, but I didn’t want to end up in the bad column of someone’s lifetime memories. The photographer had heard me DJ a GSA Father/Daughter dance and told me that compared with most of the other DJs she had heard doing weddings, that I was near the top of the heap. And with that lavish praise, I accepted. 
So, without a lot of confidence, I figured that the least I could do was to give this bride the best sound system I could put together. The venue was a large community center with (at least) 20ft ceilings, a 10 x 30 stage, and an expected crowd of 100 -150. Based on what I have been hearing, I figured that this was near the extreme limit of what I could cover with a pair of Mackie SRM450v2s, so I started building a pair of T39s as documented in “My very own T39 build thread”. It seemed to take me forever and as the day approached I ended up buying David Carter’s T-39s as plan “B”. The best case scenario now was a V-plated four-pack, but as it turned out I could not get mine finished in time and just used David’s.
This past Saturday the reception is scheduled for 1:30 p.m., and at 6:30 a.m. I’m putting the finishing touches on the set-up at home prior to tetris-ing (new word) everything into my Honda CRV. One pass (my first time) through the DRPA Wizard, set the crossover filters, play one song (sounds pretty good), and pack it up. I arrived at the venue at 11:00 a.m. and start setting everything up. Put the T-39s wall loaded (per the speaker placement sticky) at one end of the stage, turned on the computer (thank you lord for allowing it to boot), and started to work on balancing the Mackies against the Titans. Had it sounding pretty good by ear (at moderately low volume) and was toying with the idea of playing with auto RTA when the mother of the bride came up and told me that due to inclement weather that the wedding ceremony was now going to be held in the reception hall. Sound check over.
No chance to work on a gain structure because after the wedding ceremony it is party time. I cue up some songs, push the slider up to dance volume, and let it rip. I have the input controls on the Mackies set around 35 percent and the knobs on the Xti 2000 at around 80 percent. The bass on stage seems overwhelming and I fear that the Titans are knocking the Mackies off their sticks, so after a while I make sure several good songs are cued up and walk the hall. Wow! Off the stage the sound is fantastic.
The Titans are pumping nice clear bass that fills the dance floor and at the back of the hall the mix sounds great but the level still allows normal conversation. As the afternoon progresses, I up the volume somewhat, but it is uncomfortable to stand on the stage with the Titans. At no time during the day do I ever see more than the second green light on the level indicators on the mixer, DRPA or amp. Such sensitivity allowed everything to coast all afternoon.The bottom line is that I accomplished my goal of providing the bride with a fantastic sounding system thanks to BFM. The DJ part went well too and everyone had a lot of fun. The T-39s performed as advertised e.g. huge sound from a smallish box with very little power. Now I need to finish the other pair of T-39s, replace the Mackies with four DR-200s, and head to the dance at the school gym where I can explore stupid loud.
