BillFitzmaurice.info

How high up do you put your tops when they are on stands?

I have two OT12s per side, one crossfire, one flat array. I have been putting setting the stands to the max height, which puts the bottom edge of the lower cabinet at about 5ft8" off the floor.

When running the double stacked OTs, can I bring them down a bit lower? Seems they would be more stable and I would still have the upper cab high enough to get coverage to the back of the room. The stage is wide enough that people don't have to stand directly in front of the tops.

I ran them that way at an outdoor show once when it was windy and I didn't trust the stands in the wind on grass. It seemed to work pretty well.

No big deal, just wanted to see what people here thought.

The bottom of my tops are usually at about 5'10 from the ground.

It should depend on whether your audience is sitting or standing and how far away they are. There is no one perfect height.

Too high and your bouncing sound around the ceiling spaces of the venue. Too low and you don't get area coverage. Ideally, any listener in the room within the coverage pattern of the speaker should have direct line of sight to the mid high box.

I use crank stands that can support 150 pounds. The stands will extend to about 10ft. The stands are HEAVY (35-40 pounds each). VERY stable...but painful to haul in/out.

I put a single or double stack of DR200's on them. The bottom of the stack is typically 7-8 ft from the ground.

Frederic Gelinas wrote:The bottom of my tops are usually at about 5'10 from the ground.

Same here.

I go just over the heads of the tallest people in attendance. Seems to work out very good for every gig so far.

SoundInMotionDJ wrote:The stands will extend to about 10ft. The bottom of the stack is typically 7-8 ft from the ground.

Me too. Usually in a large room, where ceilings are a good 16' high, room is a typical gym or cafeteria. Bottom of Cabinets 7-8' high, angled and aimed towards the crowd at the back of the room. Also Stereo. Not so much for effect, just easy to setup. Speaker on L ch, speaker on the R ch. Done. Subs run mono. Xti 4000's.

Lastcat wrote:

Man that looks a cool tidy rig.

+1. Nice

Man, That IS nice!

Just an idea from looking over the picture: That portable stage could be made out of T60 slims.... I know not to combine horn types but that could be a way to sneak by some of those "That looks loud" people.

Thanks Harley, draehn.

I should share with you what I did.

The Stage is actually my gear boxes I made a from 1/2 Plywood. Interior boxes are well braced too. Everything you see gets packed into 2 longs boxes, (that have wheels that I remove) and 4 of the Black Gear boxes on top of the Stage.

I like the idea of never have to setup and then head back out to the trailer and put all the gear boxes away. Then at the end of a long night, have to get the trailer, and get the gear boxes, then try to get through the crowd and load out. "Pardon me, excuse me, pardon me, excuse me, make a hole! coming through".

When I have everything packed away, by that time, most of the crowd has left, and its just an easy roll out the 2 large boxes, the 4 T39's and 1 smaller long box, which holds my Black Lights, and is used as a mini step at the back of the Stage. I actually, have everything I need at the end of the night. When I leave, I have 7 moves to load out.

This....



Becomes this...



The long boxes are my stage, and all the other boxes hold my gear, or have my amps and computer setup. Every box has corner protectors, lids, handles, and latches. Inside the long boxes is where I put the stands. 2 stands per box, then cords, cables, whatever.

The square black boxes hold, lights, scanners, cables, computer, amps, etc.

I have a Nephew that is 19 and he and I have this system down. We can get in and setup within an hour. Tear down within 45 mins. And that is leaving the parking lot.



Below is how all my gear will fit into my 6x12 Trailer...



You can now see the wheels on the longer boxes. They are 2 wheels attached to a piece of 3/4 plywood. Bolted from the inside.



Here I am at the 'controls'. All my wires are neatly tucked away on the back of the Lights, behind my Banner. The box to my left is an area I use for Request. Like a 'Service Counter'..lol.

https://home.comcast.net/~lastcat/BFM/gear14.jpg

I have thought about using subs as a stage, you could, but I think it will be loud and cause a lot of vibration for my computer.

Lastcat

Veeery nicely done. Good use of storage!

Well done.

This was an awesome hijack of which I fully approve.

Back to my topic just a bit. I dropped the tops down a bit lower than I normally would this past Friday. The top set of OTs still carried the back of the room great. The lower set seemed no more crushing up close than they were when the sticks were fully extended. It all seemed more stable. I'm going to do that from now on when I can get away with it.