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[David Allred]

It is often said here, " A pair of "X" speakers will cover 500, or 800, or 1500 people".  What is the deep dive on such a statement?  Body absorption?  Crowd noise floor (event and crowd temperament is critical and variable)?  Floor space per person?

[Steve Eudaly]

It is often said here, " A pair of "X" speakers will cover 500, or 800, or 1500 people".  What is the deep dive on such a statement?  Body absorption?  Crowd noise floor (event and crowd temperament is critical and variable)?  Floor space per person?

I've never felt that was a great measure of a system's abilities. To paraphrase Ivan and many other seasoned vets on the board, "sure, 1000 people may hear it, but at what SPL and at what distance?"

1000 people might hear the echos of a band playing through a pair of speakers on sticks, but 1000 people paying $50/ticket at a rock show are going to expect a wildly different experience.

It's all about defining expectations.

[Taylor Hall]

Yeah, I usually qualify any headcount figure with the type of event it's being used in (talking heads, small band, EDm, etc).

[Keith Broughton]

It is often said here, " A pair of "X" speakers will cover 500, or 800, or 1500 people".

It may be often said but it's a very poor way to evaluate system requirements.

[John L Nobile]

Then there's rider coverage. I used to see 20 -20k, 120db at FOH. Anyone still seeing that?

[Ivan Beaver]

It is often said here, " A pair of "X" speakers will cover 500, or 800, or 1500 people".  What is the deep dive on such a statement?  Body absorption?  Crowd noise floor (event and crowd temperament is critical and variable)?  Floor space per person?

Most smaller-medium loudspeakers can only "cover" 1 or 2 people, assuming they are close friends

In regards to providing sound to a particular number of people, that is a very different situation, with a lot of very specific variables.

What SHOULD be asked is, how far is the furthest listener, what REALISTIC SPL is needed at that seat, how wide are the people in relation to the loudspeaker.

NOW, you have numbers that you can use to calculate things, and not make a guess that is based on no information

For example.  500 people sitting at round tables takes up a lot more room (ie people are further from the loudspeakers) than 500 people crammed close to a stage.

Even simple things like "a rock band", have very different answers.  A local garage band playing AC/DC will generally not be as loud as the real AC/DC, playing the same songs.

People get bored with "numbers", but they ARE important, and they allow for realistic expectation and an ability to measure the result.

Is it loud enough?  That depends on who you talk to.  Is it 100dBa slow?  Now THAT is something that is easily measured.  If it is less than 100dBa slow, you can calculate how much louder the PA needs to be to meet that criteria.

But simply saying "it wasn't loud enough", give no indication of how much louder it would need to be to be "loud enough".

Numbers are important, and numbers with realistic expectations are important.

[Tim McCulloch]

Then there's rider coverage. I used to see 20 -20k, 120db at FOH. Anyone still seeing that?

Yes.  It's the "copy and paste" that won't die.

[Chris Grimshaw]

I usually just reply with "Are you sure you want 20Hz? - I can bring subwoofers that will do that, but it will be big and expensive."

120dB at FOH just means putting FOH near the stacks.

Chris

[Nathan Riddle]

To be fair, most people don't know area (Width x Depth [ft or m]), they understand headcount though.

Especially clients, no client ever knows the size of the area of coverage. But they know how many people attend.

I always try to google maps it and look at the area/depth.
Qualifying genre statements are good too.
Pictures of past events.

Perhaps we can establish a general area size (room size) that represents a crowd size?

Indoors (seated) Width x Depth:
000 - 300  = 60x40     = small - wide & shallow room
300 - 600  = 75x50     = medium - wide & shallow room
600 - 1200 = 100x75   = small theater - wide & shallow
1200-5000 = 100x125 = large theater - deep + balcony?


Outdoors:
000 - 200  = 60x50      = concert in a backyard
200 - 800  = 100x100  = medium - wide & shallow room
800 - 1500 = 150x150 = small arena bowl
1500-5000 = 150x300 = arena bowl + lawn area

[Patrick Tracy]

For me it was about the capacity of the room. I would also include some information about the shape of the room that my system could cover.

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