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[Brad Weber]

I'm in the organising team of a midsized festival (1500pl) in Belgium, recently whe received new regulations that require us to redesign our audio setup. LAeq,60min ≤ 100 dB(A) is the new benchmark, currently our setup is very basic, woofers and speakers blasting the sound in the crowd.

We want to keep our sound level in front of the stage @  LAeq,60min ≤ 100 dB(A) and keep the rest of the area more quiet to give the crowd the chance to rest and have a drink.

Do you understand what LAeq(60mins) is and how it is measured?  Your levels will constantly vary, a Leq is the calculated equivalent continuous noise level those varying levels represent over the defined period, in this case one hour.  The addition of the "A" to LAeq also defines that it is to be A-weighted levels used.  Say you had 30 minutes at 120dBA and 30 minutes at 80dBA, that would represent a LAeq(60mins) of 100dBA.  Of course you levels will likely vary much more in both level and period so this is not a simple measurement and not something your typical entry level meter can handle.  It also means that the sound levels at any point in time may not result in an exceedance at that time but could contribute to an exceedance anytime in the next hour.

We have had numoures offers al presenting us a Line-array system. It is quite an investment but is it worth the money? What is your opinion? is it enough to just keep the current speakers and raise them of the floor or do we realy need the line array to give the crowd a desent sound quality?

Depending on the shape of the listener area, etc., a line array may help with directing more of the output at the listeners and less elsewhere, however it's probably not the approach you want if you want levels to drop off with distance.

[Tijs Proost]

Yes,

I am familiar with the methods of measuring the sound.

We never had issious but in term of growing with the crowd and our local policy we are opting for line array.

Thx all for the reply's! If we find the correct sponsors to the finance the investmet we will be hanging line array. The other option will be suspending the current speakers in PA-towers.

[Josh Hana]

I did a festival very similar in size to this a few months ago with 3 per side KF850s/SB850s and it worked out just fine. You shouldn't need to jump to a line array for something this size, especially when you already have perfectly fine boxes.

[Tim Weaver]

In the effort of creating a louder space up front and a quieter space in the back, you are using the correct speakers right now. A line array's big party trick is to create LESS volume difference from the front to the back. In other words, a more even coverage from front row to back row.


If it were me, I would invest in a system to get those SRX cabs high up in the air and point them down at the crowd. If they don't have flypoints, then you are pretty much limited to using scaffolding and tie-down straps.

The good news, is that Vendors LOVE to pay you money to put their big logos up on scaffolding in front of the crowd!

[Bob Leonard]

As an SRX owner I agree with all of the comments regarding the use of those boxes. The area you're covering isn't exactly a stadium by any stretch of the imagination and I'm sure if correctly deployed those SRX725s will do the job just fine. If the words line array meant something to your customer it might be worth renting a system for the day. However, when I look at the pictures you've posted it appears to be an early spring event which will surely draw a larger crowd if held during a warmer time of the year. Start drawing a crowd that won't fit into the area you show and then maybe an array would make sense.

[Spenser Hamilton]

As an SRX owner I agree with all of the comments regarding the use of those boxes. The area you're covering isn't exactly a stadium by any stretch of the imagination and I'm sure if correctly deployed those SRX725s will do the job just fine. If the words line array meant something to your customer it might be worth renting a system for the day. However, when I look at the pictures you've posted it appears to be an early spring event which will surely draw a larger crowd if held during a warmer time of the year. Start drawing a crowd that won't fit into the area you show and then maybe an array would make sense.

+1, we've used our 725+728 rig for crowds way bigger than that with no issues (no blown drivers, etc). In one case, a crowd that was supposed to be 2-3,000 turned into almost 5,000, we certainly got to see what our rig was capable of that night, and the people who were standing outside the fence probably didn't get as nice of an experience as the people up front.

[g'bye, Dick Rees]

As an SRX owner I agree with all of the comments regarding the use of those boxes. The area you're covering isn't exactly a stadium by any stretch of the imagination and I'm sure if correctly deployed those SRX725s will do the job just fine. If the words line array meant something to your customer it might be worth renting a system for the day. However, when I look at the pictures you've posted it appears to be an early spring event which will surely draw a larger crowd if held during a warmer time of the year. Start drawing a crowd that won't fit into the area you show and then maybe an array would make sense.

I'll "grump it up" a bit here and say that the rig you have PROPERLY DEPLOYED is more than enough for the job.  If you don't know how to make what you have work for you, then switching to a line array may or may not make for an improvement. 

It takes talent to make a line array rig NOT sound bad.  If you hire one, hire it delivered, deployed and tuned for you.  Anything short of that and you'll likely be spending more and getting less.

[Ivan Beaver]

In the effort of creating a louder space up front and a quieter space in the back, you are using the correct speakers right now. A line array's big party trick is to create LESS volume difference from the front to the back. In other words, a more even coverage from front row to back row.

But that only works if the array is LARGE/LONG enough.  Most that are used in the size discussed are not long enough-except at the higher freq.

And when they are  not long enough-that means that the freq response from front to back will vary much more than a "point source" that drops equally in level across most of the freq band.

That is the thing that most people wanting/pushing line arrays seem to "forget" or ignore.

[Tracy Garner]

In the effort of creating a louder space up front and a quieter space in the back, you are using the correct speakers right now. A line array's big party trick is to create LESS volume difference from the front to the back. In other words, a more even coverage from front row to back row.


If it were me, I would invest in a system to get those SRX cabs high up in the air and point them down at the crowd. If they don't have flypoints, then you are pretty much limited to using scaffolding and tie-down straps.

The good news, is that Vendors LOVE to pay you money to put their big logos up on scaffolding in front of the crowd!

I have an SRX rig. I'm interested in suggestions regarding a good method of tilting the 725 cabinets on scaffolding. I haven't seen many examples.

[Spenser Hamilton]

I have an SRX rig. I'm interested in suggestions regarding a good method of tilting the 725 cabinets on scaffolding. I haven't seen many examples.

I don't understand why fly points were not standard on the SRX cabs...

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