Adding more speaker and comb filtering

[Unsound Practices]

A few of the other threads had me thinking about what one does when he needs more speaker area for tops.

 

If the generic bar band setup is a 12" top over an 18" sub on each side, you could add subs easily enough. But what happens when you need more bang on the tops and your box has a 70x70 coverage pattern? How would you minimize comb filtering? Or would you NOT use a 70x70 top if you thought you would need more than one on each side?

 

Is that even a valid question? Thanks for the education.

[Ryan Yorck]

It depends on where you're trying to deliver the additional "bang". If you're trying to throw farther out, you'd stack the additional top speaker upside-down with the horns mating. If you're trying to throw wider, you'd stack the additional top speaker next to it, and splay accordingly. Lastly, if you're trying to simply cover more ears in the venue, you'd hang or pole-mount the additional speakers farther down the room and delay accordingly with your handy-dandy system DSP. That's the simple answer.

[agedhorse]

Sometimes the benefit of adding more speakers outweighs the effects of comb filtering. It's usually worth trying before deciding.

[dboomer]

 

It depends on where you're trying to deliver the additional "bang". If you're trying to throw farther out, you'd stack the additional top speaker upside-down with the horns mating. If you're trying to throw wider, you'd stack the additional top speaker next to it, and splay accordingly.

 

 

Generally the better way to do it is to still stack them with one upside down on top of the other. Then you splay them. Example a 90 over a 90 should be pretty good (in the horizontal) up to 180 wide .. so you can go 100, 110 120 etc up to 180. Side by side they would only work if you set them for a minimum of 180. Even then it's better to get the driver diaphragms closer together as they are when you flip one up on top.

 

Of course you make the vertical worse when you do this ... so forget balconies.

 

70 x 70 is very tough to combine. I've never understood this pattern ... it doesn't fit in many venues even in singles. The above example works much better with your standard 90x40 or 60x40. 70x70's just can't get out of their own way.

 

If you need more "bang" you should bi-amp the tops