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[Stephen Kirby]

As has been mentioned in several recent threads, LA's need to be up in the air.  Scaffolding isn't enough.  A ground stack frame on a scaffold won't get the right angles.  They either need to be hung from a roof or on a lift.  And safe lifts ain't cheap.  You could buy a couple of SM80s and put them on crank lighting stands for what lifts that a 6 box LA needs will cost.

[Conrad Muzoora]

Dear Labsters,

I thank you very much for this very useful advice. As usual, you have saved me from a stupid purchase. Well let me get back to my wedding and small event business. I will have to live with my qrx stuff for now. I guess i better learn how to properly use delays for the bigger events.
Too bad i never got to fire up all my 8 qrx 218 at once. Thought they'd have matched up properly with a line array.
May be another day.
Conrad
www.koolevents.co.ug

[Kevin Maxwell]

I hope this is just a publicity picture and not how you use your speakers. 

I regularly use 2 QRX 212/75 speakers over 2 QRX218 subs per side and we just recently rotated the horns and have found that they sound better that way. The 75 degree horn dispersion width I think is too wide to match with the 12 inch speakers dispersion. You do have to be sure to properly mark the speakers so you always pair them up with the narrower dispersion towards the middle. And now with the backs touching the fronts need to only be 4 inches apart. And if you need more than 100 degrees wide coverage you can put a fill speaker to the side.

For outdoor shows if you put the speakers up on scaffolding and you make sure they are out in front of the stage a little bit and off to the sides a little bit it can really help with your gain before feedback. From the front corners of the stage we usually are 8 feet out and 8 feet over. And then use a front fill speaker in the middle in front of the stage. And time align them all to the stage.

The next thing that I have heard will make a difference with these speakers is to bi-amp them using the EV processors that have the FIR filter settings in them for the QRX speakers. That might really make a difference with your system.   

[Stephen Kirby]

Looks like the OP is primarily servicing multiple events from the 4 DJ racks pictured.  And has wisely collected duplicate equipment so that there is some flexibility and spares availability.  Now he has enough subbage to do a decent sized event if he had the tops to do it.  Time marches on and the line arrays that supplanted the old pile-o-boxes now need very sophisticated processing to stay competitive with each other, and the promise of high output true point source boxes.

The other aspect of doing a large scale operation is all the other infrastructure needed.  Com's, patching that many inputs (multicore, subsnakes, digital stageboxes), desks for that many inputs that meet rider expectations, monitor systems (nearly half of the OPs stacks would get used up for side fills and drum monitors on a large stage), and a production crew to handle it all.

As much as I love Sx300s, I can't quite wrap my head around that many of them.  Particularly with essentially 4 rigs.

[Tim McCulloch]

As much as I love Sx300s, I can't quite wrap my head around that many of them.  Particularly with essentially 4 rigs.

Distributed system/exploded cluster type deployment.

[Tim McCulloch]

Dear Labsters,

I thank you very much for this very useful advice. As usual, you have saved me from a stupid purchase. Well let me get back to my wedding and small event business. I will have to live with my qrx stuff for now. I guess i better learn how to properly use delays for the bigger events.
Too bad i never got to fire up all my 8 qrx 218 at once. Thought they'd have matched up properly with a line array.
May be another day.
Conrad
www.koolevents.co.ug

Don't take me wrong, Conrad.  I'm impressed with what you've accomplished over the last few years.  I remember when you started posting here, your company was about 1/4 the size it is now.  You've done well.

It's because of that I suggest you continue to invest in the events/weddings/party work.  You know what you're doing and so does your staff.  Bigger shows have a very strong ego and emotional draw but they don't make the kind of money, in the end, that your social events will bring you.

Why?  Because of the related infrastructure that needs to come with the larger shows and systems.  Steve Kirby hits the most obvious stuff but you'll be surprised at what kinds of things you'll need.  My rule of thumb is that for every dollar you spend on speakers and amps you will spend that dollar again on things that don't make sound - trucking, storage, insurance, material handling (carts, dollies, cases), additional wires and cables (this adds up fast), etc just to make the system work and moveable.  Things clients will automatically expect at that "level" of work:  intercom systems (4 channels, stage manager unit, 12-20 belt packs and headsets; more wireless mics (possibly wireless intercoms, too); extensive electrical service; redundant spares (amps, processors, maybe consoles & speakers); more mics, mic stands, cables and sub snakes.  A major event can consume perhaps half of your PA, but *all* of your "stage-end" stuff - mics, monitors, cables.

This is a big step up and it's one of those that shouldn't be done half-way.  I'm looking forward to your next success.

