Hey Mark:
Thank you for posting your your audio design. I have something similar of 22 channels using almost all Behringer 2031A and 2031P monitors. I'm curious if your layout is stereo or mono? So your "
Great and Solo to six Adam T8V and A8X on shelves" is that 6 mono channels or 3 stereo pairs?
I've also found that 4 speakers to a group (or 4 stereo pairs) is the 'sweet spot' at least for my setup. Here is how I came to that conclusion.
I built up my rig at snail's pace! Just stereo for a year, then 'super stereo' (or double audio) for 6 months. Broke down and purchased HW Advanced, then had true multi-channel with just 2 stereo pairs, then 3, 4, 5, etc. Each additional pair was at a 6 weeks interval minimum. I was getting great deals off of CL and would wait for the next one to show up. During this time my ears got accustomed to the new expanded sound of having notes/ranks divvy between more speaker pairs in a group using the default algorithm. Each new pair to the group array, marked about a 30% improvement, especially with medium to large registrations. Hearing solo chimes ring from multiple speakers for the first time was a real thrill as well
. It was when I added my 5th pair, the improvement seemed meh. Maybe I hit the diminishing returns mark with 4 pairs? It didn't sound bad obviously, just the sound stage became more broad. My console is centered on a back wall flanked by speakers on wall mounted shelves on each side (L & R stereo). So to try and get some better ROI on studio monitor pair #5, I added a second, lower set of shelves and sent only the reeds to them. This turned out to be a winner as chorus and solo reeds in their own drivers seemed to have more clarity, not having to 'compete' with other sound. I also sent any celeste ranks to this lone pair so the undulation with its unison counterpart mixed in the air and not in the same speaker. Improved sound accomplished!
So at this point in time my audio groups were:
Main - (4 pairs of 2031As)
Pedal (large 3-way tower speakers)
Subwoofer (Paradigm Seismic 12, mix down)
Reeds (reeds and celeste, 1 pair 2031A)
This has all changed, morphed, and expanded over the years to now 22 channels. I'll detail that in separate post if anyone is interested.
Danny B.