How big a space could I fill with sound from a pair of Academy speakers?

[Mister Bean]

I'm almost hesitant to admit this, but I have a pair of Academy speakers that I use in a stereo setup. Clearly, it's not what they're designed for, but they work pretty well.

So, to my question. In a couple of months I'm getting married, and we don't feel like spending a bunch of money on a DJ that isn't going to play the music that we want. So we're doing it ourselves. We're putting together the playlist, and we've got a couple of laptops for redundancy. This just leaves the audio equipment to be figured out. There are speakers already in the place which sound decent from what I've heard so far, but they're just built into the ceiling, and maybe not quite as loud or with the frequency response you'd want for dancing. We could go out and rent a PA system, but the cost of a good one would be equivalent to a good portion of the cost of a DJ, so if we're going to spend that much, it almost seems like we'd be just as well off getting a DJ and letting them take care of the setup and tear down. Then my fiancee suggested using our home system. At first I thought, no, not a chance, they're great speakers, but just not really meant for higher volumes in such a large space. Then I started wondering whether they might actually be able to do it, particularly if I was to add a good sub to take care of the lower frequencies and make things a bit easier for them overall. Or if I was to split the output from the laptop so that we could use the inhouse speakers and the Academys simultaneously (though this makes things much, much more complicated and runs into the possibility of having something out of phase).

So here's some specifics. I've got the Academys and a receiver that puts out about 110 watts per channel, a subwoofer could potentially be added. The space is an art gallery shaped like a horse shoe, approximately 3500 square feet with about eight or nine foot ceilings. The floors are wood and there are no carpets or other absorbant materials on the dancing side of the room. The dance area itself would probably be somewhere around 500 to 750 square feet, depending on how many people are over there (there will be approximately 100 people at the wedding, so if half dance, we're looking at 50). It's a big space overall, but the part where you'd want it to be loud isn't. So could this potentially be workable with the Academys, or would I just be seriously running a risk of destroying the speakers? Currently I'm leaning towards the latter, but I keep going back and forth.

Thanks for any thoughts.

[theplummer]

Congrats on the future Ball and Chain, I mean marriage of bliss.

I personally think the Academy's would be marginally adequate. If you have a small, localized, dance floor, you might get buy with them (with a good Subwoofer), as the area away from the dance floor could be used for eating and just general conversation, (Hey, what a novel Idea, A social gathering that the band or music isn't purposly trying to overpower and drowned out the whole reason people are there in the first place!!!!)

I'm not sure the academy's would be adequate if Alcohol is going to be at the reception, as we all know, as the night wears on, the volume usually increases, because alcohol inhibits hearing among other senses.

But on to a more important question, Who's actually going to be in charge of running this home made DJ operation. Remember, this is your "special day" your not going to want to have to be in charge of running the music, and what happens when people start requesting special songs. Also, I doubt you have the ability to add a Microphone to the home receiver that your wanting to use. Think about dance announcements, presentation of the bride and groom, best man's toast, etc.etc.etc...... I personally think that what a DJ charges, this could be the best bargain of the entire night. Ask yourself, "How much did that darn dress cost that's only going to be worn for a few hours, then thrown in a box, never to be seen again?

Good luck and maybe DrWho and Colterphoto could help here with other alternatives, theyr'e pretty good with that stuff.

[Daddy Dee]

Mr. Bean,

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the wedding ahead.

I also think that the Academy's could be adequate. With the limited size of the dance area and if folks don't care for club level sound you'd be OK. Club level sound wouldn't be good for conversation anyway.

That said, I'd encourage you to look to see what a PA rental would cost. Times I've rented over the years it has been surprisingly reasonable. One thought about the rental it's gear built to be portable. You don't have to worry about scratching or damaging your gear. It will also look impressive, that's pretty cool, too.

[Mister Bean]

Thanks for the input, and you bring up some valid points.

We haven't worked out everything yet, but it's coming along. The basic plan right now is to do three playlists, one each for cocktails, dinner and dancing. The first two will be played back on the house system for sure. Since the speakers are evenly distributed they can be played at a relatively low volume and still be easily heard by everyone throughout the place. I see no reason to do requests during cocktails or dinner, so all that will need to be done for those is
connect the laptop to the wall and their system and press play. Since it's just two connections I'm sure I can find someone that can handle that, or maybe even have the caterers take care of it. The house system has a wireless mic built in, and we've got a friend that does some DJing, so he said he'd like to handle MC duties for the night. If he were to fall through, there are a couple others that I'm sure would do well with it. So that will take care of announcements and toasts.

Then there's the dancing portion of the evening. This is where requests would come into play. The plan for right now is to solicit requests for the playlists prior to the wedding, and let guests know that they need to get them in now as they won't be able to make them then. I've talked to a couple other people that did it this way and had it work out well. And really, compared to the number of weddings where I've seen the DJ clear the dance floor, I think it will probably work out alright. Alternatively, I could try to find two or three people willing to watch the laptop and enter requests, but that just seems like it might be more trouble than it's worth.

