Re: Sub placement
Motivated by this concept, I found me a friend and did some experiments. Tried the sub pair out from under the stage pushed against that wall pointing out. That sounded and felt PHENOMENAL....also blocks the fire escape so no go. In that same spot I rotated them 90 degrees so they were point at the wall again. Orientating them that way definitely reduces their ability to fill the room (more than cuts it in half I'd say).
Tried them back in their old spot on the other side of the stage (pointing at the bar about 10 metres away). Actually very lame in that location, the bass drop off is as bad as when they are under the stage pointing at the wall. Finally settled on having them on the other side of the stage (the stage is recessed a bit on either side) pointing out. Seemed like the best compromise between sound, aesthetics and safety to me. Alas, when the pub manager saw them there the next day he was not sold on the location so I'll have to move them back. Sigh.
My friend turned out to to be the right person to bring in. He noticed, and better identified than I had, that the whole rig sounded like it had a 'smiley' EQ curve on it. (It didn't, totally flat). His suggestion was that maybe the bass was masking frequencies higher up. We tried rolling the subs off at 75Hz, made it sound much nicer.
So at least when the subs go back under the stage, I can fix the mids by shelving the lows. Can't do anything about the nauseating bass on stage though. DJs don't like it, they'll have to take it up with the boss. And now I know, best bass response comes with having no obstructions between the speaker and the listener with bonus volume if you are next to a wall (and can confirm JBL do a pretty decent job of stopping the bass from emanating out the back of the box.
Ooh, actually, tangent. If the subs out laying on their side, pushed together, would there be any benefit in making it so the ports of each are 'connected'?
