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[Chris Edwards]

Hey Folks,

I am part of another forum that has a lot of loyal Bose owners on it.  There is a lot of excitement over the new F1 system that they are introducing.  Bose always has some very interesting published head counts on what their line array systems will accommodate. 

With that being said, what would a realistic system spec for a sound system (non Bose of course) to accommodate up to 1000 people which consisted of playback of Top 40/EDM/ Hip Hop canned music via a DJ?  This would be for a younger leaning crowd to give you a rough idea of the volume requirements.

[g'bye, Dick Rees]

People have nothing to do with it save their expectations.

It's just target SPL over the defined area.

[Chris Edwards]

People have nothing to do with it save their expectations.

It's just target SPL over the defined area.

Very true but if you were providing sound for a teen or college event which was going to have 1000 people most promoters I know would not have a target SPL.  They would simply request it loud with lots of base like if they were at a nightclub to accommodate that amount of people.

[Stephen Kirby]

If you assume a crowd of packed standing people each occupying a 3' square space or 9 square feet, you've got an area of 9000 square feet or roughly 95' on a side.

Outside of their theater systems of "acoustic cannons" (band pass tubes) and piles of 800s, Bose has never made anything that will remotely rock that kind of area.  And if you want nightclub levels of EDM bass, you're into pretty significant systems that you can't buy at a music store.

[TJ (Tom) Cornish]

Hey Folks,

I am part of another forum that has a lot of loyal Bose owners on it.  There is a lot of excitement over the new F1 system that they are introducing.  Bose always has some very interesting published head counts on what their line array systems will accommodate. 

With that being said, what would a realistic system spec for a sound system (non Bose of course) to accommodate up to 1000 people which consisted of playback of Top 40/EDM/ Hip Hop canned music via a DJ?  This would be for a younger leaning crowd to give you a rough idea of the volume requirements.

There are two ways to answer your question -

1. What gear would meet or exceed Bose's definition of covering 1000 people (answer: LOTS of different systems can do this - pretty much any DSR-112/SRX-812 speaker over a good matching sub will play circles around the L1s I've seen)
2. What would a "real company" bring to a "real" event. This is quite another deal. You would see KF650 boxes over 4 dual 18s per side, 4-8 Vertec 4888 over similar subs per side, and lots of other fairly big boy rigs in the vicinity of $100K.

As audio is usually a "how long is a piece of string" thing, mileage varies A LOT.

[Robert Healey]

Outside of their theater systems of "acoustic cannons" (band pass tubes) and piles of 800s, Bose has never made anything that will remotely rock that kind of area.  And if you want nightclub levels of EDM bass, you're into pretty significant systems that you can't buy at a music store.

While Bose may not be the best solution , it isn't correct that they don't make a product for an event like this - but it certainly isn't the F1 despite what the marketing may tell you. The Bose RoomMatch system is perfectly capable of covering this kind of event, but it is a line array at a pro grade price and Bose only sells through their pro division (they vet who buys it to make sure it is deployed properly). Likewise the Bose LT horns are a high output horn loaded coaxial box, but again are only part of the pro division.

[g'bye, Dick Rees]

Very true but if you were providing sound for a teen or college event which was going to have 1000 people most promoters I know would not have a target SPL.  They would simply request it loud with lots of base like if they were at a nightclub to accommodate that amount of people.

So just pick a number.  The point is to use the formula.  Plug in any numbers you want, but don't make one of them the # of people.  Or use the formula in reverse to get a ballpark prediction of whether or not your speakers can cut it.

[Ivan Beaver]

As said earlier-it is NOT the number of people-but rather a particular SPL at a particular distance. 

What if only 20 people show up-but they want to "party" 150' from the stage?  Would you use the same system as if they were up against the stage or inside your house?

NO-The number of people is the same-but the distance and environment are different.

Here would be some "target numbers" for an EDM event that would satisfy most people-inside or out.  Outside it takes more sub cabinets than inside to produce the same SPL at some distance.

At a distance of 100' around 125-130dB C slow with flat response down to at least 30Hz.  25Hz would be better.

A weighted should be around 100-105dB slow.

Figuring that 100' is around a 30dB loss (over 1m), you should be looking at a sub system that will easily produce 150dB (or more)

The full range system should be able to produce at least 130dB or more.

And also remember that since EDM produces very distructive bass, it is a good idea to run them around 1/2 power-to keep them alive for another gig.

Of course some people are happy with lower levels.  It all depends on what YOU expect.

Of course some people would like it louder than that.

So your mileage may vary.

[Stephen Kirby]

While Bose may not be the best solution , it isn't correct that they don't make a product for an event like this - but it certainly isn't the F1 despite what the marketing may tell you. The Bose RoomMatch system is perfectly capable of covering this kind of event, but it is a line array at a pro grade price and Bose only sells through their pro division (they vet who buys it to make sure it is deployed properly). Likewise the Bose LT horns are a high output horn loaded coaxial box, but again are only part of the pro division.

Interesting.  Due to the ethics of the company I've never bothered to see what they have come up with at their "pro" level division in recent years.  It would seem that these are for system installers and not portable use.  A touring company has enough decisions on what to stock with some folks like Nexo making 2 vertical pattern versions of a box.  I see a sort of "me-too" box with a simplistic waveguide/manifold of a sort that has been tried and abandoned by various folks previously.  Out of character for them, they don't claim any world changing technology beyond what they claim is a unique phase plug.  And given their sorted history of patenting and marketing as proprietary well established prior art, I would have my suspicions as to how unique that phase plug is.

But mea culpa, they do apparently sell something that makes that much noise.

[Lee Douglas]

They would simply request it loud with lots of base like if they were at a nightclub to accommodate that amount of people.

And they would have to be willing to pay what it takes to reproduce that kind of bass outside.  The question is never can it be done, it's more like who is willing to cough up the coin to make it happen.

[ProSoundWeb Community]