Subwoofer arrays are tested at summer PNW meeting. Presenter Dan Mortensen at top.
A Cardioid Subwoofer Array - Theory vs. Practice
Dan Mortensen, Dansound Inc
Meeting held Aug 8, 2009, Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle
An unusual summer opportunity arose, and the PNW Section took advantage of Dansound's sound system at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo to investigate medium format outdoor subwoofer arrays. The meeting was held Saturday afternoon, August 8, 2009, and 6 AES members and 8 non-members attended. The group met on the performance stage for the formal presentation by Dan Mortensen of Dansound, and then roamed the stage area to participate in testing several arrays of subwoofers.
Dan related the history of the "Zoo Tunes" concert series and the current sound reinforcement setup, including stringent rules about SPLs, crowd size and curfew. Slides were shown of various subwoofer arrays at the foot of the small outdoor stage. Initially disatisfied with suggestions in the literature, Dan turned to Meyer Sound Lab's MAPP Online Pro prediction software to help him create a better directional subwoofer array. This was tricky as he wasn't using Meyer product for the subs, although he had Meyer processing. He experimented with various arrays and numbers of subwoofer boxes on the ground in front of the stage. Many did not seem to correlate very well with the prediction (perhaps his fault) or had various other flaws such as response anomalies.
After the formal presentation, a break was held and door prizes awarded.
Prize winners:
-Audix mike bag - Greg Mauser
-Bag End polo shirt - Andy Detloff
-CDs from Starbuck's Music - Karsten Yoder, Rick Smargiassi, Daniel Casado, Rick Chinn
The remainder of the time was spent actually trying several of the suggested arrays, which entailed some changeover time by the Dansound crew. Participants were then free to roam the area to measure or listen for the effectiveness of the various arrays.
