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Author Topic: How much less than full volume will this be?  (Read 17234 times)

Jason Lavoie

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Re: How much less than full volume will this be?
« Reply #10 on: June 01, 2014, 09:42:06 AM »

I'll just sum up Craig's response with "they sound like crap!"

I personally replaced two of the mid sized Octosound speakers in a gym with a nothing fancy system consisting of four properly powered 12 X 1 speakers evenly spaced along each side of the gym aimed into the bleachers and there was no comparison between before and after. That upgrade cost more than the original but the customer was finally happy with the sound in their gym.

Lets just say the speaker components in Octosound boxes I looked at were less than durable, defiantly not Eminence as the website now states.

We used to sell a lot of their speakers before I knew better, but the tipping point was that they were swapping out components based on subjective listening tests done in their shop.
These changes were in some cases bad enough that replacing an old speaker with a new one of the exact same model would sound bad enough to require a DSP to bring it back to 'good'.

To maintain the hundreds of these speakers that we had installed over a decade or so I currently stock 4 different diaphragm models, and that doesn't even include the Eminence ones because none of those have ever blown (I know there were some units with Eminence because I've had to repair crossovers and come across them)
That also doesn't include one driver model that seems to have come from overseas that I haven't been able to source, so on those I have to replace the whole driver.
And if you're thinking that 6 different drivers doesn't sound too crazy from one manufacturer it's important to note that I never liked the smaller models, and the biggest has never blown a driver yet, so these 6 drivers are all for different (undocumented) generations of the same SP840 model.

Quote
I will say the design of the box does not lend itself to what they are used for, mounted high up along the roof with the horns all pointing more or less straight out.

Maybe they would work in a lower ceiling install for general paging where the background noise is low.

Exactly. The fixed angle of the horns changes it from what it is marketed as (all-purpose speaker) to what it really is (single-purpose speaker)
Not to mention that directly below the speaker there is a good 60 degree cone of muddiness, which isn't such a big deal in a hockey arena (where they started) but in a gym that could be filled with rows of seats that's a whole other issue.

Jason
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Mike Caldwell

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Re: How much less than full volume will this be?
« Reply #11 on: June 01, 2014, 12:30:26 PM »

My last comment about Soundsphere and Octosound will be that they must hire some really good traveling medicine show sales people to put in their trade show booths.

« Last Edit: June 01, 2014, 07:32:38 PM by Mike Caldwell »
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Tommy Peel

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Re: How much less than full volume will this be?
« Reply #12 on: June 01, 2014, 05:13:52 PM »

A couple of weeks ago I was "DJing" for the youth at one of the churches I help at for a Dodgeball tournament in their gym. We had a single SRM450 and it worked fine for moderate volume music and speech.  I didn't have a small mixer handy so I had my laptop and a Shure VHF wireless mic plugged into a guitar A/B switch which outputs to the 450 with an adapter.  :-)  One of those I had to use what was available situations. A 4ch mixer would have been great.



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Tim McCulloch

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Re: How much less than full volume will this be?
« Reply #13 on: June 02, 2014, 09:50:32 AM »

A couple of weeks ago I was "DJing" for the youth at one of the churches I help at for a Dodgeball tournament in their gym. We had a single SRM450 and it worked fine for moderate volume music and speech.  I didn't have a small mixer handy so I had my laptop and a Shure VHF wireless mic plugged into a guitar A/B switch which outputs to the 450 with an adapter.  :-)  One of those I had to use what was available situations. A 4ch mixer would have been great.


Secret weapon that fits in your backpack - Shure SCM-268.  Around $100 on fleabay.  It's heavy because it has transformers on the inputs and output.  Can supply 12v phantom, accepts -10 inputs on RCA jacks, balanced mic/line switchable output level.

The companion SCM-262 is a stereo mixer with a ducker, fewer XLR mic inputs, outputs on TRS 1/4", but still a versatile piece.  Also around $100 used.

