Re: Line array for 1500 cap venue
Here is the approach I would take.
1: Get plans for the room-so people can do a coverage map-both width and depth of listening area. Be sure to state how high the speaker can be placed-without obstruction.
2: Get a budget number that includes speakers-amps-processing. The rest of the system can be "whatever" you want to spend-the sky is the limit. It could be 3K console or a 200K console, that does not affect the speaker system.
3:Come up with some REASONABLE SPL levels desired-and state whether they are 1 or C weighted-fast or slow etc and where you want to be able to measure that level.
NOW you have a decent "target" for a designer to shoot for. If you leave out any one of the above factors-then you will get all kinds of different designs that are not compatable.
I got a call from one of our reps yesterday telling me about how a demo went. He said the customer wanted the demo to be louder. What we brought out was within their budget. The customer said the previous company that did a demo did not sound as good as our products-but was louder. Our local dealer reminded them that what they heard from the other manufacturer was MUCH higher than their budget and it was their "BIG" system-not at all what they were proposing for the actual install.
But they still listened to the larger system and somehow wanted a much smaller/cheaper system to be just as loud. If you want to compare-you have to compare equally-either the same budget-and see who gets louder- or the same loudness and see who is cheaper and sounds better.
Another example-we just recently won a bid in which we did a demo in the customers venue. Another manufacturer invited the customer to a little bit smaller venue that had almost TWICE the size system they were proposing for this customer. Not exactly the best way to do a comparison to get a good understanding of the results the customer would get. But never the less, the customer went with us because what they heard in their venue simply sounded better. The smaller system proposed and ours were pretty much the same cost-or close enough to make that part "equal" when looking at the different systems proposed.
Not a big job-just over 1/3rd of a Million watts. HA-HA.
Set some realistic guidelines for the system and what you expect it to do and cost-and then you can get some reasonable results in the way of designs.
Without that-you will be all over the map in terms of "suggestions" and it can be very hard to make a decision.
