Mackie C300/C300i Owner's Manual - Page 6

PLACEMENT The C300 loudspeakers are designed to sit on the floor, a tabletop, or to fit on a standard tripod speaker stand. They can also be suspended by the rigging points, shown here. You can lay the cabinet down on its side and use the C300 as a floor monitor. The asymmetrical trapezoidal shape of the cabinet provides a perfect angle for aiming up toward performers from the front of the stage. Warning: Do not stack speakers in a column. This is to avoid the danger of toppling speakers. As with any loudspeakers, protect them from moisture. If you are setting them up outdoors, make sure they are under cover if you expect rain. Room Acoustics The C300 loudspeakers are designed to sound as neutral as possible; that is, to reproduce the input signal as accurately as possible, monitoring the audio signal rather than changing it. Room acoustics play a crucial role in the overall performance of a sound system. However, the wide high-frequency dispersion of the C300 helps to minimize the problems that typically arise. Top 900 900 Dispersion up to 18kHz Here are some other placement tips: • Avoid placing loudspeakers in the corners of a room. This increases the low frequency output and can cause the sound to be muddy and indistinct. • Avoid placing loudspeakers against a wall. This, too, increases the low frequency output, though not as much as corner placement. However, if you do need to reinforce the low frequencies, this is a good way to do it. • Avoid placing the speakers directly on a hollow stage floor. A hollow stage can resonate at certain frequencies, causing peaks and dips in the frequency response of the room. It's better to place the loudspeakers on a sturdy table or tripod stands. • Position the loudspeakers so the highfrequency drivers are 2 to 4 feet above ear level for the audience (make allowances for a standing/dancing in the aisles audience). High frequencies are highly directional and tend to be absorbed much easier than lower frequencies. By providing direct line-of-sight from the loudspeakers to the audience, you increase the overall brightness and intelligibility of the sound system. • Highly reverberant rooms, like many gymnasiums and auditoriums, are a nightmare for sound system intelligibility. Multiple reflections off the hard walls, ceiling, and floor play havoc with the sound. Depending on the situation, you may be able to take some steps to minimize the reflections, such as putting carpeting on the floors, closing draperies to cover large glass windows, or hanging tapestries or other materials on the walls to absorb some of the sound. However, in most cases, these remedies are not possible or practical. So what do you do? Making the sound system louder generally doesn't work because the reflections become louder, too. The best approach is to provide as much direct sound coverage to the audience as possible. The farther away you are from the speaker, the more prominent will be the reflected sound. Use more speakers strategically placed so they are closer to the back of the audience. If the distance between the front and back speakers is more than about 100 feet, you should use a delay processor to time-align the sound. (Since sound travels about 1 foot per millisecond, it takes about 1/10 of a second to travel 100 feet.) 6