Neat solution to a problem that affects many singles, duos and other low volume gigging acts (not it's not one of mine <grin>} - 02/12/12 09:48 PM
The problem my duo occasionally has and I suspect other small groups have is in some acoustically challenging rooms, to get the sound to the back of the house means you are too loud for the people in the front. I suspect some louder groups have the same problem, but this solution probably won't work for them.
We generally run the PA set at between 85 and 100 db (A weighted / slow response on a sound level meter). During a dinner set, we run it even lower, say about 65. If the room is very long or weird shaped, the people in the back cannot hear us. If we crank it up, the people in the front complain. Especially since we play to an adult crowd (some with hearing aids - always challenging).
A few months ago we played at a Yacht Club that we have been doing for a few years. This is one of the quietest rooms we play (about 65) and it is L shaped. The club manager put a wireless extension speaker in the L and asked us to hook up the transmitter to our PA system. Reading the manual I hooked it up to the preamp out (actually the spare output of the sonic maximizer which goes between the mixer/pre and the pwer amp). It worked like a charm.
So I bought one myself. Since then I have used it in 3 different challenging rooms. Two of them extremely long (about 150 feet) and another that simply has extremely live acoustics so we can't turn up the PA very much. Success!!!! Putting the speaker in the dead spot of the room filled it in back there so the people could hear the music without blasting the ones in the front of the house.
Last night we played at a RV condominium in Okeechobee Florida. Okeechobee is a big country music town, but there is this enclave of northerners who own spots to park their motor homes and travel trailers in the winter (Lake O is one of the best bass fishing spots in the USA - for you northerners, it's the big, shallow lake in the middle of the state). They like a variety of music, and have been hiring us for a number of years, usually for their "Saturday before Valentines day party". It's a rather loud venue for us, about 100db off stage, but the hall is about 150 feet long (the range of the wireless). The people in the back have difficulty hearing and don't dance as much. Last night we put the extension speaker in the back, and the dance floor was full for the entire 4 hour gig - from the first song to the last. A few people commented on how well the extra speaker worked.
Now the speaker itself has decent sound, about as loud as a good boom-box, and although I wouldn't use it as a main, it definitely works as a fill-in speaker.
BTW, for those of you who wonder about such things, I have no connection whatsoever with the company that sells these things. In other words, if you buy one I won't make a penny and unless you tell me, I won't even know.
I can't find any specs on this thing, so if there is a Brookstone store in your local mall, it might be the best place to buy one.
If not, try here: http://www.brookstone.com/indoor-outdoor-wireless-speakers
It is supposed to work outdoors too and will run on batteries, but I used the wall wart indoors. If I'm outdoors at a pool party I generally separate the speakers and run a little hotter so I don't need one there.
The sender and the speaker unit look like this:
And it the sender has both line level inputs and an iPod or other mp3 player speaker level input.
I hook it up this way:
Mixer/preamp out goes into the BBE sonic maximizer. ...... The Maximizer has two outputs per channel and the specs say you can use both, so from the output of the Maximizer I send a pair to the power amp and another pair to the wireless transmitter. That's all there is to it. And I get a fill-in speaker at the back of the house with no wires to string - which cuts down our setup time and saves us from getting sticky tape residue on the wires.
I suspect that due to the speed of sound, someone who can hear both speakers at the same volume might have some intelligibility problems with spoken words, so that is something to consider (there seems to be a trade off for everything). But since most music has some kind of echo/reverb on it, I doubt it would matter much when playing music.
I don't think it will go loud enough for a rock or rap act, but then they probably won't need it anyway.
It works for me, it might work for you - but try it first - I don't want to be responsible if it doesn't work for you
Insights and incites by Notes
We generally run the PA set at between 85 and 100 db (A weighted / slow response on a sound level meter). During a dinner set, we run it even lower, say about 65. If the room is very long or weird shaped, the people in the back cannot hear us. If we crank it up, the people in the front complain. Especially since we play to an adult crowd (some with hearing aids - always challenging).
A few months ago we played at a Yacht Club that we have been doing for a few years. This is one of the quietest rooms we play (about 65) and it is L shaped. The club manager put a wireless extension speaker in the L and asked us to hook up the transmitter to our PA system. Reading the manual I hooked it up to the preamp out (actually the spare output of the sonic maximizer which goes between the mixer/pre and the pwer amp). It worked like a charm.
So I bought one myself. Since then I have used it in 3 different challenging rooms. Two of them extremely long (about 150 feet) and another that simply has extremely live acoustics so we can't turn up the PA very much. Success!!!! Putting the speaker in the dead spot of the room filled it in back there so the people could hear the music without blasting the ones in the front of the house.
Last night we played at a RV condominium in Okeechobee Florida. Okeechobee is a big country music town, but there is this enclave of northerners who own spots to park their motor homes and travel trailers in the winter (Lake O is one of the best bass fishing spots in the USA - for you northerners, it's the big, shallow lake in the middle of the state). They like a variety of music, and have been hiring us for a number of years, usually for their "Saturday before Valentines day party". It's a rather loud venue for us, about 100db off stage, but the hall is about 150 feet long (the range of the wireless). The people in the back have difficulty hearing and don't dance as much. Last night we put the extension speaker in the back, and the dance floor was full for the entire 4 hour gig - from the first song to the last. A few people commented on how well the extra speaker worked.
Now the speaker itself has decent sound, about as loud as a good boom-box, and although I wouldn't use it as a main, it definitely works as a fill-in speaker.
BTW, for those of you who wonder about such things, I have no connection whatsoever with the company that sells these things. In other words, if you buy one I won't make a penny and unless you tell me, I won't even know.
I can't find any specs on this thing, so if there is a Brookstone store in your local mall, it might be the best place to buy one.
If not, try here: http://www.brookstone.com/indoor-outdoor-wireless-speakers
It is supposed to work outdoors too and will run on batteries, but I used the wall wart indoors. If I'm outdoors at a pool party I generally separate the speakers and run a little hotter so I don't need one there.
The sender and the speaker unit look like this:
And it the sender has both line level inputs and an iPod or other mp3 player speaker level input.
I hook it up this way:
Mixer/preamp out goes into the BBE sonic maximizer. ...... The Maximizer has two outputs per channel and the specs say you can use both, so from the output of the Maximizer I send a pair to the power amp and another pair to the wireless transmitter. That's all there is to it. And I get a fill-in speaker at the back of the house with no wires to string - which cuts down our setup time and saves us from getting sticky tape residue on the wires.
I suspect that due to the speed of sound, someone who can hear both speakers at the same volume might have some intelligibility problems with spoken words, so that is something to consider (there seems to be a trade off for everything). But since most music has some kind of echo/reverb on it, I doubt it would matter much when playing music.
I don't think it will go loud enough for a rock or rap act, but then they probably won't need it anyway.
It works for me, it might work for you - but try it first - I don't want to be responsible if it doesn't work for you
Insights and incites by Notes
