As to the person who recommended the speaker configuration, He is from CCI communications. This is a company well known for engineering large venues.
I have no idea who the person is or any comment on CCI, but will say that I have seen designs from "The biggest and best in the industry", "They do this all the time", "Well know in the XYZ market" etc, that are simply poor designs.
Just because they come from a large company does not mean that what the person is saying is correct.
For all we know, the guy in question is the shipping clerk.
I have known "sound guys" who "Used to work at Clair". Yeah, but all they did was load trucks, and somehow, that makes them a expert in some people eyes-simply because of association.