[Conrad Muzoora]

You are all correct,
The wedding business is my bread and butter,
our average wedding here is usually 600-800 people in about 8 100 seater marque tents set up in a rectangular sometimes square order in an open space. That always comes with challenges thus the need for more tops to distribute the sound inside the tents.
Thats my bread and butter,
Recently however theres been a steady growth in live band and prayer festivals, they usually need a stage so i have invested in a 40ft x16 ft deep professional stage (Divisible into 2 stages of 20x16) and the roof truss with canopy and scaffolding to raise the tops. That will pay off itself fairly quickly(<2 years) since i can get jobs for it probably monthly.
I do just fine for live events of 1000'ish people with 2 qrx 115 a side and 4 qrx 218 centre clustered. We have a mackie onyx 24.4 mixer, snakes and sennheiser wired and wireless e.t.c.
But as usual theres always the temptation to get something louder, which i have to fight for now since i cant justify ROI. Besides i can't use the line array in my wedding and event business.
But there is also what you guys call "Ridders". People here don't take you seriously when you don't have a bunch of double 15 tops or some fake Chinese line array, but i have tried to enlighten them by proving over and over that great sound can come from very small packages.
One question, how much would i gain in terms of SPL if i upgraded to 2 qrx 212 per side, i have been going through my 15s probably because i lack enough midrange. The 212 i can still use for the Wedding business unlike the LA.
Thanks

Conrad
www.koolevents.co.ug

[Luke Robinson]

If you decide that you are interested in getting into the Line array thing, based on the needs that you have stated and ease of use I would suggest that you look more closely at what RCF has to offer, the HDL10, or HDL20 are self powered and a bit easier to set up than the EV rigs, as well as not having to worry about processing and amplifiers, you will only have to run a single XLR to each side as well as power (one line per 4 boxes) Asl you could afford more boxes since they are quite a bit less expensive than the EV. this would give you the ability to cover a larger area.

If you are going to make the leap take some time to educate yourself on the concepts of line arrays and their deployment. Understand that just the volume and quantity of boxes will not magically cover an audience. there is software available to help you predict the coverage based on the height you can fly them, the angles of the boxes etc...

good luck,
Luke

[Kevin Maxwell]

You are all correct,
The wedding business is my bread and butter,
our average wedding here is usually 600-800 people in about 8 100 seater marque tents set up in a rectangular sometimes square order in an open space. That always comes with challenges thus the need for more tops to distribute the sound inside the tents.
Thats my bread and butter,
Recently however theres been a steady growth in live band and prayer festivals, they usually need a stage so i have invested in a 40ft x16 ft deep professional stage (Divisible into 2 stages of 20x16) and the roof truss with canopy and scaffolding to raise the tops. That will pay off itself fairly quickly(<2 years) since i can get jobs for it probably monthly.
I do just fine for live events of 1000'ish people with 2 qrx 115 a side and 4 qrx 218 centre clustered. We have a mackie onyx 24.4 mixer, snakes and sennheiser wired and wireless e.t.c.
But as usual theres always the temptation to get something louder, which i have to fight for now since i cant justify ROI. Besides i can't use the line array in my wedding and event business.
But there is also what you guys call "Ridders". People here don't take you seriously when you don't have a bunch of double 15 tops or some fake Chinese line array, but i have tried to enlighten them by proving over and over that great sound can come from very small packages.
One question, how much would i gain in terms of SPL if i upgraded to 2 qrx 212 per side, i have been going through my 15s probably because i lack enough midrange. The 212 i can still use for the Wedding business unlike the LA.
Thanks

Conrad
www.koolevents.co.ug

You could try an experiment with the gear you have and see if the 212 might work for you by trying to simulate what the 212 has in it. You say you have 4 QRX 112/75 boxes. Take one of them and set it up with the horn on the bottom and then take another one and put it on top with the horn on top. Now switch the bottom one to Bi-amp mode and feed it with a signal that is only the low frequencies that normally go to the 12. This will give you 2 12s and one horn and this simulation should sound similar to the QRX212/75 boxes.

There is another trick that you can try. You can set up what is usually called a dual system. It depends on how much dispersion you need as to how you would set it up. I did it in a room with 2 QRX212 boxes a side but I put them both aimed out straight and I feed instrumentation into one per side and vocals in to the other one on each side. I really liked the way that this sounded.  You could stack 2 of your cabinets on top of 2 more with them splayed how wide you need and feed the instruments into the bottom boxes and the vocals into the top boxes.

I also think if you were to get the EV processor that has the FIR filter setting in it (if they exist for your boxes) and then bi-amp them that you would really like the difference.

I use the QRX212 a lot and before I would suggest that someone buy them I think they should listen to a box like the Danley SM80. If it sounds and works anything like the users on here are talking about it should be better then you are going to get with the EV QRX boxes.

[TJ (Tom) Cornish]

I think they should listen to a box like the Danley SM80. If it sounds and works anything like the users on here are talking about it should be better then you are going to get with the EV QRX boxes.

Ah - the magic Danley SM80.  Though I'm sure it's a nice box, it's not going to get Conrad any closer to 15,000 people.  Danley makes products that will, but the SM80 is not one of them.

[ProSoundWeb Community]