Essentials – 103
By this point, you should have a working rig, completed some simple measurements, completed some more complicated measurements.
What is left? It’s time to begin to understand the high end concepts involved with aiming and tuning a sound system. If you have opted not to purchase Bob McCarthy’s book, “Sound Systems – Design and Optimization”, you might be in for a lot of growing pains. I can’t overstate how important that book is to your success.
What are those concepts?
Proper method for combining speakers
Time alignment of the sound system
Time aligning of the subs to the main sound system at the crossover frequency
How to go about setting levels for each zone of the PA so that no zone is too loud or too soft
Comb filtering and hot to avoid it
What you can and can’t fix with EQ
The order in which to measure the various subsystems of a sound system and how you stitch everything together?
Without this understanding, your measurements will be mostly random and fruitless. I have been there myself.
If you haven’t already purchased Bob’s book, “Sound Systems – Design and Optimization 3rd Edition”, consider doing so before moving forward. What comes next will refer to sections of his book. Last time I’ll say this…