Multi-channel configuration advice

I would like some advice on a strategy to define the audio outputs and the audio output groups and to distribute the stops among the groups. My audio system presently has 7 Ikey active speakers:

- a pair of M505: 25W/50W (HF/LF), 5" LF driver, 1" soft dome HF driver
- a pair of M606: 30W/60W (HF/LF), 6" LF driver, 1" soft dome HF driver
- a pair of M808: 40W/85W (HF/LF), 8" LF driver, 1" soft dome HF driver
- one M10S subwoofer, 175W, 10" driver

The subwoofer can distribute the HF part of the signal to a pair of speakers (Crossover 160Hz). I presently use the M808 with the sub-woofer.

My setup is in a small room (about 9'x13') and my sound system sits on the console, as shown in the picture. The sub-woofer is on the floor behind the console.



Jean-Marc

Jean-Marc,

I have a similar setup, one additional pair of speakers, but all different pairs, probably more different since yours are all the same manufacturer.

Putting the sub with a pair of other speakers is critical for picking up the overtones in low notes, so that is right in my experience. I know some forum members treat the sub differently, I think by creating an aux-mixdown of everything and sending that to the sub alone, which then plays the low frequencies while other speakers pick up the higher ones. I didn't try this, but it makes sense as an alternative to my approach for the sub group.

I've posted before about the importance in my experience of balancing the loudness of speakers and sub before doing anything else. (Search my posts, or I can recap for you.)

I've created one audio output group for each speaker pair and for the sub/speakers, and deal with them all as stereo. If you mix different kinds of speakers in one output group, I think you'll hear unwanted differences among ranks and notes within ranks.

I route all pedal ranks to the sub group, plus all other 16/32 foot ranks. I don't use the bass routing feature within Hauptwerk. For remaining ranks, I've tried to scatter them among the output groups with the intention of minimizing the number of notes that might be playing through each speaker at the same time. Other strategies include sending all ranks for a given manual to one output group, or sending reed ranks to one group and flute to another based on the speaker characteristics. This is where experimentation and your own preferences and ears will decide what you like best. Because it takes a while to recache samples after making these kinds of changes, you may want to pick a small number of ranks to experiement with, then expand to full samples.

I also found I had to make sometimes-significant adjustments to low note volume for some ranks, with the Hauptwerk voicing features, as my playing space is a near-perfect standing wave arena.

Hope this is some help. The good and bad news is that there are a lot of alternatives!

Barry

Hi Barry,

Now that my weekend church duties are done (until next weekend, of course), I can devote some time to my HW setup. I was planning to write to you this morning, but my schedule was a bit disturbed by the arrival of my St-Maximin sample set. I had to install it using only my subwoofer and its assocated pair. I just had time to try indiividual stops but I still have to play real music on it. Sounds good so far.

Anyway, thanks for your advice. I found among your very numerous posts the one on adjusting the speaker levels with pink noise. This would be easy for me for the two independent pairs, but how do I treat the subwoofer-regular speaker pair group? I can easily adjust the subwoofer alone, but I have to use it with the coupled speakers because the signal processing in the subwoofer sends a signal that is smaller than the one it receives, so I cannot adjust each speaker separately from the subwoofer. Any suggestion on that?

Also, which output allocation algorithm do you use?

TIA

Jean-Marc

Hello Jean-Marc,

I'm reaching back into my memory of what I did, which, unfortunately, may vary from what I "actually" did.

My sub group signal path is the following: L and R outs from the audio interface to the low level inputs on the sub, then low level L and R outs from the sub to my amplifier, then high level outs to the speakers. I believe that my sub simply passes through everything above its cutoff (which I set to its max of 150 Hz) at the same level as the input signals, but don't know for sure. In any case, I simply turned the volume on the sub to zero while setting the other two speakers, then unplugged them from the amp while setting the sub, so I think they are all uniformly "loud". By the way, I set loudness for each speaker separately, one at a time, not as stereo pairs.

I use the "cycle within octave" that is not the C/C# split, but for no particular reason (unless maybe it's the default?).

Hope this helps.

Barry