PA spkr location in a gym used for chuch: ceiling or stands?
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Posted on Feb 13, 2009 12:30 pm
jimasonic
Member Since: Feb 13, 2009
Hi. I'm new to the board, but am excited with what I see so far. I posted this, then pulled it back to edit, so sorry if it shows twice.
I just wrote about a 1000 word essay explaning my problem, but let me shorten that:
Is it better to have the PA speakers mounted on the ceiling of a gym, pointed downward, or have them on stands just above ear level at the front of the stage (pointing outward toward the crowd)?
The room has a carpeted floor, so it's pretty dead, but their PA speakers are mounted with one set on the right, another set on the left (mounted 25' up on ceiling even with the front of stage, and about 30' apart), and they seem to point downward too much. The highs just don't reach back to where the sound board is, and a lot of the PA sound floods the stage, blurring the monitor mix (and giving a feedback potential).
I realize there are a lot of variables that I'm probably leaving out (like speaker model #), but if you can give some pointers (or link me to some web sites with suggested layouts), that would be much appreciated.
Best regards, Jim
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Feb 13, 2009 01:04 pm Hi Jim. And Welcome to the HRC.
The problem that you are encountering is one that has plagued engineers for some time. How to over come the venues short comings.
It sounds that you may have an advantage here with the floor being carpeted. That helps with the highs bouncing all over the place. But does nothing for the low mids that are now flooding the whole mix. To the point that you are having difficulties with your monitor mix.
Ceiling speakers do help in some situations. But, I think with the height of your ceilings may be to much to get any clarity from them. Plus I think you would have to push them to hard in order to get the level that you would need.
One of the ways that I have done for install at different churches, was to put a series of small speakers along the wall of the church. Delaying them in zones all the way to the back.
Which is not as expensive as you think. The two brands that I have used where Community CPL27's, and the JBL Control 8. Both were designed with this type of environment in mind.
The idea is to take a lot of small speakers and just put them everywhere. And then run them at low levels. Giving an even coverage through out the entire venue. The only thing to keep in mind, is to make sure that they are in pairs. When ever you put one on the left side of the venue, there should be one on the right side as well. Then you just use a small distributive unit to delay all of the pairs to the back.
This will keep the room EQ to the point of barely having to be cut. Leaving more gain for your vocals and music. The only thing is, that you can not have loud monitors at that point. Everything must be at a lower level. So that you don't get the low mids booming all around your room again.
The lower the better in a room that you are in. By spreading out your speakers, you can achieve this much easier.
Hope that this helps you. If you need more details on this set-up, please let me know.
monmixrIf 50hz 60 will kill ya.Member
Since: Jan 08, 2009
Feb 13, 2009 11:32 pm Id like a little more information like what exactly do you have flown already, how high is the stage, are you trying to cover the whole room, the front half, ect.I might say reduce the angle they are pulled back, or reduce the angle they are pulled back and add a pair of something as front fills, there are alot of options buy we really need the 1000 word essay.
Feb 15, 2009 12:44 am OK, thanks for the info. I always forget that a carpeted floor really doesn't absorb all the sound, just some frequencies (depending on the thickness, etc).
I'll try to get a photo or give you folks a diagram of what I'm dealing with. That will probably be better than my 1000 word essay anyway. I go back there this Wednesday, and will try to post the pic then. Best regards, Jim
Mar 03, 2009 12:34 pm I wanted to get back to you to "close" this topic. Turns out the church I was going to work with has found another sound tech. My suggestion to them was to try some speakers on stands (even if they have to rent/borrow them for a day). I think they found a volunteer (I was hoping to make a few bucks) so it's not my problem any more. No hard feelings, I just have my own volunteer projects elsewhere. Thanks for your comments, and I'm excited to be part of this community.
