Using 2 Sound Systems

[Vinny]

Hi All,


I have a gig coming up, a big wedding of around 400 people in a marquee.

I realise my usual wedding sound system a white FBT Vertus is not going to cope with that amount of people.

I also own a Bose L1 system with 4 bass bins and was thinking of using that as well placed at the opposite end of the marquee or in a line to cover one side.

What is the best placement and the best way to connect them together ? one channel out of controller to the first speaker then out to the second then out of second channel to the other 2 speakers.

Is this right or is there another or best way to connect for example using Y adapters to split the signal to both sound systems?

[funkymook]

That is a big wedding!

I’d be more inclined to look into hiring a bigger system rather than trying to link what you have together, I think you’ll have a nightmare with delay between the speakers (let alone the wiring).

But also keep in mind that there might be 400 guests but at most typical weddings you’re only playing to the dance-floor in front of you, not filling the whole marquee with club volume levels, your Bose with the extra bass bins might be enough.

[Vinny]

That is a big wedding!

I’d be more inclined to look into hiring a bigger system rather than trying to link what you have together, I think you’ll have a nightmare with delay between the speakers (let alone the wiring).

But also keep in mind that there might be 400 guests but at most typical weddings you’re only playing to the dance-floor in front of you, not filling the whole marquee with club volume levels, your Bose with the extra bass bins might be enough.

Hi Martin,
yes the FBT system that I bought from you, still going strong.

That is what I was worried about, delay between the 2 sound systems, what if I use a digital delay unit?

[funkymook]

Hi Martin,
yes the FBT system that I bought from you, still going strong.

That is what I was worried about, delay between the 2 sound systems, what if I use a digital delay unit?

Excellent, glad to hear it (excuse the pun).

It’s worth looking into, but I know I wouldn’t want to be messing around with something like that at a wedding, keep it simple is my motto, not getting it right could screw up your sound. One big system is much easier to deal with.

I’m sure there’s people who have tried it on here and they’ll add their experiences soon though..

[Excalibur]

Once you start getting into delays and the like, it's complicated. I've got no expertise in that area. My first inclination would be to use what you have for the early part of the day ( if day it is ) , and hire in the " big guns " for the evening dancing. Just have subs and tops at one end.

[Pe7e]

THIS MAY HELP (http://www.brightonsoundsystem.co.uk/calculator/audio-delay.php) if you go down the delay route

[rth_discos]

Following on from what a few have said, let's rewind a little...

This gig Vinny, I assume you've already quoted for it?

When you quoted, were you aware it was for 400 people?

And what are the client expectations?

[Sapphire Disco]

Have you tried running both your systems together side-by-side In mono ?

[Vinny]

Have you tried running both your systems together side-by-side In mono ?

That is what I was thinking, running them all in mono.

Switch to mono on the back of my MC6000MK2 controller and run out of one channel to one sound system
and out of the other to the other sound system as am I right in assuming that in mono all the same sound is sent to both channels
and place all speakers in a line about 5 or so meters apart, as I am also supplying a black and white dance floor my white and black sound systems will match :)

[Vinny]

Following on from what a few have said, let's rewind a little...

This gig Vinny, I assume you've already quoted for it?

When you quoted, were you aware it was for 400 people?

And what are the client expectations?

Yes I have quoted accordingly and they have booked me and paid a deposit and signed contracts.

Yes I was aware, 320 for the main reception and an additional 80 or so in the evening.

The client expectations are to have a memorable day and after reading all the information about me on my website and facebook page they know that I can deliver.

I am not wet behind the years, I have been in this game over 25 years and play at around 60 or so weddings per year as well as many other events so I do know what I am doing.

www.premierdjentertainment.co.uk

[Excalibur]

I am not wet behind the years, I have been in this game over 25 years and play at around 60 or so weddings per year as well as many other events so I do know what I am doing.


You're in the wrong place here then, sonny. 45 years here, and I'm still making it up as I go along. :daft:




JOKE, before any snowflakes take umbrage.

Disclaimer: The snowflake bit was a joke too, as I believe I'm not supposed to say Snowflakes. :(

Nice one Vinny, well done that man. I reckon there are a few ways round this problem. Your intended solution seems workable and elegant enough.

[rth_discos]

That is what I was thinking, running them all in mono.)

I tried this once as a test - I had 2 x Evox 8 and 2 x Maui 5, and the bass somehow managed to cancel each other out. I've always run my system in mono, but this solution didn't work for me.



Yes I have quoted accordingly and they have booked me and paid a deposit and signed contracts.

Yes I was aware, 320 for the main reception and an additional 80 or so in the evening.

The client expectations are to have a memorable day and after reading all the information about me on my website and facebook page they know that I can deliver.



The reason for asking was so I could ascertain the right solution.

However, you clearly haven't 'quoted accordingly' if now that you've already quoted and taken the booking that you're looking for what the right solution is.

