Marching Band "PIT" reinforcement

[RubiconProSound]

It appears marching band has changed significantly since I was in high school back in the 80's. It now seems like every high school has a bass player and keyboards in their pit. They've also added spoken word, bass drops, sound effects and a host of other stuff. This is my second year with my daughters high school band and in order to remain competitive our little school is starting to add those elements to their performances.

Currently we're using an Anchor Beacon 2 to provide reinforcement for a flute soloist and it's working fine. (she overpowers the band in many cases). We're a rural high school with a small band so we don't need much. I anticipate a bass player and more stuff in the next couple of seasons so I'm being proactive and putting together a system

here's the Anchor system for reference: https://www.anchoraudio.com/Beacon-2/

The design goals are as such:

We have limited space in the trailers so it needs to be a compact form factor
It needs to be simple to deploy with a minimum of complexity. (We have 3 minutes to set everything up in competition)
It must be simple to set up and use for the layperson unfamiliar with live sound reinforcement (parents, kids, etc)
It needs to provide enough reinforcement to match our band size


Last year I met a gentleman in our division who set up a pair of T39's and Omnitop 12's for their school. He said the system worked great but unfortunately I haven't had a chance to hear it myself yet. Our schools are close enough in divisions that I usually miss their performance because we're getting ready. He said he's on the forum so maybe he can chime in if he sees this. (pictures attached)

For our small needs I thought I would build a pair of Omni 15's to be deployed on either side of the 50 yard line, (generally at the 40's) this places the speakers more than 50' apart. I had thought about center clustered subs and tops but pack space requirements and ease of set-up are more important. We barely have enough volunteers to drag out the Pit and props as it is, so simple and quick is key.

A pair of Omni's with the top section tilted back a little to cover the grandstands will meet our needs. The bottom end on the Omni's should be plenty for our small band, and the top section will provide better dispersion than all of the double 15/horn tops I've been seeing lately. I'll add a small cubby on the back of the cabinet to hold the speaker cable and add casters to the bottom. I'm still debating between single 15 or double 12, in the end it might come down to money. I plan to donate this to the band so I'm selling off old gear to fund the project.

The amp rack will be a simple mixer/EQ/and 2 channel amp affair. I'll use the passive crossovers for now and as time and band size dictate I can add an additional amp and processing and bi-amp the speaker in the future.

I'm open to comments/suggestions. Once this project gets underway I'll post construction progress and my observation along the way.

these are the photos of the T39 system:

[Tom Smit]

If you are going to go the O15 route, why not make the cabs as per the plans, and just tilt the cab back? Doing that will keep them more multi-functional.

I'm wondering if that person is MYork. viewtopic.php?f=13&t=7570&p=73392#p73392

[AntonZ]

If you are going to go the O15 route, why not make the cabs as per the plans, and just tilt the cab back? Doing that will keep them more multi-functional.

I think that's exactly what is in the pics Tom. The OT's look as though they are tilted, but actually they are in a frame of 2x4's (or 1x4?). The back of the cabs sits inside the frame. The front of the cabs sits on top of the front edge of the frame. Simple = smart.