Mini, medium quality line arrays

Lisa Lane-Collins

Lisa Lane-Collins

Sophomore
Dec 9, 2012
270
0
16
Adelaide, Australia
Do these exist?

I'm toying with the idea of putting line array in a long narrow room with a capacity of 230 but standard sized boxes would be massive overkill and well and truly out of my budget anyway. Feel like the line array concept executed in miniaturized version might be perfect for the space (think, no more than 10 metres wide).
 
Re: Mini, medium quality line arrays

Lisa Lane-Collins said:
Do these exist?

I'm toying with the idea of putting line array in a long narrow room with a capacity of 230 but standard sized boxes would be massive overkill and well and truly out of my budget anyway. Feel like the line array concept executed in miniaturized version might be perfect for the space (think, no more than 10 metres wide).
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What is the roof height? Spoken word, jazz or loud rock?
And, of course, what budget?

Cheers,
Darren
 
Re: Mini, medium quality line arrays

Lisa Lane-Collins said:
Do these exist?

I'm toying with the idea of putting line array in a long narrow room with a capacity of 230 but standard sized boxes would be massive overkill and well and truly out of my budget anyway. Feel like the line array concept executed in miniaturized version might be perfect for the space (think, no more than 10 metres wide).
Click to expand...

No, this does not exist.

You'll be better off putting a quality trap box per side. Something with a narrow horn.





Evan
 
Re: Mini, medium quality line arrays

It is NOT the number of boxes-but rather the LENGTH of the array that gives a line array "effect".

Remember that the "line array concept" REQUIRES the length to be LARGE- in order for it to work to a decently low freq.

This can mean a lot of small boxes (and money). Something people like to "forget" and just "believe" that a couple of "dashes" will do the job.

For only 230 people- you would come out much cheaper and better sounding using "normal" boxes".

You say "normal boxes" would be out of your budget-well then line arrays would be even more out of your budget.

Of course it all depends on what you are trying to do with the boxes in terms of usage.

The number of people means nothing. How loud? What sort of music? Is this just speech? Ceiling height etc ALL make a difference in trying to help.

And what IS your budget? and what has to be included in it? Things like the number of amps-speaker cables-install-DSP etc can all make a difference on what can "fit" into the budget.
 
Re: Mini, medium quality line arrays

Lisa,

When you say you want an "array concept executed in miniaturized version", I assume you are talking about the new breed of column speakers that are now out there. There is a very informative article about that subject, "Attractive Options", in the March 2016 issue of "Live Sound International". You might find that more helpful.
 
Re: Mini, medium quality line arrays

Chuck Simon said:
Lisa,

When you say you want an "array concept executed in miniaturized version", I assume you are talking about the new breed of column speakers that are now out there. There is a very informative article about that subject, "Attractive Options", in the March 2016 issue of "Live Sound International". You might find that more helpful.
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I am not convinced that columnar speakers are the answer, either. I am skeptical because below 1kHz or so many have a horizontal coverage that ranges from 100° to 180°+. Great for keeping the sibilants off the side walls but does little for the 3 octaves that contemporary music vocal range occupies. I've heard a few and they don't sound "bad" but whether or not they were the right tool for the job remains debatable.
 
Re: Mini, medium quality line arrays

Tim McCulloch said:
I am not convinced that columnar speakers are the answer, either. I am skeptical because below 1kHz or so many have a horizontal coverage that ranges from 100° to 180°+. Great for keeping the sibilants off the side walls but does little for the 3 octaves that contemporary music vocal range occupies. I've heard a few and they don't sound "bad" but whether or not they were the right tool for the job remains debatable.
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I haven't heard one I didn't think sounded downright awful. When you're paying top dollar because the speaker has the name of a well respected company on it, you should expect better performance.

There are very good sounding miniature line array systems (L-Acoustics Kiva/Kilo, d&b T series), but they cost real money, and the OP's money would be better spent on a single speaker on each side of a design to cover the room at the level required. It will provide better performance for far less cost, even if it's a premium brand.

Mac
 
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