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[Adam Kane]

There's an electronics company in town that's been around for two or three decades.  Their specialty is security, video, data, etc. and it's here that they have a great reputation.  They dabble in pro-sound installation every now and then.  Most of their systems are comprised of very good equipment (usually much more than what the room needs), but installed very poorly.  Obviously not by anyone that has a firm grasp of what's required of live sound.  That being said, on to the story...

We were just recently repairing/upgrading one of the systems that this company installed in a church about 4 years ago.  Most of the work was rewiring and adjusting crossovers/eq's, etc.  The center cluster was poorly aimed, so we decided to get a lift and see what we could do.  We no more than got up there and touched the side of the cabinet when one of the chains came loose and the speaker went swinging; almost knocking me off the lift.  The reason??  Swing set chain w/ small, thin s-hooks were used to fly this 100lb cabinet.  The s-hooks had stretched out and the chain simply slid off.

Just a warning to anyone out there that's considering flying speakers and thinks that there's nothing to it.  STOP!!!  Sub out to someone qualified or turn the job over to them completely.  Safety is the main concern here.  Just imagine what would have happened if that speaker would have fallen from 23 feet and landed on someone at the pulpit.  If in doubt, don't do it.  There are too many things to go wrong and people could be serously injured or even killed.  If you're serious about making a living flying things, get some training and consult w/ building specialists to assure that the roof system can handle the extra weight.  

Has anyone else found anything like this?

Adam

[Tom Young]

Like this ?



I saved this from LAB or perhaps one of the live sound listservs.

I've seen worse.

[Karl P(eterson)]

You got it from csc - and yes, much worse is possible. Clothes Line and "connectors" made from twisted 12 THHN vaguely come to mind from a situation I am trying to forget.

Karl "Words Can't Describe" P

[Phil Ouellette]

Hey at least the guy included a coat hanger for strain relief on the speaker cable.  Reliability first after all.

So is the dog chain or the ratchet strap the safety back up?

From the looks of the bottom of that speaker it may have fallen once already.

Phil

[Craig Leerman]

Quote:

So is the dog chain or the ratchet strap the safety back up?

It appears that the "dog chain" is the main support, and the truck strap is the combination "speaker tilt and safety"!  I especially like the nylon cable ties securing the chain to the box.  It adds a nice touch of class to this fine install.


And to think of all the money I wasted in my years on stupid things like aircraft cable, spansets, motors, and insurance!

[Derek Williams]

In addition to the fact it shouldn't have stayed up, gravity being what it is and all,
It appears that this is installed behind a suspended ceiling!!!?

That's going to sound real good - who really wants those pesky high ends?

[Adam Kane]

"That's going to sound real good - who really wants those pesky high ends?"


Probably helps with the feedback from the Radio Shack mics.

[dpaton]

I don't think that's damage to the bottom of the cabinet. It looks more like copius quantities of spider web and egg cases. Lovely.

I don't see things that scary very often, but I do see some very odd stuff from time to time. One of my favorites is this:



It seemed like the installers either ran out of beam clamps or just got lazy. The best part of all was all the speaker cable in fire system bridles. Oops. Thankfully it wasn't our work. The owner was glad we pointed it out before the inspector got there.

-dave

[Peter Verkerk]

Tom Young wrote on Wed, 27 October 2004 14:02

Like this ? I saved this from LAB or perhaps one of the live sound listservs. I've seen worse.

Wow, this is nice rigging work..

We are collecting things like this, so send us any pictures with
those fantastic structures on it.
We can all "learn"   from it....

http://www.geluid-licht.nl/verhalen/kanniegoedgaan.html