Re: Danley SM 80 vs SM 60F?
Hi Y'all,
Last weekend I did a Contra dance festival with a rented pair of SM80s(thanks Hal!), one per side on a QSC PLX1804.
For Contra dances, the Caller has to be heard clearly, at consistent volume, all over the dance floor.
In the past I have used a pair of Tom Danley's td-1 boxes in portrait orientation. The td-1 is a 60 degree wide box and at about 61 degrees it is falling off noticeably, so I have hung a center-fill and added front-corner-fills.
With the SM80s I didn't need the corner-fills, and center-fill was a tiny box at low level covering the first 5~10' of dance floor, sitting on top of a TH115 sub.
The td-1s are pretty balanced boxes, but the SM80s needed even less EQ to sound really good.
I did have to add a few more ms delay to the SM80s to match the TH115 than I had with the td-1s.
It was surprising how well the SM80s seamlessly crossed to the TH115.
With fewer sound sources, intelligibility of the dance callers was a bit higher than in the past.
Also, overall volume level was a db or two lower, yet you could still hear everything very well. Instruments sounded more distinct.
On the PLX1804 the first Signal LED was lighting up, and the second -10 light flashing some, but nowhere near clip.
A-weighted, slow levels averaged around 85db 50' out at the side-of-hall mix position.
The centers of the SM80s were about 10' up in the air, so folks in the front weren't getting blasted.
I didn't get a chance to really crank up the SM80s.
These boxes sound very good and I'm looking forward to working with them again.
To the OP:
Since I haven't heard the SM60F I can't compare it to the SM80.
Knowing how consistently very good Danley boxes sound, I would say buy whatever pattern meets your needs.
Thanks and good health, Weogo
