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I just happen to have a large number of these speakers (bought from parts express), which I've used in various projects. Despite their being tagged as "woofers", I've always been pretty impressed how far into the high end they go. In fact the "on axis" response goes clear out to 20Khz. Well I've I've been thinking of making a line array out of these. For background, I'm a musician and typically play guitar (electric and acoustic) and sing, in small clubs, using various samplers, drum machines, and sometimes home brewed tracks . I've built my own pair of floor speakers using traditional bass-reflex design, with 2 way crossovers to horn tweeters. they can be stacked as needed, or spaced apart "left and right" when there's an elevated stage available. I'll stack them in a long narrow room. But long narrow rooms are always a challenge, and I can't help notice how many musicians are starting to add line arrays to their setup. I can immediately see the advantages, especially in a club where there are often people sitting 20 feet or more away at a bar, and the musicians have to work from the floor off in some corner. in addition to some people sitting closer at tables, these line arrays nicely push some of the audio at all possible head heights, and offer significantly more clarity (you can understand the words being sung!) at a distance where you'd normally expect to hear only muddled tones, or alternately the harsh gritty tones from cheap horns on low budget PA speakers, that probably have more piercing 2kHz than anything.
So anyway, I'd like to experiment adding my own home brewed line array, and since I already have a LOT (literally over 3 dozen) of those small peerless / VIFA speakers, I thought I'd give it a try. Now I'm willing to accept that my first attempt here will be less than ideal, and that I'll likely end up modifying it down the road. In fact, based on what my ears tell me about these little speakers, i wasn't even going to include tweeters the first time, or if I do it will probably be just one on top. But there are a few confusing principals I'd like some advice on, from those who've tried their hand at these arrays.
1) I see that some companies like BOSE seem to angle each speaker slightly left or right in an alternating pattern. Sounds like a great idea, since the best high frequency from full range speakers seems to be when listening head on. But how much of an angle is sensible? And should I just alternate just left and right, or should I do something like a center / left / center /right, etc., in a repeating pattern?
2) I see some builders wire their speakers so that the center drivers get the most power. If the main problem I'm trying to solve is reaching those further back, shouldn't I be sending more power to the top speakers?
3) I've read a lot about the "comb" effect, which basically cases dead spots in the sound field when the speaker spacing is wrong. Is there a simple rule of thumb (without 4 pages of math) that would tell me, perhaps based on room size, what the ideal spacing for my 2-1/2" speakers should be?
4).equipment weight vs good sound always seems to be a trade off. But these are small speakers. Need I make an array like this out of heavy particle board? Could I get away with simple plywood reinforced at the corners? And if so, how thin can I get away with for the plywood? I'd much prefer to avoid anything beyond 1/2" unless there is a clear advantage.
So anyway, I'd like to experiment adding my own home brewed line array, and since I already have a LOT (literally over 3 dozen) of those small peerless / VIFA speakers, I thought I'd give it a try. Now I'm willing to accept that my first attempt here will be less than ideal, and that I'll likely end up modifying it down the road. In fact, based on what my ears tell me about these little speakers, i wasn't even going to include tweeters the first time, or if I do it will probably be just one on top. But there are a few confusing principals I'd like some advice on, from those who've tried their hand at these arrays.
1) I see that some companies like BOSE seem to angle each speaker slightly left or right in an alternating pattern. Sounds like a great idea, since the best high frequency from full range speakers seems to be when listening head on. But how much of an angle is sensible? And should I just alternate just left and right, or should I do something like a center / left / center /right, etc., in a repeating pattern?
2) I see some builders wire their speakers so that the center drivers get the most power. If the main problem I'm trying to solve is reaching those further back, shouldn't I be sending more power to the top speakers?
3) I've read a lot about the "comb" effect, which basically cases dead spots in the sound field when the speaker spacing is wrong. Is there a simple rule of thumb (without 4 pages of math) that would tell me, perhaps based on room size, what the ideal spacing for my 2-1/2" speakers should be?
4).equipment weight vs good sound always seems to be a trade off. But these are small speakers. Need I make an array like this out of heavy particle board? Could I get away with simple plywood reinforced at the corners? And if so, how thin can I get away with for the plywood? I'd much prefer to avoid anything beyond 1/2" unless there is a clear advantage.
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