Where to aim speakers?

[rovito]

I never get phase cancellation but I do get a ton of compliments.

 

[muddycreek]

It was my understanding that as long as your speakers are in phase you won't get cancellation...... Friend told me how to use a battery to check and make sure they are in phase, we checked and they are

We've just kept aiming them slightly center at the last few gigs. Figured with the guitar amp aiming center lets keep all the sound aimed at the same place.

One thing I should've mentioned is we are rarely up on a stage. Only one venue has a stage, and it's outdoors so not as much of a "blow you out" issue. Actually, we keep getting kudos for not overblowing the places we play! Gets us repeat gigs

You'll get cancellations at some frequencies anywhere the sound from one speaker hits somebody at a slightly different time from the same sound from a different speaker. Positive pressure from speaker A, and half a wavelength later, negative pressure from speaker B, add up to no pressure for that particular listener, or that particular ear.

So, answer #1 is you'll never avoid all cancellation without one coaxial speaker in the middle putting out everything.

But, it's not that big a deal, because in practice you're only going to HEAR it in the highs when you are almost, but not exactly, in between two speakers. That's probably a one or two foot stripe down the middle of the venue, where the amps are so loud it doesn't matter much anyway.

The bigger concern is coverage in the high end- two mains either splayed next to each other on each side, or stacked with the top one upside down and cocked 20-30 degrees off, will take care of that. The mids go wider, and the bottom wider still, so if you get the top good you're probably OK. The subs can be virtually anywhere near the stage.

Guitar and bass amps pointed up at people's heads is KEY to good club sound, so much so that it's almost impossible to overstate. As someone stated before, guitarists (especially) and bassists have NO IDEA what their actual tone is if the amp's blowing past their ankles. The great thing about everybody else being clueless about this is that you can do it all right and blow everyone else that plays that club out of the water.