HI - I'd like to setup a small system based on the Electro Voice force i 15" 2 way cabinets and 18" subwoofers.
The 15" cabs are 8 ohms and handle 500 wts program / 1,000 wts peak
The 18" subs are also 8 ohms and handle 700 wts program / 1,400 wts peak
Supposedly the cabs & subs can be paralleled to run off a single amp channel.If I understood things right - the cabs are 2 way full range but aren't biampable ??
2 8 ohm speakers that are daisy-chained would make it 4 ohms?
I'd like to have 2 15" cabs (probably daisy-chained) & 1 (maybe 2) subs on each side of the stage in MONO ( same sound coming out off each setup - would I leave the PAN knob on the mixer in the CENTER postion to do this)
I don't forsee any crowds of more than a few hundred people.I'm sure about 1,500 wts would be enough power (the old ' watts per head ' guideline).
SO - my main question is - what would I need by way of power amps and how should they be hooked up to the speakers to run as MONO?
Would I even need a crossover?
I have a decent understanding of how the rest of the gear (board/effects) are setup but the more I thought about the amps & stereo/mono thing I started getting myself confused.
Any help/suggestions/advice/info would be appreciated!!
MUCH THANKS,
Ray
There are many variations, but this is what I would do as simplest. Use a crossover set around 80-150Hz. Get one two channel 1000W/4ohm/channel amp and connect the 15s to one channel and the 18s to another. Set the 15s on top of the 18s. Get your bass player to play some low scales to balance. You're done.
As to running mono, yes, just pan everything to center. And really, for live gigs, you should always run mono. In stereo, folks on one side of the room will only hear half the music. In a really small place you can go stereo, but in most clubs you want to go mono so everyone hears all the music. :D
A great site to learn about PA systems is Scott's PA Tutorial. Lots of great advice and a very helpful message board where you can ask any question about operating a PA properly. Very friendly and experience people there.
http://members.cox.net/pasystem1/
Read through the tutorial and "setting it up" to get started.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
