Speaker Splaying - the definitive guide...

[Daniel Postilnik]

Hi everyone, I'm sure this topic has been beat to death in the forums before, so I won't complain if your response consists of a link to another post.



If I know the coverage pattern for the speaker is 60x40, how would I go about calculating the angle between the cabs with their back corners touching?



I'm going to be working with the EV Deltamax 1152s, two per side, and I'd like to avoid the comb filtering where possible, but I have never splayed speakers before so I don't even know where to start.



Thanks!

 

[Brad Weber]

Re: Speaker Splaying - the definitive guide...

Probably the first option is to contact EV and ask them what they recommend. Another option would be to purchase and learn how to use Smaart, SysTune, Praxis, etc. so that you can measure the results yourself. Or one of the prediction software packages such as EASE to model the predicted results. Or you could also use your ears and listen, if what you hear is acceptable to you then it will likely be acceptable to your audience as well.



Also consider that while minimizing combfiltering is usually desirable, so is covering the audience properly and possibly even intelligibility. So it may be a matter of balancing the resulting combfiltering with the needed or desired coverage.

 

[Ivan Beaver]

Re: Speaker Splaying - the definitive guide...

Hi everyone, I'm sure this topic has been beat to death in the forums before, so I won't complain if your response consists of a link to another post.



If I know the coverage pattern for the speaker is 60x40, how would I go about calculating the angle between the cabs with their back corners touching?



I'm going to be working with the EV Deltamax 1152s, two per side, and I'd like to avoid the comb filtering where possible, but I have never splayed speakers before so I don't even know where to start.



Thanks!

If the pattern is actually 60x40 is the first question. In many cases it is simply a number that describes the pattern at some freq. Above and belwo that freq-the pattern is usually different.



Some horns are better than others.



The size of the horn determines it ability to maintain that coverage pattern to a decently low freq. Small horns only maintain their pattern at the higher freq. Usually above 2K or so.



But let's assume a perfect world and the pattern is 60 wide. Then the angle between the CENTER line of the cabinets should be 60°. The angle between the sides would depend on a lot of different factors.



As Brad said-ask the manufacturer and see what they recommend.



The real question in regards to combfiltering, is where do you want to minimize it? In the higher freq? or in the critical vocal range where we understand what is being sung?

Very often those are 2 different things and you have to choose which is more important.

 

[TJ Cornish]

Re: Speaker Splaying - the definitive guide...

I've done this excercize - put the speaker on the floor and run low-volume pink noise through it. You may want to band limit it to 500hz and up, but at low volumes it will probably work full-bandwidth too.



Start with your head on axis with the tweeter and move to one side. Though there won't be an exact moment where the sound will disappear, there is often a fairly defined point where a lot of the highest frequencies go away. Put a piece of tape on the floor at that location, then repeat on the other side of the cab if you would like to confirm your results.



Draw a line from the back corner of your cab to your tape and you will have the centerline of the cabinet splay. For easy figuring, measure the distance from the front corner of your cab to your line and then double it. This is the splay of the cabinets with the backs touching.



Confirm your results by setting up both speakers at this splay angle and walk the pattern. The goal is to minimize comb filtering, so play some music and see how it sounds. Experiment with cabinets splayed in a bit and out a bit of your initial guess and see what happens, then whatever sounds best - do that.

 

[Daniel Postilnik]

Re: Speaker Splaying - the definitive guide...

TJ, this seems to make sense, however, the speaker would never be on the floor in a practical application--does this matter?



Does the exercise require me to be sitting or kneeling so my head is level with the tweeter?



How far away from the speaker should I be?

 

[TJ Cornish]

Re: Speaker Splaying - the definitive guide...

As I have described it, you would need to kneel to get your head in line with the tweeter both in the horizontal and vertical planes.



You're welcome to raise the speaker up, however it then becomes a little harder to mark the spot where the coverage changes - you have to plumb down to the floor, or something.



