Options for the next step up

Jeff Kenney

Freshman
Mar 4, 2013
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Looking for a little more headroom, clarity, and volume.

Currently running 4x EAW KF695z fully powered - 2 per side

Coverage ranges from about 180 degrees (the 695's aren't actually giving me 180 and don't seem to array well) down a little. A narrower box may be okay with the addition of fills.

3 KF650 per side may be a good option.
Danley has some products that I've always kinda thought would be ideal.
What are some other good options out there?

Electronic music only.
 
Re: Options for the next step up

Looking for a little more headroom, clarity, and volume.

Currently running 4x EAW KF695z fully powered - 2 per side

Coverage ranges from about 180 degrees (the 695's aren't actually giving me 180 and don't seem to array well) down a little. A narrower box may be okay with the addition of fills.

3 KF650 per side may be a good option.
Danley has some products that I've always kinda thought would be ideal.
What are some other good options out there?

Electronic music only.
Things to consider.

Portability (size weight for stacking etc)

Output level (realistic) How much is "a little more headroom"? 3dB 6dB more?
 
Re: Options for the next step up

Ahh good ol' Ivan.

Performance is the single most important number and it would be hard for me to rate the following semi-important factors

weight - gotta be able to get it above peoples heads w/o hanging.
size - gotta fit it on a sub stack.. and those subs will likely change (ls1208's).. don't really care about truck pack since we only use 1/2 a truck anyways.
power - well.. I'd like to be able to run on 110V wall power when needed... but in the last year we have upgraded our venues to cam service so its not imperative anymore. (currently using powersofts so we are flexible)
output level - well.. without actually measuring spl on our current system (don't have a calibrater) I'm currently exploring 6x sh46's that would be at least 6db more.. right about there is good.

There are not a lot of big rowdy 3 way point and shoot boxes anymore. Funktion one is hard to get / pricey... avalon is install only right now.. QX series is wierd to use portable .. danley is good of course.. community is a step down... the new jbl stuff is a sidegrade.. what else is there?
 
Re: Options for the next step up

Looking for a little more headroom, clarity, and volume.

Currently running 4x EAW KF695z fully powered - 2 per side

Coverage ranges from about 180 degrees (the 695's aren't actually giving me 180 and don't seem to array well) down a little. A narrower box may be okay with the addition of fills.

3 KF650 per side may be a good option.
Danley has some products that I've always kinda thought would be ideal.
What are some other good options out there?

Electronic music only.

You're doing something wrong.Do you have the UX8800?
.
 
Re: Options for the next step up

If you have already got the ux8800 and are setup to triamp, you could do two or three kf750's per side. That would definitely be louder, but would be much heavier than the SH46 solution. I still haven't heard the sh46's when pushed, so I can't comment on how much louder they would be. They would most definitely array better than 3 650's.
 
Re: Options for the next step up

If you have already got the ux8800 and are setup to triamp, you could do two or three kf750's per side. That would definitely be louder, but would be much heavier than the SH46 solution. I still haven't heard the sh46's when pushed, so I can't comment on how much louder they would be. They would most definitely array better than 3 650's.

Three 650's are meant to array. His 695's are not. I believe that's is part of his problem
 
Re: Options for the next step up

Three 650's are meant to array. His 695's are not. I believe that's is part of his problem

Three 650's might array better than two 695's, but I wouldn't say they were "meant to array" three wide. Especially not tight packed. Something like the sh46 or kf750 were meant to be arrayed tight packed and have the pattern control to do it.
 
3 Danley Sh46's per side

Here is a model with 3 Danley SH46's per side with them 8' off the ground (figuring normal ground stacking)

The audience are is 150' wide x 200' deep.

The mics are down the middle at the following positions 15'-50'-100'-200'
 

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Re: Options for the next step up

If you have already got the ux8800 and are setup to triamp, you could do two or three kf750's per side. That would definitely be louder, but would be much heavier than the SH46 solution. I still haven't heard the sh46's when pushed, so I can't comment on how much louder they would be. They would most definitely array better than 3 650's.

I am very familiar with the kf695 and 650.. they are both excellent boxes. The 695 doesn't array well but we got them based on coverage and budget needs. It was better to have two boxes with some comb filtering able to cover our wide audience plane. Now we are experiencing the need for a little more peformance. SPL and clarity being #1 requirement. Narrower boxes like the Arc / Wavefront / Kf650 / sh46 are king for my specific needs.

The ux8800 and tri-amping are a good improvement. I would argue that the ux8800 and a biamped kf695 is still a GREAT solution.. but I just need a little more.

The kf650's array just fine.. have used them plenty of times in the past that way. And this is a viable solution to the problem - just looking for other alternatives and will make a decision in a few weeks.
 
Re: Options for the next step up

Thinking about purchasing some SH-46's but I have some other purchases that I need to make fisrt.. so that has been delayed.

In the mean time we added a UX processor and PLX3602 to midrange duty to try and squeeze a little more performance out of the boxes. I have never A/B's these boxes bi-amp to triamp and always felt bi-amping them was an economical way to get loud.

Boy was I wrong. Tri-amping with UX has made all the difference in the world. I probably will never run a KF box bi-amp ever again. I feel the reason why I never was THAT impressed with tri-amping before was that I was running boxes configured by someone else. With the right power and UX ... WOW!

We will probably STILL look to replace our 2 box per side with 3 box per side solution.. and I really want to move to Danley's one day for our stuff so I have an excuse to buy their subs.. but for the time being we are VERY happy with the $3k spent on upgrading to a tri-amp solution.