Stadium horn Inquiry

J

Jimmy Hardin

Junior
Jan 29, 2013
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hey guys, I am needing some help in getting a horn system. I am looking at this type of horn and driver

https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-rph20-20-round-pa-horn--300-196

https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-d1075t-75w-horn-driver-with-70v-transformer--300-190

Now what i am needing to know is What kind of amp or mixer would i need to run a setup. this is my needs and idea

I am needing it to cover about 100' to 150' block for about 1,500 to 2,000 people for a 10k race. the reason i am wanting to go to this is because of it being weather proof. This race goes on rain or shine . so i have to do something. I have been using a Band P.A. for a few years and dont really want to use it on the rain times. I am clueless to what type of amp and mixer to use that would be specifically for the horns.

Now here is my idea,

buy a few of these horns and drivers and then get a small (In watts) Band Power amp and small mixer and power them like that.

I am not looking for quality or anything like that, I am just looking at something to talk through to make announcements and things of that nature. So am i far off the beaten path or will this idea work? Any Suggestions?
 
Re: Stadium horn Inquiry

Jimmy Hardin said:
hey guys, I am needing some help in getting a horn system. I am looking at this type of horn and driver

https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-rph20-20-round-pa-horn--300-196

https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-d1075t-75w-horn-driver-with-70v-transformer--300-190

Now what i am needing to know is What kind of amp or mixer would i need to run a setup. this is my needs and idea

I am needing it to cover about 100' to 150' block for about 1,500 to 2,000 people for a 10k race. the reason i am wanting to go to this is because of it being weather proof. This race goes on rain or shine . so i have to do something. I have been using a Band P.A. for a few years and dont really want to use it on the rain times. I am clueless to what type of amp and mixer to use that would be specifically for the horns.

Now here is my idea,

buy a few of these horns and drivers and then get a small (In watts) Band Power amp and small mixer and power them like that.

I am not looking for quality or anything like that, I am just looking at something to talk through to make announcements and things of that nature. So am i far off the beaten path or will this idea work? Any Suggestions?
Click to expand...
You will want to read up on 70v or 100v audio systems. In the olden days, small amps drove a step up transformer, which increased the output voltage to 70v nominal, meaning there was less loss in long cable runs, and smaller and/or longer runs of cable could be used. A further advantage is more speakers can be paralleled, since the speakers also have transformers, giving a very high effective impedance.

These days, many amps can directly drive 70v systems since larger amps can produce high output voltages as a result of their high output power.

I I don't have experience with those horns, but I worked on a large outdoor install project where we compared Atlas paging horns with their Stadium series of two-way speakers. Paging horns sound pretty terrible. Even for speech, it's a lot easier to listen to a modern full-range speaker. You will have to decide where on the cost/performance curve to be for your show.
 
Re: Stadium horn Inquiry

A few other thoughts now that I have more time to post:
- Multiple speakers placed apart from each other will interfere, creating echoes that negatively affect intelligibility. Try to originate all of your sound from the same place. If this is not possible, try to throw from the same virtual source, and use delay to line up arrival times.
- Speakers that are low or close to people will be perceived as annoyingly loud if you're trying to get any throw out of them. Figure out how to get them very high - 30' is a good start, and if possible, place them back from the people so the sound has a chance to spread out before hitting your coverage area. This will greatly even out the sound levels.
- 2000 people are capable of quite a bit of background noise. Don't underestimate the level you will need for your sound to be intelligible over the people and environmental noise.

The horn and driver you linked to are pretty low cost. That may or may not be a good thing. The good thing is you can order one of each and do some testing. In fact, I would strongly suggest you do this before you commit to the solution. The very limited specs listed don't inspire a lot of confidence, though.

Keep in mind that the OD of the horn you mentioned is 20". That is a good thing for pattern control (though you're going to get very little output below 300Hz, and trying to get any LF out will quickly ruin your day), but is a bad thing for storage.

Answering a couple of your questions more directly:
- You can weatherproof a conventional speaker with a plastic garbage bag. This is more than adequate for occasional use where the speaker isn't going to live outside year-round. This is probably what I would do in your situation so I don't have to buy special equipment or store large, single-application horn speakers that sound like crap for anything other than speech.
- I don't know what you mean by a "Band PA/Band amp". Amps are designed for either a fixed impedance load - 4Ω, 8Ω, 16Ω, etc. or a fixed voltage load - 70v, 100v, etc. As I mentioned earlier, modern amps of at least a certain size have high enough voltage potential that they can drive 70v systems directly. The Crown CDi series has a software switch to enable 70v operation, and as far as I know, the only thing that does is put a high-pass filter on to reduce the potential of transformer saturation.
- The type of mixer makes no difference, though I would do something cheap for less gear risk - any one of the sub $100 mini mixers (Mackie, Yamaha, A&H, etc.) would be fine.
 
Re: Stadium horn Inquiry

I think my best bet would be to wrap the speakers in a garbage bag as you stated . The stadium horns sounds like a whole other ball of wax all together. You have given me a mixer idea that I will for sure check in on . What I mean by a band pa/ amp is a system that a band sets up to play through in clubs stuff like that . Lol that's the only way I could explain it. 4 15" speakers and rackmount power amps a small yamaha mixer.


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