When I did it last, I was about 6' from the speaker and that seemed to work fine for my purposes. This method has about the same accuracy as a hand grenade - it's just to get you a starting point for further refinement, so don't kill yourself.



For what the test does, I don't think floor interaction affects anything enough to matter - you're concerned primarily about the horizontal plane.

 

[Bennett Prescott]

Re: Speaker Splaying - the definitive guide...

+1. Take the stated pattern with a lot of salt. Do it by ear, or measure if you need to be really precise.

 

[Dick Rees]

Re: Speaker Splaying - the definitive guide...

+1. Take the stated pattern with a lot of salt. Do it by ear, or measure if you need to be really precise.

I am a sound engineer who has went to my local ProTools school on my parents money. How do I know what it's supposed to sound like????

 

[TJ Cornish]

Re: Speaker Splaying - the definitive guide...

+1. Take the stated pattern with a lot of salt. Do it by ear, or measure if you need to be really precise.

I am a sound engineer who has went to my local ProTools school on my parents money. How do I know what it's supposed to sound like????

In your case, the best course of action is to have the speakers totally flat. The comb filtering works to simulate the effects of the low-bitrate stolen MP3s that is the ''new sound''.

 

[Dick Rees]

Re: Speaker Splaying - the definitive guide...

+1. Take the stated pattern with a lot of salt. Do it by ear, or measure if you need to be really precise.

I am a sound engineer who has went to my local ProTools school on my parents money. How do I know what it's supposed to sound like????

In your case, the best course of action is to have the speakers totally flat. The comb filtering works to simulate the effects of the low-bitrate stolen MP3s that is the ''new sound''.

OK. I flattened them by running over them with my off-road 4x4. Now what????

 

[TJ Cornish]

Re: Speaker Splaying - the definitive guide...

+1. Take the stated pattern with a lot of salt. Do it by ear, or measure if you need to be really precise.

I am a sound engineer who has went to my local ProTools school on my parents money. How do I know what it's supposed to sound like????

In your case, the best course of action is to have the speakers totally flat. The comb filtering works to simulate the effects of the low-bitrate stolen MP3s that is the ''new sound''.

OK. I flattened them by running over them with my off-road 4x4. Now what????

Perfect. Now you're done.

 

[Marlow Wilson]

Re: Speaker Splaying - the definitive guide...

+1. Take the stated pattern with a lot of salt. Do it by ear, or measure if you need to be really precise.

I am a sound engineer who has went to my local ProTools school on my parents money. How do I know what it's supposed to sound like????

In your case, the best course of action is to have the speakers totally flat. The comb filtering works to simulate the effects of the low-bitrate stolen MP3s that is the ''new sound''.

OK. I flattened them by running over them with my off-road 4x4. Now what????

Perfect. Now you're done.

No, he's not done. Dick now has to get an Ipad for his Studio Live so he can draw a smiley face contour with the stroke of a fixture to get that 'hyped' sound. Then compress it some more. Report back after for the next steps... I don't want to overload your already full sail.

 

[Dick Rees]

Re: Speaker Splaying - the definitive guide...

+1. Take the stated pattern with a lot of salt. Do it by ear, or measure if you need to be really precise.

I am a sound engineer who has went to my local ProTools school on my parents money. How do I know what it's supposed to sound like????

In your case, the best course of action is to have the speakers totally flat. The comb filtering works to simulate the effects of the low-bitrate stolen MP3s that is the ''new sound''.

OK. I flattened them by running over them with my off-road 4x4. Now what????

Perfect. Now you're done.

No, he's not done. Dick now has to get an Ipad for his Studio Live so he can draw a smiley face contour with the stroke of a fixture to get that 'hyped' sound. Then compress it some more. Report back after for the next steps... I don't want to overload your already full sail.

I use a MaxIPad.....they're cheaper.

 

[Tony "T" Tissot]

Re: Speaker Splaying - the definitive guide...

+1. Take the stated pattern with a lot of salt. Do it by ear, or measure if you need to be really precise.

Just listen for the flanger-like sound when you are directly between the 2 cabinets.