Mono or Stereo FOH?

Forums Forums Qu Forums Qu general discussions Mono or Stereo FOH?

Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #65934
    Profile photo of garyhgaryh
    Participant

    I help with the sound at the church I attend. They just purchased a QU-24 and AR2412 and will be switching over from the analog board soon. Currently our FOH is a Bose Panaray 502 system fed from a single mono out from the board. We have one stereo amp that receives the mid/high from the processor on channel 1 and the low freq on channel 2. Channel 1 feeds both 502a speakers and channel 2 feeds the 502b woofer. All 3 speakers are in a cluster hanging from the sanctuary ceiling, the 2 mid/high speakers about 6 feet apart on either side of the woofer. We also have another stereo amp used for 2 monitor channels powering floor wedges. We plan to now use powered monitors, either floor or IEM’s from the outs on the AR2412. Since we no longer need an amp for monitors, do you think it would be a good idea to use both amps to feed the Panaray speakers? One stereo amp powering the 2 mid/high speakers and the other in bridged mode powering the bass speaker? We will be using outputs 11 & 12 on the AR2412 set to L/R to feed the 502c processor. Should out 11 be set to L and out 12 be set to R, or should both be set to L+R? Since there is no real stereo separation of the speakers, what setting do you think would be best?

    Thanks in advance for any feedback.

    Gary

    #65935
    Profile photo of DoctorGDoctorG
    Participant

    Keep all channels panned center, then L&R will get the same signal. The mixer is then basically mono.

    #65936
    Profile photo of Dick ReesDick Rees
    Participant

    Take the Doctors advice.

    Start by simply patching in the new board would be my suggestion. The processor and amp sensitivity is set for the system as is. Any substantive changes such as your suggestion are not just mere re-cabling and re-assigning amp channels. There’s no reason to go bridging the subs amp and doing so will throw the system out of balance at best and cause damage at worst.

    If you want to try stereo you’ll need to dig into the processor manual and do it right, so I’d say stay mono…for now. To feed a mono signal to the processor, use the Alt Out and select “L+R” as the source from the output menu.

    Good luck, take one step at a time and…keep it simple, friend.

    #65937
    Profile photo of garyhgaryh
    Participant

    Thanks Doc. Is there any advantage setting both FOH outs on the AR2412 to L+R or should we just leave one L and the other R?

    #65939
    Profile photo of garyhgaryh
    Participant

    Dick, thanks for your comments. The Bose processor is an older, nonprogramable one. It just provides crossover and optimizes EQ for the matching speakers. Whether we keep the amp and speaker arrangement as it is now or change it, we are planning to retune the EQ for the room using pink noise from the board and a reference mic placed in the center of the pews. We just thought that it might be a good time to give the mid/high and bass speakers their own amps. That’s the Bose suggested setup. Bridging the bass amp won’t exceed the rating of the speaker. My other concern was if there is an advantage setting the FOH outputs both to L+R or leaving one L and the other R?

    Thanks again.

    #65940
    Profile photo of Dick ReesDick Rees
    Participant
    #65941
    Profile photo of garyhgaryh
    Participant

    We were thinking a combination of the GEQ and PEQ on the LR of the QU-24 while watching the pink noise received from the ref mic on the Qu-pad RTA. Then playing some well known commercial music and tweaking by ear. The article you provided will be taken under advisement. Our current system was tuned with just the 16 bands of the Mackie’s GEQ, so hopefully we can get a little closer with the Qu’s EQ. I realize perfection, in this life, will never be obtained.

    I’ll report our results in a few weeks.

    #65943
    Profile photo of Dick ReesDick Rees
    Participant

    Gary…

    Try the Spectrograph mode of the RTA for finer resolution. Directions on p. 51 of the manual. Fn button when RTA is engaged.

    The basic problem with RTA is that you can’t tell what the display represents, whether it is the sound coming from the speakers (amenable to EQ) or room characteristics/reflections (not amenable to EQ).

    Studio Six Digital offer an affordable, basic SMAART-based transfer function app which allows you to make a direct comparison of sound leaving the mixer and sound returning from the speakers. The hang-up is the input hardware module is pricey in comparison to the software.

    Best of luck.

    #65944
    Profile photo of garyhgaryh
    Participant

    Dick, thanks for the tips. We’ll try the spectrograph. Our sanctuary is not conducive to flat EQ. The ceiling is vaulted wood decking but thankfully the floor is fully carpeted and the seats are all padded. The speakers are also tipped away from the ceiling and the 2 mid/high speakers are pointed so they don’t overlap. Hopefully we’ll get OK sound.

Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.