This is the third year that I provided sound for this same event. Last year the system in the main room was four Klipsch KP-3002's, and two KP-480's on the main floor, with some additional side fills (either Yamaha S115-IV's, or Peavey SP-5's). This system "required" a BBE to sound good.
The BFD system is 8 DR200's, and 8 T39's @ 14" BP102 loaded. I have a DEQ2496 and DCX2496 to manage the system. I was using EP2500 amps for the DR's - two cabinets per channel, and CS-800's for the T39's - three cabinets on one channel (I did not have the right combination of patch cables to use both channels).
The ballroom is 215ft wide, by 80ft deep, by 22ft high. The main dance floor was 64ft x 40ft and centered in the room. There were two side dance floors for additional room. The subs were in two stacks of four on either side of the floor. I was not able to wall load the subs. I have not yet made a V-plate.
The DRs were spread for coverage. On either side of the floor, I stacked one X-fire and one straight-fire on a stand. I split two tops on the stage at 1/3 intervals. The remaining two tops were for fill to the sides of the room.
I set the X-over to about 100Hz. That is a little low for a single DR, but because the tops were providing fill, I wanted them to be as low as practical. To my ear, it the DRs were able to handle 100Hz as part of the total mix.
I setup the DEQ/DCX to limit the signal to the amps in my garage. I set the limiter so that the max voltage would be 30v. I used a 1kHz signal to do this. At the event, I used the RTA mic to measure SPL about 4m in front of one of the stacks on the side of the floor. I reset the limiter to allow no more than 105dB at that spot, and 100dB on the front edge of the floor ~45ft from the speakers and 30ft from the back wall. This still provided a very full sound in the room. I rechecked the amp voltage with the 1kHz signal. The tops were getting 12.4v! That's less than 40w into 4 Ohms!!!!! The subs were getting about 16v or ~75w into 3.33 Ohms. This is where the system stayed for the rest of the weekend.
The EQ curve would have made me cringe in years past. I let the AEQ run for about 45 seconds to stabilize, and took those values. Using the bypass function on the DEQ, the EQ was certainly helping the sound.
There was some power noise that was about 110dB down. It was plainly audible in the speakers - if the room was empty and quite. The hotel electrician had never heard that noise in a PA before. Even isolating the sources and effects behind a UPS was not enough - the amps were exposed to the power directly. The ballroom shared a panel with the kitchen, so every electric motor - all the fans, blowers, refridges, etc, etc - was dumping noise into the system. This is one of the unintended consequences of really sensitive speakers.
OK, so how did it sound?
The clarity, brightness, and SPL of the DR's can not be understated. Simply put, this is the clearest, cleanest, and brightest set of tops I have ever heard. The DR's are so good that I never want to boost that 80lb KP-3002 onto a stand again! The DRs sound so much better than the KP-3002's even with the BBE "cheat."
The T39's were *awesome*. On 25W of power per box the T39's still solidly held down the low end. Across the back of the room, the sound was full, the bass was very present, and it was never too loud.
This sound is very different from tops/subs that use direct radiators. You need to stand back a little to really let the sound mix together. These boxes really shine when you are 10ft back or so.
Problems in year's past with "slap back" from the far wall were completely gone. I used a little "toe in" on the setup...but I've done that with other speakers. I'm wondering if the tight vertical dispersion of the DR was the real solution. By keeping the sound off the ceiling and floor, it may have helped control the slap back.
I had event directors for three other events hire me based on how the system sounded over the weekend! I am still in negotiation with one other event director to do their event. At this point, I have checks in hand that cover more than the total cost of the build...all from this one weekend.
This event was a professional dance competition. In some of the divisions, couples can choose their own music. In most cases, these couples have listened to these songs for months as they developed their routines and practiced. They know these songs inside and out. I had four professional couples who "complained" that on my system they were hearing things in the music that they had never noticed before and it was distracting to them.
What's next?
After I got home from the event, I noticed that on the x-firing arrays, that the center glue joint had "split" in a couple of places after I screwed it down. So, I had air leaks in at least half the DR's - and they were still louder and clearer than anything else I've heard!!! I can't wait to get that fixed and try them out again.
I do need to get some taller stands. My current stands will go to about 7'. With a "tall boy" design, that is enough to get a CD horn high enough. With DR's, I think 8' is the minimum practical height, if you have a 8-10' stand off from the audience.
I need to build a V-plate and try that with the T39's. I have another event coming up in two weeks...and I should be able to get that done by then.
Overall, I'm even more impressed now than before I started the build. I do have a lot of energy, time, blood, and knuckle skin tied up in these cabinets. Even so, the payoff of hearing them is better than I was expecting.
--Stan Graves
