Designing an audio system - should have nothing to do with yelling over some kid playing 'Stairway to Heaven'
Oh the world is a funny place these days.
It seems that every business out there wants to be everything to everyone. You can buy a bar-b-q at the grocery store, clothes at a car dealership and scented candles at the hardware store. It's very confusing.
Do you remember when clothing stores sold clothes and computer stores sold computers? And record stores sold more music than they did movies! Oh those were the days, when things made sense.
I suppose some of these make sense. I mean the guy at the car dealership should know something about what to wear so you look good when you're driving a new car.
And the grocer probably knows something about using a bar-b-q, right?
This all brings us to the "closer to home" discussion, what does a guy who is a good guitar player know about sound systems? And is the musical instrument shop the best place to buy sound equipment?
I could fill this page with all the reasons why buying a sound system from a musician is a bad idea and I could give you all kinds of examples of customers who've come in voicing regrets of purchases they've made because they bought the wrong thing or an inferior piece of gear because "it was a good deal and they had it in stock." But that seems like the wrong
approach. Instead I'm hoping that between this post and our next we will be able to give you some
insight into what it is that we do at Horizon and what makes our audio system designs different.
A logical place to start.
Every design begins with the client's needs. That might be surprising to some, but we never start with equipment, we start with a needs analysis. In some instances this begins on paper with a complete survey we go through with the client. In other cases it's simply a discussion around what your goals are, who the users are, how you need to use the system and what your expectations are regarding quality, longevity and value.
So once we have a clear understanding of what it is that the client is looking for we then sit down and begin to design the system. We typically will start with the speakers and work our way from there into the rest of the equipment.
The Speaker Selection Process
Speaker selection is a very important process. We begin by using a calculator that takes the measurements of the room and the desired speaker location information. The results of the calculation allow us to determine a starting point for what speaker dispersion pattern we are looking for. Some audio contractors stop there and use those numbers to pick a speaker for the job. We like to take this process one large step further by then building a 3D model of the room and placing virtual speaker boxes in the room.
With the 3D model we are able to see the speaker's output as it is graphed in a topographic style mapping of sound pressure levels at specific frequencies. We can also use this model to help determine the impact of the reflective surfaces within the room. By accumulating this data we are able to select a speaker or set of speakers that will properly deliver an even coverage of sound throughout the audience area(s).
As we work through this process we keep in mind other variables important to the client; size and weight of the speaker, availability of the product, warranty, rigging options, cost, and amplification and processing requirements. Each of these variables (and others) will have an impact on which models we recommend to the client. In many cases we will provide clients with a "Good and Great" scenario and sometimes even a "Good, Better, Best", depending on different factors.
The speaker selection process is done without ever considering what speaker is collecting dust in the corner, or with the distraction of someone in the back noodling away on a guitar they can't afford.
Next issue we will pick up this discussion with the next steps in the process. In the mean time I need to go buy a new bar-b-q... I’m not going to the grocery store.
