Ideas for raft sound system

[67baja]

Hi all,
A little background for you all:

My friends and I have been planning to attend a river float event the beginning of June which I offered to provide sound for. Originally I was planning to just use my Jack 12 with the solar set up which gets pretty loud. My partners in crime built a raft 8'x16' that is now being sponsored by a hip hop group so I am feeling obligated to add to my sound system. The raft is built "properly" with a bunch of plastic barrels, full 2x6 pressure treated decking, etc. The plan is to have a margarita machine, probably a bar built, and palapa umbrellas for shade.

I have a Honda 3500 watt generator, 2-24" THTs, 2 Otop 12s, Jack 12, 1 t30 slim (4 ohm, 250 watt 10" Eminence driver), a QSC usa400 amp, a Pioneer 2 channel (plus mic input) mixer, a Driverack PA+, some subwoofer plate amps, a gallon of Duratex, and 7 more drivers that I was planning on eventually building more t30 slims with.

So, I need to decide on if I want to just use my thts or get in gear to build 3 (or 7!) more t30 slims (4 ohm drivers, btw). I have a few guys that would help build subs if needed. My thts are stained and poly'ed, but I don't mind if they get a little abused. I need amplifier power to drive said subs - I have a 500 watt and a 300 watt plate amp, but no pro amp capable of driving the subs to their limit. I found a GX5 amp on craigslist for $300 that I may contact the seller about. Also, we will have 2 or 3 full size trucks driving to the river, so size isn't as important as sound.

This river float will be in Arizona and I suspect it will be hot, >100 degrees.

Any ideas or input you guys can give me will be appreciated - I have never set up sound before.

[y2kindyz]

Man that sound like fun

4 t30 slims and your 2 OTops 12 should make for a good setup.

How much room are you able to use for sound of the 8' x 16'?

[67baja]

Man that sound like fun

4 t30 slims and your 2 OTops 12 should make for a good setup.

How much room are you able to use for sound of the 8' x 16'?

I think the sound system will be the most important part of the raft, so I can use as much space as needed.

The plan now is to build 2 double loaded t30s in the 27" or so wide category. The 4 ohm drivers will be series wired for an 8+ ohm load per cab. Then if I find more time, I can build some more subs, but the 2 dual loaded boxes should be enough.

The sponsors just ordered these microphones:
http://www.amazon.com/GTD-Audio-G-622H- ... B004443DZ2

The guy still has the gx5 amp and is firm at $300 - new is $400 so it's not a <great> deal like I usually try to get, but it is local and cheaper than new at least. Still not decided if I will get it.

[subharmonic]

Seems to me that raft size deck is divisible by T48, 24" wide all down firing. Lets see thats 16 T48s......dooo it.

[jimbo7]

I support your effort, but this seems like something bad could happen. That's a lotta equipment and money in grave danger of getting ruined.

Short story: I went on a day canoe trip this past weekend with the girlfriend and now my ipod is in the bottom of the river. I had it on my cooler inside my mini battery-powered speaker thing (it's like a small women's hand purse thing you can zip up) and she reached back to grab for it and then all I saw was it the ipod flying through the air and splash in the water. As it sank I saw the screen light up and jumped in after it. The water is pretty cold this time of year but I didn't feel a thing as I waded in the waist-high water rushing below searching for my black ipod against a dark, murky rock bottom. I gave up after a few passes of the area figuring the current probably took it away and by now there's no saving it. My gf apologised several times and blah blah blah but I was livid. I barely said a word the rest of the trip to prevent saying something I shouldn't. Now she's mad at me for being mad and worrying too much about "material things"
Women....

Sorry for the rant, but I had to vent a bit and felt this was the perfect opportunity

[CoronaOperator]

Now she's mad at me for being mad and worrying too much about "material things"
Women....

Buy her a pair of shoes, she'll get over it.

[67baja]

Or accidentally drop her favorite shoes in the river.

The t48 idea is good, but my drivers won't work in t48s.

I'm not too concerned about drowning my equipment. The raft should be stable enough and (not trying to sound like anybody's girlfriend) it's only "stuff". All of the boxes I've built were only built for fun. Hell, I just gave away my tlahs and curved sla as housewarming gifts and will build more.

[Hackomatic]

Hell, I just gave away my tlahs and curved sla as housewarming gifts and will build more.

Ummm . . you wanna move closer to me?

[BrentEvans]

being mad and worrying too much about "material things"
Women....

Take a dry erase marker to her cell phone screen. She'll freak out, no damage will be done, then you can say "it's only material things..."

[jimbo7]

Her phone is glued to her hand

[BrentEvans]

Her phone is glued to her hand

All the better.

[67baja]

Last weekend I took one otop and 1 slim t30 to give the others aa preview of what is in store for the raft. I was running the otop with about 110 watts and the t30 with a Yung 300 watt ht plate amp. They were *quite* impressed. Sadly,I don't think I will be v-plating due to the size of the raft.

Today I ordered a real amp for the t30s in progress - a Peavey ipr2 3000. It should put out almost enough juice to drive my 4 10s to their limit. I will be limiting my cabs at 60 or 70 volts (2 drivers in series) and I think the ipr2 will put out close to 60 volts. I also ordered some Dayton drivers to build some sla pros if I get the time. That way I can run 2 otops forward and 2 sla pros facing back.

[67baja]

The ipr2 3000 came in today. Playing around with it, I see it puts out 68-69 volts at peak. It will set the limiter for 66 or so volts. That should protect the drivers. Subs are nearing completion. Saturday we will do a dry run with all the subs, tops, and amps all being driven of the generator.

[miked]

This is a very cool thread and I look forward to all the pics. There will be lots of pics, right? No pics=no raft system.
I envy your lack of fear of the potential loss. Homemade raft + lots of drunk people + raft most probably overloaded with weight which was possibly poorly distributed = disaster waiting to happen.

But I'm a worry-wart. It comes from 20 years in the military where a scapegoat must be found and publically flogged and hanged should the slightest thing go wrong. The brain scars are permanent. Anyway.

I hope it all goes well though! It's good to hear that your friends were very impressed with the demo you did for them. When it comes to decibels per cab you can't beat Bill's horns.

ps
There are rivers in Arizona? I thought it was all cactus and caliche gravel and lizards and stuff.

[Gregory East]

Someone needs to take a drive to the Grand Canyon.