System help for a wedding reception

[uroford1]

I need a little help deciding which way to go providing music for a friend’s wedding reception. It’s basically an iTunes playlist from a computer into a Peavey USB-P interface into a Yamaha P3500S amp, no mics or anything live. The room is about 40X70 with a 20X20 dance floor in the forward third and tables in the rear two thirds. The bar will be to the left of the dance floor probably even with the forward edge. I was going to set up behind a curtain on the forward side of the dance floor at the corners to concentrate the sound level on the dance floor so that the people sitting at tables could converse a little easier. I know that corner placement would better energize the room and afford a better overall sound but then it would also be blasting into the back of the bartenders head. I have a pair of Econowave Standards that I built into an old pair of Peavey vented cabs w/pole mounts. I have the components to build these into Econowave Delite 12’s but think the cab volume may be larger than Zilch’s 1.6, which was tuned to 30hz so I may need some guidance on that front. So should I let it rest there, maybe building up the Zilch Board crossover with some higher wattage resistors or take advantage of some other gear that I have access to:
2-JBL 4647A (2226 in a 4507 cab)
1-more Yamaha P3500S
1-Yamaha P5000S
1-Yamaha P2500S
1-BSS FDS-336T
I’d need more guidance to integrate this stuff but would like to learn as my sons band is starting to play in a larger place and I’d like to help them out.
Thanks,
-Steve

[Paul O]

Re: System help for a wedding reception

You need a pair of PA speakers on stands and one decent sub for this event so you have more amps than you need really but I'm not clear on what speakers or parts of speakers you have on hand, can you clarify.

[uroford1]

Re: System help for a wedding reception

The speakers that I am proposing to put together have a Eminence Deltalite 2512 ll and a B&C DE250 on a QSC PL-000446GP Waveguide Horn. These will go into an ported peavey cab of about 1.8 cu. ft. I have a passive crossover design for this combo but it may need some higher wattage resistors. I could go active two way with a sub using the BSS but don't really have the time to do all the measurements to make it all work together. If anyone can help cut that learning curve I would like to try. `The subs are two JBL 4647A which is a 5 cu. ft. box ported to 40 Hz containing a 15 in. 2226h. They are used for general purpose LF in theaters and fixed installs

[Paul O]

Re: System help for a wedding reception

The speakers that I am proposing to put together have a Eminence Deltalite 2512 ll and a B&C DE250 on a QSC PL-000446GP Waveguide Horn. These will go into an ported peavey cab of about 1.8 cu. ft. I have a passive crossover design for this combo but it may need some higher wattage resistors. I could go active two way with a sub using the BSS but don't really have the time to do all the measurements to make it all work together. If anyone can help cut that learning curve I would like to try. `The subs are two JBL 4647A which is a 5 cu. ft. box ported to 40 Hz containing a 15 in. 2226h. They are used for general purpose LF in theaters and fixed installs

OK that clarifies it greatly. Having built a 12" 2-way similar to yours with a passive crossover I'd definitely suggest you go all active to start out, some quick and dirty settings for the DSP are 100hz and 1.5khz LR24 crossovers, a 35hz 24dB Butterworth low cut for the subs, and set the output level of the highs at minus 8-9dB. Give this a listen with a range of music and tweak EQ and relative levels to taste. This will be safe for any power level you want to push the system to, maybe use the P2500 on the comps, the P3500 on the 12's and the P5000 on the subs.

Save the passive crossover for a later date, I built one for my speakers but it took several revisions over the course of a year or more to get it to a point where I was happy with it.. it's just so much easier and quicker to do it actively if you have the amps and DSP on hand.

[uroford1]

Re: System help for a wedding reception

Thanks Paul that's exactly the kind of quick and dirty I was looking for. Do I need to do anything with delay as the tops will be on sticks and the subs on the floor but not directly underneath, as there's no pole mount on the sub box. I do have REW and a umm6 mic but haven't used it yet.

Thanks,

-Steve

[Sydney]

Re: System help for a wedding reception

... Do I need to do anything with delay as the tops will be on sticks and the subs on the floor but not directly underneath,...

Steve:
What would be the distance of separation from the tops?
From experience: With a distance a little as 8 - 9' ( a half wavelength of 86Hz to 76Hz ) - it made a difference.

[uroford1]

Re: System help for a wedding reception

I'd say the center of mid woof to center of sub 6-7 feet and maybe another foot further to the center of the horn.

[Sydney]

Re: System help for a wedding reception

What is your sub x-over frequency?
Perhaps not a deal breaker, but certainly in your scenario I'd experiment.

( 6' -7' is half-wavelength for 114Hz & 98Hz )

[uroford1]

Re: System help for a wedding reception

Paul said set it at 100 but I know that 2226H will play well even higher.

[Sydney]

Re: System help for a wedding reception

FWIW: I'd experiment with phase/delay.
Don't know if you have been in this hall before ( to get a "feel" for it's acoustics ).
Certainly any opportunity to test before the wedding would help.
Most active crossovers allow for a simple polarity inversion of bands - easy to evaluate by switching in and out. This has helped on occasion.
Some active crossovers allow for a delay/phase control in time or degrees.

[uroford1]

Re: System help for a wedding reception

That's what I've read, invert polarity and adjust delay for the deepest measured null at the crossover frequency and then switch polarity back. It's just what distance to measure at and what db or watt output to use in the measurements, things that are a given to pro guy's I have been trying to distill from posts on different forums. I know people are helpful here so I'm trying to get the answers in one place. After set up I may have a half hour to tweak in room.
-Steve

[Sydney]

Re: System help for a wedding reception

http://www.mixonline.com/news/live-gear/understanding-phase/368380

[jefffluker]

Re: System help for a wedding reception

I'd worry less about the sound and more about this "iTunes playlist."

[uroford1]

Re: System help for a wedding reception

Very good tutorial especially Part 2. Just a question, can you apply delay for every phase shift even if it occurs in a small frequency band or do you sum all the delays for shifts that occur in the band between crossover frequencies? Or did I miss the gist of those tutorials entirely?

Thanks,

-Steve

[uroford1]

Re: System help for a wedding reception

Yeah, that's their deal (bride and groom). I just worry about any variance in amplitude of the songs coming out. I know in Pandora things are up and down depending on the mix, I've haven't used iTunes much.