Either you've explained at the booking stage that you have a system that will just play to the dancefloor, or you've quoted a fee that include the hire of a system that is right for that size wedding.

A marquee is a challenging venue at the best of times. This is once of those occasions where I'd be hiring a stack system of 2 x subs + top on each side. Far better to run one of those systems comfortably at 50% then to rag your existing sound system to just about generate enough noise.


I am not wet behind the years, I have been in this game over 25 years and play at around 60 or so weddings per year as well as many other events so I do know what I am doing.


Not sure where that overly defensive comment came from - everyone has been very helpful in response to your conundrum. However, I always find it a bit odd when someone presents a question asking for a solution after they've already taken the booking and sold a particular solution to the client...

[Vinny]

I tried this once as a test - I had 2 x Evox 8 and 2 x Maui 5, and the bass somehow managed to cancel each other out. I've always run my system in mono, but this solution didn't work for me.




The reason for asking was so I could ascertain the right solution.

However, you clearly haven't 'quoted accordingly' if now that you've already quoted and taken the booking that you're looking for what the right solution is.

Either you've explained at the booking stage that you have a system that will just play to the dancefloor, or you've quoted a fee that include the hire of a system that is right for that size wedding.

A marquee is a challenging venue at the best of times. This is once of those occasions where I'd be hiring a stack system of 2 x subs + top on each side. Far better to run one of those systems comfortably at 50% then to rag your existing sound system to just about generate enough noise.



Not sure where that overly defensive comment came from - everyone has been very helpful in response to your conundrum. However, I always find it a bit odd when someone presents a question asking for a solution after they've already taken the booking and sold a particular solution to the client...

Sorry If I came across as defensive, I was just stating that I have done many weddings in all type of venues and have enough experience to know all the challenges ahead. I haven't sold any particular solution to the client and have quoted accordingly should I have to hire in a bigger system, i was asking if my 2 sound systems would cope and I think that they would and was just asking the best way to connect them together.

I have played marquees with around 200 people and my FBT Vertus was fine, not over driven and coped well, so add to that a Bose L1 classic , the original louder model with 4 bass bins and I think that they will both cope and will generate much more than just about noise to cover the marquee and both being line array systems they should cope with that amount of people.

Good thing about the Vertus is that it can be stacked as a single system, the 2 bass bins on top of each other and the 2 tops above a dummy column to get the tops higher,
I have both 560mm and 1120mm dummy columns to get the right height so I can place that in the middle and the 2 L1's either side of the marquee.

[rth_discos]

Assuming they don't have any crazy sized dancefloor (assume something like an 18' x 18'), then in all honesty, your dancefloor won't have any more people on it compared to when you did the 200 person gig. So what you used then should be fine.

With those sorts of numbers, do they have additional entertainment going on? There might be other areas for people, thus reducing the number on the dancefloor.

Plus, if they were to have a larger number of older guests, just playing to the dancefloor might be exactly what they were after.

But as I say, if you want to run the two systems, test it, because a similar set up I did as a test ended up just cancelling out all the bass!! I'd run them all together in one place (by the DJ booth) to save any delay issues, rather than spreading them round the dancefloor (adding cabling complications, as well as them then being away from your watchful eye).

[Excalibur]

If aesthetics aren't an overriding issue, I'd be strongly inclined to get my grubby little mitts on a pair of (relatively ) big subs and tops, somehow. Over the years, I've never found that adding differing systems together provides a big increase in useful sound, especially when close together.

If you had any wireless senders, I'd even consider your bigger existing rig as main at the front, and smaller one at the back as infill, probably at a lower volume. There are many possible solutions to this, the biggest difficulty you may face could be testing out what suits you best beforehand.

Good luck, keep us posted on what you decide, and how it works. Could help others in the future.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

I did a wedding in a very large marquee in Hampshire about 3 years ago. There were around 300 there.
I thought about hiring a system for it, but opted to use what I had........and it worked well (although the extended set up time and worry beforehand wasn't great).

I used a mixture of Passive and Active on that occasion. The sound experts will probably have a few things to say about it, but as I said....it worked well for me (and believe it or not, there appeared to be plenty of volume spread around the marquee without much of a delay either. I actually got asked to turn down the Mackies that were placed half way up the marquee and quite a few feet away from the main set up).

I used RCF 705 Subs which were linked to the Mackies and they came from the main output on my mixer. There were a few very long XLR cables linked from the Subs to the Mackies and carefully hidden under the sides of the marquee. From the monitor output on the mixer (Denon X500), I had a Crown XLS802 amp with the JBL JRX125's which were placed on the Subs. There was plenty of oomph.

As Martin says, the main volume is for those on the dance floor and in front of the set up, that volume was pounding.
I walked out front on a couple of occasions and stood where the Mackies were placed on speaker stands and it all sounded good to me.

The only think I was slightly worried about was people possibly knocking into the Mackies as the place was packed and I would not have been able to do anything about them if they fell over (which they didn't).

Good luck. That's one big wedding you've got there! Hope it goes well.