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i seem to accidentally be getting into the PA hire business. Anyone got any ideas as to how you ensure no-one overloads the rig, obviously putting a limiter on the front would help, but given that the amp is overspec'd for the speakers how do I find out how much power I'm putting out into them so I know what the limiter should be set to for max vol?
In some respects you are better off having a bit more power in the amps than the speaker are rated at, it more easyer to blow a speaker when an anp is being worked to the max even if is rated power is lower than the speakers.
You have to be carefull though, your best bet is set up a compressor limiter on the system, providing it has been set up right it should be near on impossilble to blow anything.
By having more power in the amps than what you need means that the amps are not running hard or at there max so they shouldn't overheat or distort, but agian you have to be carefull !!
There is no true way of finding out how much power you are sticking into a speaker ( As far as I know ), the best way is when you are setting up & doing a sound check turn the sytem up until the point where its on the edge of sounding rough & distorted, then turn it down a little & set the limiter to that point. Thats what I have done when I haven't known the power on the speakers & amps ect that ive been using.
Sorry to ramble on abit but I hope it helps :D
Unfortunately the only truely effective way is to stand in the DJ booth wielding a cricket bat, ready to beat the offending DJ around the back of the head once they start cranking the levels.
Other than that, do your best to limit the signal going into the rig. Set the mixer up so it's peaking nicely at 0db, then run into a compressor. Set the threshold up on the compressor so it's just bordering cutting in at 0db, and whack the ratio up. Then, as you crank the mixer up, the compressor will turn everything back down and you should stay around the 0db mark. Sound quality will suffer as you crank up the levels, but that should be the important lesson to learn not to redline everything.
The cricket bat is your best bet though.
Yeah - i've got an old alesis compressor i'm sure I can set up as a limiter ... just finding that limit without destruction testing the kit is going to be interesting :)
Cricket bat ain't a bad idea but as I'm not always going to be watching the thing I think I'd better fix it with some technology.
Never fear again!!
http://www.drawmer.co.uk/sp2120.htm
Looks the business doesn't it!