to use. Even though people don't like them on this site,they do work and work pretty well,they will DEFINATELY sound better than 4 piezos! Maybe go and have a listen(take your own gear and try it out)

[Monomer]

You forgot to add why and how a horn should be placed in a corner.


it extends the mouth of the horn, increasing efficiency. Corner-loading a sealed/bandpass/BR cab is also a good idea, as it acts like a horn.




proper placment id well documented elseware, I need not to ramble on anymore.

[windsweptdj]

GOOD STUFF....Thank you...

ANY MORE?

[Monomer]

GOOD STUFF....Thank you...

ANY MORE?



JBL has a good sound reinforcement handbook online (in .pdf format)

check their site.

[LunchieTey]

Corner placement of ported bassbins does not really make it act so much like a horn,it makes it more efficient due due it radiating into 'eighth space' instead of 'half/quarter space'. It's sort of like a light bulb,if you just hold it in the middle of the room,light goes everywhere. Hold it in a reflector and it will produce much more light but only in one direction(not a GREAT example but you get the idea!)
All of the bass has to pretty much travel into only 1/8 of the space(in a corner) it had to before and all of the 360deg of sound it made now only travels in pretty much the same direction(1/8 of a sphere).
If it was in the middle of the floor,thats 'half space' meaning a 180degree/half sphere dispersion and quater is on the floor along a side wall.
Be careful though,sometimes what looks like a nice neat alcove/corner may actually rob bass in some halls(like i said in my first post) always pump them up and stand on the dancefloor,move them until it sounds the best!

[Ray403]

Placing your subs right beside each other gives you a small boost in SPL, usually a couple decibels.

[DjUnknown]

if studio monitors. never bump it all the way

[Monomer]

Placing your subs right beside each other gives you a small boost in SPL, usually a couple decibels.


dosnt need to be right beside, 1/3 (or was it 1/4?) of a wavelength will couple two cabs.



and floor coupling with subs is a 3db gain in itself.

[Dj-skate]

good info Lunchie Tey :dance:

give him some rep points :D