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SUPPORT FORUMS FOR DECWARE SPEAKER PLANS >> DECWARE Imperial support forum >> Imperial PA
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Message started by JimP on 06/30/06 at 01:20:17

Title: Imperial PA
Post by JimP on 06/30/06 at 01:20:17

Hi all,

This thread seemed quiet so I thought I'd post. Our Open Jam club held their end of the school year music fest again this year and the Imperials once again dazzled all. We use the Imperials as our main PA with 800 wpc. I'm always amazed at how good they sound outside in the open. Plenty of bass and volume to fill the area. In fact, I think they sound better outside than inside.

If any off you are thinking of Imperials as PAs and the size doesn't scare you, I can HIGHLY recommend them. Granted we weren't trying to make people's ears bleed; our main goal for sound is quality with adequate volume, occasionally getting more intense. The Imps did it all.

Jim P

Title: Re: Imperial PA
Post by bassboy on 06/30/06 at 19:20:27

Jim, I'm wondering what kind of frequency response you are getting outside. The Imperial is pretty hard pressed to get flat much lower than 40 hz, and that's with corner loading.

So also, what's the setup outside? Is it in some kind of corner, or against a wall, or just sitting out in the wide wide open? And is it just one Imperial, or are you using more than one with the mouths close enough to be additive to the low frequencies?

Title: Re: Imperial PA
Post by JimP on 07/01/06 at 16:15:10

Bassboy,

We have one full size imperial and 2 half-imperials that we use together as one for this set-up. The stage is located in a corner formed by one single story wall and one 2-story wall at right angles. The speakers are probably 15-20 feet out from the walls due to the configuration of the stage and on opposite sides of the stage, but I suspect the walls still help in the low bass reinforcement.

I didn't specifically test frequency response outside, but I have inside with the speaker away from walls. You are right about the low cut-off of ~40 hz, but that is without significant room gain. As far as our outdoor performance, most of the music is typical acoustic instruments plus electric guitars, basses and keyboards. Nothing that would create significant bass in the sub 40Hz range except possibly the drum kit? If the lowest octave was missing, and it likely was at least rolled off, it was not noticable. In other words, the sound quality of the music did not suffer.

Hope that helps. If I can come up with some pics in the future, I will post them. I was too busy ruinning the sound to take pictures, but I know many were taken.

Jim P

Title: Re: Imperial PA
Post by bassboy on 07/01/06 at 16:42:14

In my experience room gain doesn't help the low cutoff very much, as the gain does not provide enough reinforcement to level out the Imperial's drastic rolloff below tuning.

In your outdoors setup, the walls certainly will provide a decent amount of corner loading, it would probably be very different without them.

Even the drums are going to be within the 40 hz and up range. There is probably not much below 50 that you are trying to reproduce and the Imperials are perfect for the job you use them for.

You could probably get significantly lower by lining them all up mouth to mouth but as you said, the lf is not a concern and you would lose stereo effect that way.

Just wondering - have any of the students expressed interest in making their own? I wish I was introduced to horns at high school age.

Title: Re: Imperial PA
Post by Gex on 07/02/06 at 04:24:15

you and me both Bassboy.
Nobody I knew was into any form of audio then,just over driven craig powerplay decks and sounddesign all in ones.

Title: Re: Imperial PA
Post by jj420 on 07/03/06 at 17:31:03

I likewise wish I had been exposed to these beauties long-ago. In my younger years I was a very active listener, but for the lack of others that were intersted/knowledgeable, my budding hobby failed and lay unenjoyed for years and years. Thank God for the internet, now my life has more fullness.

Title: Re: Imperial PA
Post by JimP on 07/03/06 at 18:26:29

Oh yeh!

Lots of interest in the Imperials. Everyone from teachers to students. Of course the kids are trying to figure out how to fit one in their car. I had one of my physics students talk to me the day after we did our sound unit using the imperial to resonate the hallway, and I told him about the Decware site. Within a week he was building a DB12 for his car and asking me all kinds of questions about amps and speakers.

I'm always glad to encourage that kind of enthusiasm. IN fact, I've had this idea in the back of my head to put together a "Physics of Audio" class. Using audio, both electronics and acoustics I could teach almost every major topic we do now and probably get a much larger student group. Of course, we would have to build prototype speakers, etc. I think it would be a blast to teach but the logistics and supplies would make some of it very difficult to pull off. Then there is funding.....

Maybe someday.

Jim P

Title: Re: Imperial PA
Post by bassboy on 07/04/06 at 03:20:11

Funding would be no problem at all. $40 fee for an elective course worth zero school credit. $20 to Decware for plans for each student (if you want them to build a Decware design) and $20 from each student to pay the teacher. The course could even be online with one final meeting with the teacher to mark the final project. (No school costs or liability)

I would have taken a course if there was one. I'd still take courses if I could find some that were somewhere near my current level of understanding.