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Here's a tip for you....

On the weekend I was asked to run the PA on stage for this social group I regularly do work for. My job was to provide the PA and cue/run the music for various acts throughout the day - no DJ'ing as such. I had 2 APX 152s as FOH with SUBS and 2 other APXs as stage monitors. I had 3 mics, one wireless, the other two on stands on leads. I was setup at the back-side of the stage.

All was good for most of the day, everything was working well and sounding really good. When outdoors the APXs can really perform.

Towards the end there was this fashion parade and the designer was to get on the mic and describe the outfits as the models walked out right.

Needless to say this designer had no idea how to hold a mic to save her life, you know the type, they hold it at stomach level so when they speak you can't hear a word they are saying. On top of that whenever she stopped talking she'd hold the mic pointing down towards the !@#$%!@#stage monitors and guess what? Feedback Euphoria!!!! I had to constantly drop and increase the gain whenever she spoke but because of the extra gain I had on her mic the damn thing would feedback if I wasn't watching carefully.

My view got progesssively blocked/distracted by all these scantily clad models who were all piling on the stage after their walks, did I mention I was setup at the back-side of the stage. I could now not see this designer woman and her mic. All of a sudden SREEEEEEEEEECH.....POP......the sound coming out of my speakers was like someone had stuffed cotton balls in my ears - no top end at all!

After a bit of investigation and stuffing around I concluded that out of the 4 APXs I had blown 3 of the compression horns....I was devestated. Luckily for me it was the end of the day and it didn't ruin the show too much. I now have to go to the trouble and expense of getting them fixed.

Yes I know I should of used some sort of feedback limiting device or been more vigilant in my mic handling but because of the small size of the show and the fact that the whole day went without one feedback issue until the end I decided to take that risk and go without. Its a leason learned hard. Thanks for listening.

ROQ out.
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dayum ROQ that must really suck.... i run into alot of those people myself....talk about "singing from ur stomach" huh??.... they must think u have to put the mic there as well...lol....
n-e-ways.... what i usually do with wireless mics is have them samll ones that u can pin to their shirt collars.... or the head phone kind... that way when they get in front of the speakers and it starts to feed back, the first thing they do is move their heads away from the speakers.... unlike the handheld mics.... people just move their heads but still have their hands waving the mic infront of speakers....
in some situations u'll find people that dont like not having a mic in their hands....so i give them the wired mic and tug the cord when they start to wonder off in front of the speakers... but i guess the easiest way to avoid all this is to just have a feedback eliminator... but then again... they can cost quite a bit... but yeah.... thats juss somthin to think about Big Grin Big Grin

fobster..
quote:
Originally posted by DJ ROQ:
[qb] Yes I know I should of used some sort of feedback limiting device or been more vigilant in my mic handling but because of the small size of the show and the fact that the whole day went without one feedback issue until the end I decided to take that risk and go without. Its a leason learned hard. Thanks for listening.

ROQ out. [/qb]
Th APX speakers dont have any type of protection?
quote:
Originally posted by DJ Stevie Ray:
[qb] I don't know what kind of built in protection on any active speaker could have prevented damage caused in this manner. There is no protection against stupidity..... (Not you Roq) the lady. [/qb]
Actually there are two manufacturers (that I personally know of) of active speakers that protect against stuff like this.. It's why they call them "active" not "powered"

Smiler
quote:
Originally posted by DJ Stevie Ray:
[qb] My point is that there is no form of protection (except someone with a baseball bat) [/qb]
Whoops.. Smiler
just had it pointed out these were passive speakers he was using... sorry.. my mind is stuck on active speakers this week Smiler

Even the so called "protection" on even the best speakers wouldnt have helped in this situation..
If using a crossover for your subs, and likely an equalizer too, for the price of those two pieces you can get the DriveRackPA by d b x and this has feedback elimination along with a host of other features that will easily replace and upgrade your system significantly...and save those precious drivers too!

Bob
Ok here's an update on the problem. Turns out the diaphrams of the compression drivers had burnt out and needed replacing. Once I took them apart it was obvious, you could easily see and smell the burn marks on the coils.

Replacing them was a breeze, all I needed was a hex key and s screwdriver to open up the back of the speaker, took about 10 minutes on each one. Total cost: $99.00 (AUD) for each diaphram x3 = $297.00 (AUD).

ROQ out.

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