Note:
One is ALWAYS a student of pro audio.
And thanks to all for the visits.
It's hard to explain since I'm not a scientist. Most of these issues are going to pertain to most cabinets on the market, active or passive, with the possible exception to arrayable cabinets, especially line arrays.
The main concern is being aware of the pattern that your cabinet throws it's sound. For the most part, you shouldn't put two cabinents side by side straight out, they needed to be splayed/angled away from each other so the coverage doesn't overlap. Despite best efforts though, you'll always get some overlap, it's not like the sound waves are going to stay within that field.
When cabinets are not splayed properly, the audio coming out will overlap with that of the other cabinet, and as a result, micro=shifts in timing can cause specific frequencies(variable, dependent on timing, placement, distance) may coincide in a bad way: as in specific frequencies meeting each other out of phase and cancelling each other out, more or less. This won't happen at all frequencies and all distances and will vary all over the place, so what may be out of phase in one zone might be fine in another. This cancellation will rob power from your system as you crank it more and more but don't net much returns.
OK, now, envision a stage, say maybe 8-feet deep, 20-feet wide. I think this is the main room I am thinking of where I see this stupidity occur. The room is WIDE, no deep.
Scenario 1:
So, at the front corners of the stage are a double 18 enclosure, and stacked on that is a splayed OUT 2-way 15" passive, and splayed IN is a 2-way 12" passive. Already there are three issues before I go further. Issue 1: Mixing and matching tops, even when properly splayed, is going to result in inconsistencies and therefore less output overall due to different frequency responses and hence cancellation due to comb filtering. In practice it seems smart, but in application, stupid.
Issue 2: With the tops so low, it's getting absorbed by the audience and NOT projecting. Then again, the double 18's wide are not maximizing their potential either, but I'll let those idiots figure that out.
Issue 3: Wait, that was the sub issue.
Issue 4: Unknown to you, but the rig is underpowered and just between you and me, they have blown tweeters. Better to have power in reserve. But alas, they don't know how to use their gear effectively either, so what difference does it make?
Scenario 2:
Same stage and room.
3-way speaker on each corner, maybe a sub(usually no) as well. Tower on stage, sub on floor near tower. 10-feet BESIDE the stage and against the back wall is another SMALLER tower speaker of ALSO a different brand.
Again, same 4 issues apply. This one is much worse, a the smaller towers are parallelled off the ones off the stage corner, but most importantly, is the location. There is a delay involved and the speaker is not on the same plane and by defacto the sound will NOT arrive in phase even if the delay were non-existant. The outward and back placement will guarantee problems.
Scenario 3: And this is my favorite idiot one:
Speakers in all 4 corners of the room. While you can now have in theory a lower overall volume level since you're not projecting from a single point of origination(say, the stage), now you have created an environment where you're guaranteeing lulls in the off-axis, which is now 9 zones: center, and middles between each speaker as well as directly on axis due to the overlaps. In one particular room, there are more zones due to the overlaps and delays in this scenario.
Tied to the above, had to endure an event done this way. Virtually NO sound and it's already feeding back. Couple that with bad food and it was an unplesaant experience. Wasn't my system.
I've also been told HOW to operate my system "Because that's how everyone else does it". They wanted speakers spread out everywhere. I gave them 2 choices: My way or I turn around and go home and you giveup not only your desposit but ALSO your payment for the whole event since it was less than 24 hours notice. Needless to say, they wisely chose to stay the hell out of my way. The audience was blown away, the happy couple was impressed, and not only did we get paid in full, but we got a big tip as well.
These issues become MORE important when dealing with a live act since it's not as "controllable" as a DJ_style event. Feedback becomes more of an issue(instead of less as they would think). Performer movement plays into this as well. Now gain structure and experience and proper powering and usage of the PA becomes essential. It's better, especially with a band, to have all your mains pointing in the same direction in one plane.
If my PA didn't sound good, then what difference will my lights make? My competition covers up their lack of audio skills with, well, a lack of lights as well. But their concept is "eye candy corrects all ails", and nothing can be further from the truth. My priority is sound, lights are merely a dressing in my opinion. ADJ is definately going to get more of my money as I need more lights. I could go with another brand and really, get all the same stuff just with different names on it. Why bother? I started with ADJ and will stick with them, makes it easier to deal with support issues: one call can potentially take care of ALL my problems.
Lights and sound are two totally different disciplines. One can do both extremely well and be very proficient in both. In my case, I am choosing to focus on the audio, while I am letting my wife and a brother in law perfect lighting although I drive the lighting issues as well. Since I'm doing rather complicated events now, my simplistic lighting has gotten capable of doing some neat things. Also, my events are getting more lighting-intensive so I'm having to move into intels as movers, which is fine. I'm letting my gigs dictate evolution.
I am co-owner of a pro wrestling promotion, so I am also doing lighting design as well as audio. I work in with an audio/video production facility. I own my own mobile PA company, which is turning into a full production company for small events.
