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Vertical cab stacking---the only way to play

#61
greenboy said:
Wrong. The PA you attempted to present as an example would be - unless incompetence were at play - a different scenario. The example doesn't pertain because it's using multiple bandpasses instead of full range with multiple sources.
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Yeah, I guess if you're a science geek, you're right...it is a different scenario. I am a musician, and in PA's I see big cabs on the floor and little cabs in the air. My rig has a big cab on the floor and a little cab in the air. The sonic effect is the same to me, regardless of whether the PA system is electronically crossed over or simply the two speaker outs in my head.
 
#62
JimmyM said:
Yeah, I guess if you're a science geek, you're right...it is a different scenario. I am a musician, and in PA's I see big cabs on the floor and little cabs in the air. My rig has a big cab on the floor and a little cab in the air. The sonic effect is the same to me, regardless of whether the PA system is electronically crossed over or simply the two speaker outs in my head.
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Sorry Jimmy, but I was a musician well before I was a guy that had basic competence as a PA guy. I learned to be a PA guy to protect the gear and the sonic quality audiences would hear, in bands that had guys that didn't know squat but seemed to have opinions on "runnin' things" anyway.
 
#63
Well I never bothered with PA much because there were always guys in bands who knew more about it than me. So I approach musical equipment from the consumer level, let the experts give me ideas on what to do, and go enjoy it and leave the muscle work to you brainiacs. So when I see a vertically arrayed PA system working in the same manner as my bass system, I really don't know or care that it's an exact match electronically.
 
#64
JimmyM said:
So when I see a vertically arrayed PA system working in the same manner as my bass system, I really don't know or care that it's an exact match electronically.
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That's the point: just because the subwoofer is under a main doesn't make it a vertical array. The similarity is skin deep.
 
#65
billfitzmaurice said:
You need to read this:
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Pages 2 and 3 show why subs should almost never be split left and right. BTW, the same applies to bass cabs.
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Like that is an option when you are on the back porch of a 4 million dollar house doing a private party.

Besides, I'm not going through them, only the drums and the piano, maybe the guitard a little. Certainly not the vocals.
 
#66
KJung said:
<SNIP>Also (and this is why I don't like tall vertical stacks), you can get very fooled by the sound of an elevated cab right next to your ear (especially one with a tweeter) regarding the sound you are hearing versus what is actually making it out to the room. That tweeter banging in your ear can really fool you relative to what the rig sounds like 20 feet out!<SNIP>
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Hi Ken,

I actually find this advantageous. Before, I could usually get either the on-stage sound or the audience sound that I liked, but seldom both; the onstage sound was usually what suffered.

Now I'm stacking two cabs vertically, each of which has their own mid-range and tweeter level controls. During sound check, I've been better able to adjust the bass for the audience and, by adjusting the controls for the top cab, tweak the sound I'm hearing on-stage.

Last night, I was able to dial in an on-stage sound I was happy with, and confirmed that it sounded pretty good when I took my bass out in the audience to play.

That being said, if I have to choose between ideal sound on stage or out in the audience, I've learned that the rapport of our band improves remarkably, and the audience get's a better performance, when I EQ in favor of on-stage sound.
 
#68
It's been my experience that any stacked rig sounds better than a horizontal rig, no matter what the cab. Not being familiar with those diagonal designs, I can't tell you if it will work just as well as a single column of drivers on axis, but I will tell you it's better than spreading them horizontally.
 
#71
Interesting article, Bill. It explains a lot about the problems I always have in FOH. So having a sub on each side is very much a holdout of stereo systems with separate full-range speaker systems on both sides, no? Old habits die hard, I spose.

He mentioned flying them in the center if you have the room, though. Conventional wisdom always keeps subs on the floor these days. Does it make a difference in the audience's perceived low end response to fly them?
 
#72
To clarify my question, I use a modeling preamp and PA cabs--1x15 and HF horn that extends almost the entire width of the cab. The cabs measure (LxWxD) 24x20x15. So employing this philosophy, should I be making a 48" tall stack that alternates woofer, horn, woofer, horn or should I be making a 40" tall stack with the 15's together and the horns together? If I understand correctly, Bill, I should go with the latter? Thanks.
 
#73
honestjohnny said:
To clarify my question, I use a modeling preamp and PA cabs--1x15 and HF horn that extends almost the entire width of the cab. The cabs measure (LxWxD) 24x20x15. So employing this philosophy, should I be making a 48" tall stack that alternates woofer, horn, woofer, horn or should I be making a 40" tall stack with the 15's together and the horns together? If I understand correctly, Bill, I should go with the latter? Thanks.
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WHHW or WTWT and disconnect the "bottom" horn (or turn LPad all the way down).
 
#77
I do 2 acme 210 cabs vertical, however it is kind of scary putting a heavy head on top of them with drunk fools around. I am leaning towards keeping the head on an amp stand next to me anyway and just having the cabs separate from me.

I use these for the whole band sometimes and let the PA come from one place. With subs I aways try ad keep them together. In a live setting with drums stereo is useless. But in a more intimate, low volume setting, having 4 speaker cabs is different locations helps disperse the sound without being too loud in one spot and too soft in another.
jonathan
 
#78
walsound.gif

duuude, soooo high!:D
(pretty old idea, still works great)
my meager take on the idea a few years ago:
3 aguilar gs1x12, ampeg svt
meee.gif
 
#79
LOL...the Wall Of Sound rears its ugly head once again! Back to the warehouse with you!!!

Boy, you look at that rig, and it's just a completely ridiculous amount of speakers being powered by a ridiculous amount of wattage, and every speaker stack in it is considered a logistical and acoustical nightmare by today's standards.

Still, just once I'd like to plug into it. They should set this up in an empty field in the middle of nowhere and charge $500 a head to play through it for a song. I'll bet there'd be a line of cars coming in and out all day long.
 
#80
by today's standards, not that much wattage, actually:
"the amplifiers used were all identical dual channel 300 watts per channel solid state type with matching transformers except for one each in the vocal and drum system which were Tube type at 350 watts, and operated the tweeters."
the cabs are pretty standard, and built with better quality components than most cabs today.
 

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