[Mister Bean]

The ease of setup and transport for a rental PA is definitely something to consider. Any tips on finding a good rental company? I've looked around a bit, but a lot were either too far away, or didn't seem reputable.

[Marvel]

Try out a regular music store that sells guitars and P.A. gear. They often rent equipment, too. You don't really need something big. One of the box mixers with six cahnnels would works great for this. They usually have an input with RCAs for pluging in CD players, tape decks. Rentals are often 10-15% of the cost of the gear, so don't get more than you need. Tell them the coverage area and what you are wanting to do.

Guitar Center (and the like) isn't set up for that, but a locally owned strore probably could do it.

Bruce

[Mr. RF62]

Being a D J myself for 12 years and still going, DJing is not as easy as you may think it is. People are and can be constantly requesting songs that they or their table would like to hear, but thats them, not the next table, then there is the no-smoking that makes everyone go outside and left with no one on the dance floor on account that their song they requested is now playing, but they had to go outside. There are lots of other reasons why donce floors are clear, or get cleared. Djs work on the crowd, and songs that "fit" in with the crowd, or the "set" sometimes have a negative effect. Depends on time of night, how many drinks people have had, etc. So before you attack DJs, please be reasonable, I know that the price can be crazily outrageous (I'm not one of them as I understand how much $$$ wedding expenses are and can get, so for me, I try and make it as easy and hassle free so the Bride and Groom can enjoy their night, if I feel that I did not do a good enough job (I have high standards of myself) I then give a better deal.

Just My Humble Opinion.

[SilverSport]

sell the Academys and get a pair of full range speakers with some bux in your pocket ta boot!

Bill

[oldtimer]

The first thing people usually want to know is where are you located? I am a bit surprised no one asked this yet. If I were near Indianapolis I'd be giving Mike Colter (colterphoto) a shout. You could hire him to do the photography and who knows what kind of deal he would cut you on the limitless possibilities of his Klipsch collection for the night.

[WMcD]

Congrats on true love. All best wishes.

On the matter of using little home speakers in a big gallery . . . it is not going to work. I attempted something like this years ago a couple of times. Speakers and amps which perform well in a living room just do not have the capacity of raw output to fill a hall which is 100 or 200 times as large, if not more. It goes further than that. People, babble, etc. You need 90 or 100 dB to get above the noise floor.

This is why DJs have much, much bigger systems.

I'll defer to the professional DJs on the hardware issues. Maybe Mike B (Dr. Who) will come in on this.

My thought is that this matter is a matter of finding a good DJ who will drag in his own equipment. Not cheap but ask for prices ahead of time and work with him or her.

It's a bear, but it pays to work with your supplier ahead of time. I went to a grade school re-union. (!!) The audio system was pretty good but the DJ said he had no idea about the musical taste of the crowd beforehand. Tell the guy you goals, and your laptop set up.

Give clear instructions to a pro and let him take care of getting in a big system.

Gil

[oldbuckster]

Pump the drinks to the guests, a couple of drinks they could care less about the sound ............ You won't please everyone anyway !!! The day is about you, and your Bride, everything else is secondary ............... Best Wishes !!!!!!!

[mas]

Just a few ideas which may or may not help...

First regarding speakers - it might be the time to approach the wife to be and suggest that you invest in a used pair of LaScalas. They will handle the space and not only can you use the occassion to help earn their acceptance, but you can also potentially save the money that you would otherwise spend on a DJ...(see the following)...and you end up with a pair of LaScalas to boot!

Also, if you know the songs/music you like you have a few more choices.

A smart man would allow his fiance and her friends to pick the songs and to build a song list (you can also slip them a list of songs you like too).

With a regular CD/DVD burning software too, you can build the song lists and you also get a time map that tells you what the total play time. Thus, as you build the playlist you can print a play list that lets you know the quarter hour/half hour/ hour intervals. Thus, if you know the time you have the reception center, you can build it to the total time and you also have a bit of control over the tempo...meaning that if you can use the music to help you reinfoce the flow of the activities, as at say 30 minutes into the reception you want to dance and the music selection can be programmed a little more up tempo or forward to reinforce that as opposed to periods where you want the music to serve as background, etc...

Additionally, you can make, say, a CD(s) for each program section - with tracks suitable for that part of the program, able to be changed as things go, giving you much more control over the flow of the program.

And if you record the tracks onto a DVD, you can fit up to 10 CDs worth of tracks on one disk...talk about maintenance free...

Or, you can put eveything on an iPod and use that...

But in any event, if your fiance and her friends are in charge of the songs, I don't think you will have to worry about anyone else wanting a particular song, as you can always send any 'dissatisfied' listener to the 'organizing committee' and just sit back and enjoy the show.

Again, there is allot of flexibility in this scenario...but you can certainly save some money and maybe even end up0 with a pair of speakers that helped to save the day...and in the process your fiance may see the LaScalas in a much more favorable light and not mind them in your living room!

And of course, Best Wishes!