Live audio rigs
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Posted on Jan 26, 2005 03:39 pm
whosyourdaddy00
Hold 'Em Czar
Member Since: Dec 30, 2004
i've somehow fallen into a job as an audio consultant for a large local church....they've got tons of gear and they want me to hook it all up and optomize it....without gooin' into too meny details, my main question has to do with power amps.....the church has i think 6 good quality (different brands and power ratings) amps powering ruffly 7 stage monitors, three flown cabs and two sub woofers. i'm toying with the idea of bridging the most powerful amp (i think it's 1600 watts @ 2 ohms bridged) and running the three flown cabs in paraell....another question is, what's the best way to take one line out (1/4" TRS) and split it say, three ways to go into the channel inputs of the power amps?
thanks all
wyd
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Jan 26, 2005 03:44 pm Look at the flown cab and see if they have different input options, some have hipass and lowpass options as well as parallel and serial input options. If it does, then you can daisy chain them and have a single input coming down from the ceiling.
Also, how do the subs get crossed over? Do they have a pre-amplifier crossover or are they doing the red-neck route of just running the full signal to them? You could seriously lighten the load on the flown cabs by hitting the crossover first and sending only the signal that is higher, than say 200Hz, to the flown cabs (now being hi-packs) and send the low output to the subs.
Then, put the bigger powered amp(s) on the subs and the lesser power on the hi-packs.
The monitors will all be fullrange.
Jan 26, 2005 03:47 pm of course all of the above advice is assuming you are running mono.
Assuming that is the case, run the stereo outs, with one side going to the monitors, the other going to the crossover, then spliting the signal there to subs and hipacks. There ya go, three outs...
Jan 26, 2005 03:56 pm yeah we're in mono, and they have a crossover i'm settin' it at 150hz....good ideas db thank you!
wyd
Jan 26, 2005 04:02 pm yeah, 200 was a bit high, 150 is better, I was just tossin random examples out there...
WaltChief Cook and Bottle WasherMember
Since: May 10, 2002
Jan 27, 2005 11:46 am Another real good way to keep flexability and not add a lot of technical difficulty to a system is a distribution amp. Usualy 1U or thereabouts in footprint with on or two inputs and multiple outputs. This will allow seperate drive levels to each amplifier without having to build bridging networks for impediance considerations. I have seen where technicians will install one and 'hide' it somewhere where the user will not be able to play with it. Get the balance for the environment set and leave it alone.
Jan 27, 2005 11:52 am Yeah, installs I have done I take the "idiot proofing" route. ring out the room with a nice 30 band or so EQ, then cut a 19" x 1 3/4" piece of plexiglass and screw it into place with the rack screws over the faders.
WaltChief Cook and Bottle WasherMember
Since: May 10, 2002
Jan 27, 2005 11:57 am I worked on one system in the 80's that was sweet. It was in a long seating area that was a stone building. Lot's of verb/echo. The system fired two speakers at the rear of the cathedral waited a few milliseconds then fired a set of speakers on pillars some 30 feet closer to the front of the seating area. There where four or five sets of speakers on pillars that did this in succession with delays as the sound moved closer to the front. Each succesive set would fire into the the existing sound dampening the verb. They achieved a very 'dry' non-verb audio for the congragation. Just a sweet set up. It did need to be re-calibrated from time to time however.
