jkinkennon wrote:To return to the earlier thoughts about using the Behringer 2031A's, our St. Barnabas Episcopal project is using 12 of them configured as 6 stereo channels in a group with the default routing that cycles notes, octaves, and ranks. We got to hear the full complement of speakers last Saturday and were pleased with the results.
We have the pedal ranks routed to a Tuba HT and a full range 12" PA speaker (Wharfedale 350W) for the pedal harmonics. These are fed from an affordable Crown XLS 1002 with matching high pass and low pass filters set to 80 Hz. More than enough power all around to get levels that matched their existing pipe organ. 16 Hz can be felt and has been voiced upwards by about 10dB towards the very bottom of the low 32' octave. Stereo for the pedal harmonics might offer a minor benefit.
The speakers are installed along side the single Moeller pipe chamber at the back of their balcony. The lowest speakers are above 6' high so don't overwhelm the organist or choir. The Velesovo dry samples with the Morse 3 manual extension are sounding just right in this smaller A-frame sanctuary.
Thank you for the update. This is good information in the scope of things. My main concern with the Behringer's at this point are 1.) having a competent electrician wiring enough circuits for them, with proper grounding 2.) cost 3.) proper switching to turn them on and off.
Furman and several other companies make power sequencers that can handle the power on and power off properly, but that adds in another layer of cost. As of this moment, however, I do not have a set budget, but I know these questions will be raised once this organ build is officially launched. Your evaluation, though, reaffirms that, unless a "do it yourself" approach is taken, the Behringer's with the TubaHT may be the best way to go to minimize work load.
NickNelson wrote:dw154515 wrote: Building "faux walls" for them would be very easy, and inexpensive ...
Moreover, if you could incorporate some large, well braced and airtight spaces these would be excellent for housing bass speakers. See for example:
http://www.pykett.org.uk/vlf_repro.htmNick
That looks like good information, and I will have to study that more closely.
Whilst these speakers are undoubtedly good, in many applications, I have since ruled out line arrays after having built a pair. (MUCH CHEAPER than Bose!) The "complaint" I have is in line array theory being applied to organ pipes. Line arrays will certainly deliver the sound, and will drive it an incredibly long distance, but the very concept of a line array is the exact opposite of that of an actual organ pipe or pipe chamber. Pipes don't stack vertically in an effort to blend and drive the sound to great lengths, therefore, I'm assuming line arrays would not be the way to go. Plus, I'm looking to find a way to do this in a "not so expensive" way, and Bose is the master of charging you more money.
Romanos wrote:This is a most interesting idea... I've always been fascinated with that thread and would love to do a wall of speakers as well (who wouldn't?). I imagine that it would be a very efficient way to do it. You would certainly get a lot more channels for your buck which will undoubtedly help with realism if you are going to go for a massive number of channels (these are, after all, the projects of envy...) Depending on how you build the wall, perhaps you could incorporate these speakers as well resting on top angled toward the congregation playing mix down channels.
http://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=109&cp_id=10837&cs_id=1083702&p_id=4929&seq=1&format=2 One of the reason people rave about the def techs is the BP nature... I imagine a few mix down channels firing upward would help disperse the sound more realistically as well (just my theory anyway). If I had my druthers I would either have a wall of def techs or I would use these speakers in a dual configuration wired in series with one pointed forward and one mounted right above it pointed up. Placed against a wall I imagine they would do well in such an arrangement.
I follow the thought process and would be inclined to agree with it. Many in-ceiling speakers have pivoting baskets or tweeters these days, allowing you to "aim" them. Of course, you could use in-ceiling speakers in a wall just as well as in-wall speakers - the only difference being that the latter are usually rectangle and the in-ceilings are round.
And to Scott's point, you could just add some of the same speakers to the opposite side of the "wall," too. Either way, I think you'd come out just fine.
My main concern here, with these, is the layout and arrangement in this sanctuary.
The arrows point out where the speakers will live. That is about a 10x10 area up there, and there is a solid surface about 3 feet below the top of the wall. (In other words, my "speaker walls" would be visible if they were more than 3' tall and I'd like to keep them hidden.)
That, then, may mean doing something like this: (pardon my crude sketch work)
Even if you don't route any speakers to a designated mixdown, or wire them in series for ambience, having them in a seemingly random pattern of front-facing and rear-facing might make for a very multi-dimensional sound.
And assuming it is built from 2x4s and drywall, the cost is negligible. Weight would become a potential issue before cost.