BillFitzmaurice.info

So i have some hesitancy about wich dr250-dr280 use and wich hf array to use. The dr280 is specified to have a 90 degrees dispersion for a crowd at 0 to 30ft and the dr250 for inside of 30ft. i plan to use them on crowd of up to 500 people. Also i read that blogpost from bill about melded array.

Bill Fitzmaurice wrote: ↑Tue Oct 06, 2020 7:59 am There is no recommended minimum distance, but at less than 30 feet the melded array will work better.

So does a melded array work best with a small crowd close to the PA no matter which pa? Could i have a flat array with a dispersion rod like on the compression drivers? It would be easily made with a router and some glue. I like the idea of using piezo tweeter because they are cheaper. Are the specification about dispersion is more about the horn than the HF drivers?
Thanks for you guys to take time to answer all of my insecurities.

I would suggest going with the DR250 because of your "small" audience size. According to the sales page https://billfitzmaurice.info/DR250.html 4 cabs will do okay for 800 people. Going with that info, then the best way to do that would be to have 2 cabs per side, with the bottom cab having a melded array to cover the people within the 30 foot range, and the top cab can be either straight array (or another melded array to keep things simple when grabbing a cab for smaller gigs). The melded array is for the first 30 feet, and, beyond 30 feet either the melded or straight array can be used.
The DR280 is a much bigger, heavier cab more suited to larger gigs, IMHO.

Food for thought…
I had six DR200s, bottom cab was a melded array and top two were straight arrays. I rarely used all six together, but it easily covered 450 screaming teenagers.
Four DR250s will be potent! ( I had a pair) Especially combined with the rights subs.
The arrays sound great, a little eq and rock n roll man.

Interesting... I think ill go with 2 re250 melded and 2 flat sound like the best compromise
Thanks a lot for the reply

Between the straight piezo array and the melded array, I can only imagine the straight would be considered for cost savings. You get double the displacement with the melded array configuration, don’t you? Don’t we need more output on the top cabs in a line array as they are throwing the farthest?