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[Danijel Foler]

Some time ago in my neighborhood, held a concert that had a line array system composed of 4 flying big box per side (like eaw kf760) and some stack of subs bellow, total 8 flying elements and around 12 subs. Listening experience is "wauuuu, so powerful, so big sound, like in arena, I want it". This is open space of course.
Contra side of this, when listen some "normal" speaker setup like one or two 18" sub per side and some medium top box in smaller rooms or club, this systems sound "small, helpless, poor" regardless power or SPL levels.

Why is listening experiences so big? How will sound line array from above example in same closed space like club? Maybe is reason much larger moving air mass from big boxes?

[Charlie Zureki]

Some time ago in my neighborhood, held a concert that had a line array system composed of 4 flying big box per side (like eaw kf760) and some stack of subs bellow, total 8 flying elements and around 12 subs. Listening experience is "wauuuu, so powerful, so big sound, like in arena, I want it". This is open space of course.
Contra side of this, when listen some "normal" speaker setup like one or two 18" sub per side and some medium top box in smaller rooms or club, this systems sound "small, helpless, poor" regardless power or SPL levels.

Why is listening experiences so big? How will sound line array from above example in same closed space like club? Maybe is reason much larger moving air mass from big boxes?

   Hello,

 Danijel,

  yes, listening experience is "big", because the system is moving more air, and most likely better audience area coverage. 

   Line Arrays are great systems when used in an appropriate setting or venue. But, as you can imagine, they are not the best choice for  every venue.   

    Small venues, short or narrow audience depths, low ceilings, "short" arrayable system lengths, are factors that may rule out using a line array.

   The key to a good sounding system generally starts with using the right gear for the job.

  Cheers,
  Hammer

   ps.  While you loved the sound of the array, I'm betting that you would have appreciated a longer length to this outdoor array.

   
   

[[email protected]]

Listening experience is "wauuuu, so powerful, so big sound, like in arena, I want it"...

In addition to the skill of the performers and engineer, unless you are an fft setup, the answer also has to do with your opinions that day. Psycho-acoustics is a very powerful part of how we experience the world. For example your listening experience was almost definitely affected by how you felt about the look of the system, the appearance of the park, the weather, and maybe by the way people were dancing. Way before you heard the first note you had a hundred opinions of that system.

As to club spaces, one's ability to reproduce very low audio frequencies is limited by physical characteristics. Placement of subs causes patterns of constructive and destructive interference in the audience area. The concrete walls, floor, and ceiling of said club will further complicate the pattern, so it will matter a great deal on where you stand. And that line array might be great or might be too wide of HF dispersion to use in a club, where the name of the game is "keeping primary reflections off the walls to keep critical listening distance longer".

[g'bye, Dick Rees]

Some time ago in my neighborhood, held a concert that had a line array system composed of 4 flying big box per side (like eaw kf760) and some stack of subs bellow, total 8 flying elements and around 12 subs. Listening experience is "wauuuu, so powerful, so big sound, like in arena, I want it". This is open space of course.
Contra side of this, when listen some "normal" speaker setup like one or two 18" sub per side and some medium top box in smaller rooms or club, this systems sound "small, helpless, poor" regardless power or SPL levels.

Why is listening experiences so big? How will sound line array from above example in same closed space like club? Maybe is reason much larger moving air mass from big boxes?

There are other variables in the equation such as:

1.  Listening environment.....outdoors vs. indoors, size and shape of the area, ambient noise type and level, ratio of stage wash to PA sound, etc.

2.  Components of system other than the speaker system.

3.  Competence of the operator(s) and artists.

I agree with Charlie that you are somewhat correct in your suspicion that the larger system moved more air.  But that is not necessarily due to its being a line array.  A large trap system would still be larger than the "indoor" system you are using for comparison.  But another large difference is the Indoor/Outdoor situation as well as where in the sound field you are positioned.   

[Charlie Zureki]

   Hello,
 
  (when I hit "reply" it goes into "quote" mode...)

     The OP was asking some general questions. I didn't want to confuse him with too much information. (as we all know, we can extrapolate answers to the level of Physics Dissertation)

    While all of the Operator, Input/Output, Musician quality, related gear quality and operation, ambient acoustics, weather, temp, ambient background noise, Listener Psycology, Physical Characteristics, etc....do  have an impact on a Sound System's perceived quality and performance.... many of these factors are hard to quantify.

    Actually, the OP was comparing apples to bicycles. (too many differences to make a legit comparison)

   Hammer
   

[David Gunness]

Ironically enough, one of the reason big rigs sound big is because they are big.  A large rig can have a very directional low midrange, and is typically run with a lot of energy in that range.  If you try to achieve the same tonal balance on a small rig in a small room, the low-mid reverberation would get completely out of control.  So, you have to run it thinner, and the relative amount of reverberation in that range is high. 

Strong, dry low midrange = big
Weak, reverberant low midrange = small

One of the many amazing capabilities of our ears is their ability to tell us things about a source of sound - like how big it is.

Dave

[Chris Hindle]

"David Gunness, Newbie."

Hey Mods, isn't there some way to "elevate" folks like Mr. Gunness to a "higher" level ??
Newbie. Wow, talk about understatement.

[Gordon Brinton]

Ironically enough, one of the reason big rigs sound big is because they are big.  A large rig can have a very directional low midrange, and is typically run with a lot of energy in that range.  If you try to achieve the same tonal balance on a small rig in a small room, the low-mid reverberation would get completely out of control.  So, you have to run it thinner, and the relative amount of reverberation in that range is high. 

Strong, dry low midrange = big
Weak, reverberant low midrange = small

One of the many amazing capabilities of our ears is their ability to tell us things about a source of sound - like how big it is.

Dave

Yes, I agree. I can't stand hearing that lower mid (100 to 300) buildup or distortion in indoor rigs. It is so easy to get out of control and it is highly dependent on where you stand in the venue.

At any frequency, standing waves, room nodes, nulls, and lack of dispersion always tend to work against us when indoors. You don't have that problem in an open space. But then, you'll probably need four times the power to make up for the loss.

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