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Hello All,
First post in a couple of years here. I have been lurking recently to see if/when the write up from the SDC is posted by PE staff. I am also still waiting to get my score sheets and comments. Maybe soon on both of these.
I have a couple of comments about the room setup. All in all let's keep in mind that this was evidently the first year in this facility and there are always some things that can be improved. The space is very well suited for the type of competition we had, but I think that there are a couple of things could help the experience.
1. Listening/judging room setup.
Putting adsorption everywhere, on all walls, is not a recipe for good sound. Instead these rooms would be better if the "live end dead end" concept was employed. This states that the front wall (the one you see behind the speakers from the listening position) should be "live" that is a hard, reflective surface. The wall behind the listening position should be quite dead. The side walls can have some adsorption, and this is especially helpful when the room is on the narrow side, like the judging room. Actually, the judging room was set up in the completely opposite way - no treatment behind the judges and all other walls with moving blankets and acoustic fabric. Live end dead end should make the sound better overall, for a variety of speaker types.
2. Jam Room
The same idea applies to the jam room regarding room treatment. This room is wider, so the side walls really do not need treatment towards the front of the room. Only the rear wall should be treated to make it more dead, and perhaps the side walls starting about halfway back.
3. Location of playback equipment
In both the judging and jam rooms, the rack of playback gear was right smack in the middle of where speakers are placed. This was IMHO a problem especially in the judging room. It's small. There is a desk in front of the judges. Larger speakers need some room to integrate properly. Because of the rack I set up my speakers about halfway in the room. They would have been better placed closer to the back wall (but no closer than 1m). Put the equipment at the back at the side opposite the door and get some long 12GA speaker cables. There is no need to clutter up the front with the gear, and this will place the equipment next to one of the judges if they need to use it. This is less of an issue in the Jam room because it is larger, but I think it would be better to move the rack to the side there too.
4. Length of time to demo, and to talk to the builder
We all would like to be able to play music through our speakers for longer in order to let the audience better judge them, etc. Unfortunately because of the pace at which the event must proceed and the ensuing rotation through the jam room after the judging room, I think there is no solution to the this issue. There is only so much time and space to work with at/during the event. On the other hand, I would have like to talk to several of the builders about their projects but I was unable to find the person or did not know who they were.
5. Who is who?
Another problem, particularly for me because I have not attended in the past, was that I had a very hard time putting together the names at the event with people I had only known via their username at PE or other online forums. It really took me awhile to figure out who some of these people were. Perhaps a larger name badge, maybe on a lanyard and bearing REAL NAME, SCREEN NAME, PROJECT NAME in large font would make this easier? For some reason I only received a tiny piece of paper with my name scribbled on it, dangling from a piece of tape to identify me. After 1 day these things often just fall off. A lanyard can be put on and taken off repeatedly, and is much more robust. Just a suggestions there, PE.
I'd like to hear comments from others about these issues and my suggested improvements. Maybe we can crowd source some good solutions for next year.
-Charlie
First post in a couple of years here. I have been lurking recently to see if/when the write up from the SDC is posted by PE staff. I am also still waiting to get my score sheets and comments. Maybe soon on both of these.
I have a couple of comments about the room setup. All in all let's keep in mind that this was evidently the first year in this facility and there are always some things that can be improved. The space is very well suited for the type of competition we had, but I think that there are a couple of things could help the experience.
1. Listening/judging room setup.
Putting adsorption everywhere, on all walls, is not a recipe for good sound. Instead these rooms would be better if the "live end dead end" concept was employed. This states that the front wall (the one you see behind the speakers from the listening position) should be "live" that is a hard, reflective surface. The wall behind the listening position should be quite dead. The side walls can have some adsorption, and this is especially helpful when the room is on the narrow side, like the judging room. Actually, the judging room was set up in the completely opposite way - no treatment behind the judges and all other walls with moving blankets and acoustic fabric. Live end dead end should make the sound better overall, for a variety of speaker types.
2. Jam Room
The same idea applies to the jam room regarding room treatment. This room is wider, so the side walls really do not need treatment towards the front of the room. Only the rear wall should be treated to make it more dead, and perhaps the side walls starting about halfway back.
3. Location of playback equipment
In both the judging and jam rooms, the rack of playback gear was right smack in the middle of where speakers are placed. This was IMHO a problem especially in the judging room. It's small. There is a desk in front of the judges. Larger speakers need some room to integrate properly. Because of the rack I set up my speakers about halfway in the room. They would have been better placed closer to the back wall (but no closer than 1m). Put the equipment at the back at the side opposite the door and get some long 12GA speaker cables. There is no need to clutter up the front with the gear, and this will place the equipment next to one of the judges if they need to use it. This is less of an issue in the Jam room because it is larger, but I think it would be better to move the rack to the side there too.
4. Length of time to demo, and to talk to the builder
We all would like to be able to play music through our speakers for longer in order to let the audience better judge them, etc. Unfortunately because of the pace at which the event must proceed and the ensuing rotation through the jam room after the judging room, I think there is no solution to the this issue. There is only so much time and space to work with at/during the event. On the other hand, I would have like to talk to several of the builders about their projects but I was unable to find the person or did not know who they were.
5. Who is who?
Another problem, particularly for me because I have not attended in the past, was that I had a very hard time putting together the names at the event with people I had only known via their username at PE or other online forums. It really took me awhile to figure out who some of these people were. Perhaps a larger name badge, maybe on a lanyard and bearing REAL NAME, SCREEN NAME, PROJECT NAME in large font would make this easier? For some reason I only received a tiny piece of paper with my name scribbled on it, dangling from a piece of tape to identify me. After 1 day these things often just fall off. A lanyard can be put on and taken off repeatedly, and is much more robust. Just a suggestions there, PE.
I'd like to hear comments from others about these issues and my suggested improvements. Maybe we can crowd source some good solutions for next year.
-Charlie
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