I personally own several of each.  Highly recommended.
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Joseph D. Macry

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Re: How much less than full volume will this be?
« Reply #14 on: June 02, 2014, 11:15:12 AM »

Good, now talk them out of that speaker unit and they'll be even happier.

Those octosound units seem to be always under-spec'ed for the room and I've never heard one not being driven to death just trying to keep up with basic speech, let alone music.  (In fact I can safely say I've never heard one sounding good at all!)

Two reasons I'm going with the Octasound:
1. It was specified by the Architect.
2. I might get an upgrade job down the road.

As far as the tweeters shooting horizontally from on high, Octasound recommends placing them so that the bleachers are at a 15 degree down angle from the tweeters. This often conflicts with local competition league requirements that basketball courts be clear of obstructions for 25 feet above court.
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Joseph Macry,
Austin, TX

Mike Caldwell

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Re: How much less than full volume will this be?
« Reply #15 on: June 02, 2014, 11:28:27 AM »

Two reasons I'm going with the Octasound:
1. It was specified by the Architect.
2. I might get an upgrade job down the road.

As far as the tweeters shooting horizontally from on high, Octasound recommends placing them so that the bleachers are at a 15 degree down angle from the tweeters. This often conflicts with local competition league requirements that basketball courts be clear of obstructions for 25 feet above court.

How many of them were speced, is it just one centrally hung in the gym.

- That system is doomed to fail.
- Any architect who specs them in a school or college gym is an idiot
- Complete waste of the schools tax payer dollars.
« Last Edit: June 02, 2014, 02:36:17 PM by Mike Caldwell »
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Ivan Beaver

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Re: How much less than full volume will this be?
« Reply #16 on: June 02, 2014, 12:08:54 PM »

How many of the were speced, is it just one centrally hung in the gym.

- That system is doomed to fail.
- Any architect who specs them in a school or college gym is an idiot
- Complete waste of the schools tax payer dollars.
+100.
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A complex question is easily answered by a simple-easy to understand WRONG answer!

Ivan Beaver
Danley Sound Labs

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Tommy Peel

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Re: How much less than full volume will this be?
« Reply #17 on: June 02, 2014, 12:15:09 PM »

Secret weapon that fits in your backpack - Shure SCM-268.  Around $100 on fleabay.  It's heavy because it has transformers on the inputs and output.  Can supply 12v phantom, accepts -10 inputs on RCA jacks, balanced mic/line switchable output level.

The companion SCM-262 is a stereo mixer with a ducker, fewer XLR mic inputs, outputs on TRS 1/4", but still a versatile piece.  Also around $100 used.

I personally own several of each.  Highly recommended.

A SCM-262 would have been pretty nice with the ducker, though either would have done the job well. I'll have to try and pick one up sometime. Thanks for the info!
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Cailen Waddell

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Re: How much less than full volume will this be?
« Reply #18 on: June 02, 2014, 02:26:33 PM »


A SCM-262 would have been pretty nice with the ducker, though either would have done the job well. I'll have to try and pick one up sometime. Thanks for the info!

We put one at all our ball fields (baseball, softball, etc). Can't say enough nice things about how easy and simple they are for non sound people to operate.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Joseph D. Macry

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Re: How much less than full volume will this be?
« Reply #19 on: June 04, 2014, 12:10:09 PM »

How many of them were speced, is it just one centrally hung in the gym.

- That system is doomed to fail.
- Any architect who specs them in a school or college gym is an idiot
- Complete waste of the schools tax payer dollars.

Yes, one central unit specified. This architect has a history of specifying really bad designs. Sometimes we try to shove a redesign through, but this has always been painful and difficult. This time, we decided to do it as specified, although we made them upgrade the amp from a 125-watt model to 250, and replace the wall rack with one that is deep enough for the gear. Again, maybe we'll get a request for an upgrade next year.
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Joseph Macry,
Austin, TX

ProSoundWeb Community

Re: How much less than full volume will this be?
« Reply #19 on: June 04, 2014, 12:10:09 PM »


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