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[Mike Monte]

'Wife and I attended an outdoor concert last night in Pensacola, FL.  (part of a weekly Tuesday night series)
The band had a 4 pc horn section and did Chicago, etc.
There were at least 1.5k in attendance....probably more....

The PA had a mix of passive subs plus 4 older Yamaha 15's stacked 2 over 2 per side.
Essentially an errrr(?) bar rig doubled.

Standing 25' out front, the PA sounded ok (for what it was).
Moving away from the stage, from about 50' out & beyond, zero mid/highs but a loads of bass/kick.
cancellation-city

It was almost like the sound hit a brick-wall; from some mid/hi's to some mids and no hi's to no mid/hi's.
I wish that I had taken a video....but I am supposed to be on vacation....
physics at work I guess

I was explaining the above to a totally-disinterested wife - that was interesting.

I am not quite sure that the audience cared.....it was a free concert.

[Kevin Maxwell]

Don Davis famously said “If bad sound were fatal, audio would be the leading cause of death.”

[Bob Faulkner]

Looks like the Yamaha speakers may have been made more for near to mid-field coverage.  I bet the Yamaha's would have performed better if they were using only 1 per side.
The stacking of them did not help with their projection.  Though, I'm sure those Yamaha cabinets sound great indoors... 15' away from them. 

I would like to have heard the conversation with your wife!  My wife too is completely disinterested in audio.

[Kevin Maxwell]

Looks like the Yamaha speakers may have been made more for near to mid-field coverage.  I bet the Yamaha's would have performed better if they were using only 1 per side.
The stacking of them did not help with their projection.  Though, I'm sure those Yamaha cabinets sound great indoors... 15' away from them. 

I would like to have heard the conversation with your wife!  My wife too is completely disinterested in audio.

If those are the old 15 with the white cone and  I think it was a silver horn they were never a great sounding box to me. But I agree they probably would have sounded better with just one a side.

As far as talking to my wife about sound, it takes about 10 seconds and I see her eyes glaze over and I can tell she has no interest what I am talking about. I don't know why I haven't yet learned to not even try.   

[Bob Faulkner]

As far as talking to my wife about sound, it takes about 10 seconds and I see her eyes glaze over and I can tell she has no interest what I am talking about. I don't know why I haven't yet learned to not even try.   

Exactly!  I've never learned either...

[JeffLilly]

 Sounds like whoever was in charge of sound was an idiot. 1500 people is a good sized crowd.

[Chris Hindle]

Sounds like whoever was in charge of sound was an idiot. 1500 people is a good sized crowd.

"Hey Guys, for that gig this weekend, Bob's band has the same gear as us. Let's put it all together. We should be OK."

Chris 

[Tim McCulloch]

It appears that they made a couple of big comb filters.

The speculation about the exact Yamaha loudspeaker is a red herring.

[Chris Grimshaw]

Maybe a comb filter, but when you've got that much radiating area, it'll get pretty directional as well. Moving off-axis would likely result in the effects described in the first post.


I agree that 1xCab/side would have been better, if it would have been able to keep up. Chances are it wouldn't. I guess someone decided more = more, and went from there.
If enough channels of amplification were available, an instrument per speaker (Grateful Dead style) would have bought some headroom.


Chris

[Mike Caldwell]

Stacking them with the top cabinet upside down for a horn to horn stack would help assuming they just needed more straight ahead output.

[Ike Zimbel]

Stacking them with the top cabinet upside down for a horn to horn stack would help assuming they just needed more straight ahead output.

+1. Are we actually talking about the Yamaha 4115H cabinets of my youth?!

[Chris Hindle]

+1. Are we actually talking about the Yamaha 4115H cabinets of my youth?!

Nice throwback. Haha. Used to call them YammA-7's...
Chris.

[Riley Casey]

If so they should probably be in a museum rather than out on shows.

+1. Are we actually talking about the Yamaha 4115H cabinets of my youth?!

[Craig Hauber]

+1. Are we actually talking about the Yamaha 4115H cabinets of my youth?!

There wasn't too much stacking going on with those! The heaviest telex-covered particle-board boxes I've ever dealt with that were only rated at "100W"
-Mine actually were run with the matching console. -mixing, EQ and effects all in one handy box!

[Dave Dermont]

The band had a 4 pc horn section and did Chicago, etc.

Is this still the law? I thought it had been repealed.

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