Relay for life Pa system - suggestions.

Shane Presley · Jan 12, 2012

I have spent the afternoon pondering on how best to tackle this set-up. I'm quoting on a relay for life pa system, and it's a rather large area they are trying to cover. Can anyone suggest what I use to make this happen. The have a stage which is placed on the long side of the track at the mid point mark. They will have to have a pa located there. I plan to use 4 KF650's and probably 4 subs there (pointing INTO the center of the field).
As for the "track system" I was thinking of doing a 5' - 10' scaffolding with speakers pointing outward in 4 directions. I have 12 KF730's, so I was thinking 4 stacks of 3 tops (I could rent 4 more to make it 4 x 4). Is this going to be like pi$$ing into the wind or what ? should I run it mono, to stereo pairs ? Any suggestions would be appreciated. The Track (see photo)

Part 2 to this , is they are asking for a low watt FM transmitter - I'm guessing it's what the provider did as opposed to trying to blast pa all over the grounds....
Anything you need to know other than applying for the special event permit with the crtc and industry canada ?
Anyone know where to rent these in Ont (near Ottawa).

Jeffrey Knorr · Jan 12, 2012

Re: Relay for life Pa system - suggestions.

Hi Shane,

Do you have a firm idea on what their budget is?

We do several Relay4Life events in our area and they usually are very happy with a SOS rig w/subs and a delay speaker or two further out on the track. I'd love to do more but as fundraiser events, they don't usually want to spend the money.

Using the 730's as delays/fills is probably overkill unless they're offering you the budget and want full frequency coverage everywhere. Usually our delay speakers at these events are fed announcements only.

Jeff

TJ Cornish · Jan 12, 2012

Re: Relay for life Pa system - suggestions.

How much "pissing in the wind" will happen will literally depend on the amount of wind to piss in.

I deployed Atlas Stadium horns on an 18' tower. With a dead calm and no audience noise, you can hear clear speech at the end of the course 2000' away with the tower running maybe 90dBA at 50' from the tower. With a 15-20 MPH wind it's basically gone after 600'. With a 50 MPH wind you have to crank it pretty loud to even hear it at 250'.

What will work in your scenario will likely depend on how loud you can stand it being close to the speakers and how much wind you have. If that's not going to work, remote speakers are your answer.

If you can run cable to your remote stations, that's going to be the cheapest and best option. Line level signals can travel a couple thousand feet with practically no loss, and cable is cheap. A stack of Mackie 450s and Honda EU1000s fed from a distribution amp or a bunch of auxes from your mixer would be a decent system.

I'm not terribly up on RF links, but my understanding is it's a usual pick two scenario: fidelity, distance, simplicity/cost. If you don't care much about fidelity, you may be able to do a licensed 2-way UHF business radio. If you need high fidelity and/or the distance is more than the 300' - 500' range of the usual IEM links, then you are probably into some kind of licensed FM transmitter.

Jeff Babcock · Jan 12, 2012

Re: Relay for life Pa system - suggestions.

+1 to Jeff K's comment.

I think you are over-thinking this.

I've been involved in various Relay For Life events over the years as a musician, and have never seen anybody provide anything even close to what you are proposing Shane. Most of the time I see a "value system" provided. Last one I did, the sound provider used a bunch of JRX crap and while I thought it sucked, as far as I know the organizers thought it was "good enough". Sometimes what has been provided is worse than JRX level gear.......

Your concept of "cover the area" is likely much different than that of the organizers, I would make sure you understand their budget clearly before you waste time bidding on something that they may perceive as overkill. Given the nature of the event, cost is likely going to be a much larger consideration than coverage/SQ/performance.

Cheers
Jeff

Mike Monte · Jan 12, 2012

Re: Relay for life Pa system - suggestions.

I have provided the rig (and subcontracted the DJ) for two area Relay For Life events yearly, for the past several years.
For 2012 I only booked one, as a DJ volunteered his services/rig(?) for one of them. I am sure that I will get that one back in 2013.

The only problem that I have had since I started doing these is a lack of power. All I usually get is one 20 amp circuit to work with.
My coverage area is a HS football field and my Yorkville TX4/9 rig does ok (albeit not at DJ volume at the far end of the field).

I provide DJ "volume level" music for about 40 yards while the rest of the field hears the music at lower levels plus announcements.
From the looks of your venue, you shouldn't need huge volume all over. They lust need to hear the announcements.

Don't be surprised if some DJ (with stellar gear - lol) undercuts your bid.

Mike Monte

RYAN LOUDMUSIC JENKINS · Jan 12, 2012

Re: Relay for life Pa system - suggestions.

You need some of these. See Picture.

I do a very large starting line for a "Run" that has at least 25,000 people in the run plus spectators. I use four towers like this plus some other speakers to cover it all. I can get realistic announcement levels at 450'-600' depending upon the wind. Obviouly it isn't super high fidelity out that far but it is reasonable. I could easliy cover that area you are showing with the same four towers and then use what ever P.A. is appropriate for the live stage area. Tracking down your local pirate's ship would definately make you job WAAAYYYYY easier. Don't have any leads for you there.

Based on your picture it appears that you are dealing with an area about 1000' X 1000', two towers on each side of the feild pointing towards the track would be just fine. My powered speakers are 90 degree boxes so I am getting a full 180 degrees of coverage with each tower.

Jason Lavoie · Jan 12, 2012