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Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums => HistoryOfConcertSound.org => Topic started by: Doug Fowler on March 12, 2022, 07:05:14 PM
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https://www.paoftheday.com/showco-prism-sound-system/
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https://www.paoftheday.com/showco-prism-sound-system/
This is really interesting. I had no reason to ever know any different [never worked with them] but I always assumed that the prism was just a huge pile of full range boxes. Learn something new every day.
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Great stuff. I can remember going to many shows that used those beasts and they sounded pretty good. Anybody know what they were running for amps & crossovers at that time period?
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This is really interesting. I had no reason to ever know any different [never worked with them] but I always assumed that the prism was just a huge pile of full range boxes. Learn something new every day.
It was the down fill that kind of gave away "there's no horn in the bottom box" at low trims, but the rest were mysterious. The mid bass box was a puzzle to me, never figured that one out. The HF at the top was application-obvious, but the way the HF was done elsewhere was rather clever for its day and was also beyond my ability to suss it out. The only clue I ever got from a ShowCo crew person was "they have to go in this order, and there have to be at least 4 rows." That was the hint that each box was unique but that's as far as I got at the time.
Time delay, even really short amounts, was expensive and relatively noisy. Physical time delay via Baltic Birch was baked in.
Have I said lately that it's a great time to be in audio?
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Great stuff. I can remember going to many shows that used those beasts and they sounded pretty good. Anybody know what they were running for amps & crossovers at that time period?
The original crossovers and drive were custom built analog and in a plug in card format with a main frame, kind of like the DBX 500 series, maybe they used a 500 series frame!
Had a chance to buy one once for cheap, looking back I should have and put it up on the audio nostalgia shelf.
Last time I heard a Prism show was 20ish years ago at a Robert Plant WHO concert, it sounded great for both acts, by then it was processed with the original LAKE processors. Powered by lots of Crown Macro Tech's.
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The original crossovers and drive were custom built analog and in a plug in card format with a main frame, kind of like the DBX 500 series, maybe they used a 500 series frame!
Had a chance to buy one once for cheap, looking back I should have and put it up on the audio nostalgia shelf.
Last time I heard a Prism show was 20ish years ago at a Robert Plant WHO concert, it sounded for both acts, by then it was processed with the original LAKE processors. Powered by lots of Crown Macro Tech's.
I heard it at Busch Stadium in 1989 for The Who and I was shocked at how good it was. I wasn’t in the business at the time. The bass solos on My Generation were so present and so clear, the whole thing was just stunning.
Side note: I was in their unassuming Dallas shop and was shown a dbx compressor with the comment “that right there will drive every amp rack we own”.
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https://www.paoftheday.com/showco-prism-sound-system/
And what are these “magruder screws” referred to?
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And what are these “magruder screws” referred to?
A screw with a head that needed a special bit to take out.
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A screw with a head that needed a special bit to take out.
If you have to make the drive bit yourself, it becomes a McGuyver screw...
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And what are these “magruder screws” referred to?
Pre-curser to Security Torx?
I hate those fuckin things.....
Chris.
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I heard it at Busch Stadium in 1989 for The Who and I was shocked at how good it was. I wasn’t in the business at the time. The bass solos on My Generation were so present and so clear, the whole thing was just stunning.
Side note: I was in their unassuming Dallas shop and was shown a dbx compressor with the comment “that right there will drive every amp rack we own”.
I heard it with Phil Collins at the Miami Arena in 1993 if I remember correctly. I was so impressed I started to look for info on it. One employee of a loudspeaker system manufacturer told me at the time that the boxes were not the same and sent me a picture they had at their headquarters of it. Apparently they studied the Prism for years.
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https://www.paoftheday.com/showco-prism-sound-system/
In the early 90's, I saw Phil Collins in Kansas City at the Sandstone amphitheater. Showco was the provider. To this date, it is still one of the best "sounding" sound systems I've ever heard. From what I recall, it was powered by all Crown Macrotech (looked like a good amount of the 5000 series).
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In the early 90's, I saw Phil Collins in Kansas City at the Sandstone amphitheater. Showco was the provider. To this date, it is still one of the best "sounding" sound systems I've ever heard. From what I recall, it was powered by all Crown Macrotech (looked like a good amount of the 5000 series).
From what I remember from time working for Crown, there were a lot of bridged MA 2400 and MA 1200 powering that rig. No doubt they must had upgraded to 5000VZ at some point.
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From what I remember from time working for Crown, there were a lot of bridged MA 2400 and MA 1200 powering that rig. No doubt they must had upgraded to 5000VZ at some point.
There were either 1200 or 2400 on the highs and the old PSA-2 amps on the mids and lows. Around the fall of '95 i think they started switching all of the PSA-2 to MA-3600 and all new racks. Each rack did two columns instead of just one.
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I did a private show in about 2010 that Willy Nelson played and they brought their own production. It was a 4 wide Prism rig hung 4 high in a hotel ballroom. That was the last gig I've seen a Prism rig on, and before that would have been maybe 98 or 99 with Green Day.
I have seen guys working under a blanket to replace diaphragms! lol.
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I also worked with Willy around that time probably with the same four box/side rig, but this time the rig was ground stacked. Wonderful show with good sound mixed on a Harrison console. I complimented the engineer on the fine mix and he said: "It's not me, it's the band". Well part of was him. I didn't get his name.