EASE Sound System Design Project Report Evaluation

Transcription

1 EASE Sound System Design Project Report Evaluation Group Members Time Spent* Initials Score** Aaron Corbett AC Shannon Sremac Nick Upton SS NU *documented in Activity Log Sheet for each team member, included as Appendix A **may be different for each team member, based on amount of effort proportionally invested CRITERION SCORE WGT. PTS. Engineering design process System design constraint analysis Design constraint satisfaction Component selection Technical content / creativity Writing style / professionalism TOTAL Instructor comments:

2 Abstract TABLE OF CONTENTS ii 1.0 Engineering Design Process Design Constraint Analysis Design Constraint Satisfaction Equipment Selection Power Amplifier Requirements and Selection Signal Processing Requirements and Selection Mixing Console Requirements and Selection Microphone Requirements and Selection Rack Requirements and Design Cabling and Wiring Requirements Summary and Recommendations References Appendix A: Activity Logs Appendix B: Venue Illustrations Appendix C: Loudspeaker Placement and EASE Simulation Results Appendix D: Signal Path Wiring Diagram Appendix E: Rack Design and Power Sequencing/Distribution Appendix F: System Component List and Street Price Cost Estimate Appendix G: Manufacturer Data Sheets -2-

3 Abstract This report documents the design of a complete sound reinforcement system tailored for a generic, 6000-seat fan-shaped multi-purpose auditorium, with (approximately) 3750 seats on the main floor, 1500 seats on the first balcony, and 750 seats on the second balcony. Room dimensions and configuration should be chosen based on the specified seating capacity. The primary system design constraints are as follows: minimum SPL of 105 db at back row of (main floor) seating no more than ±5 db variation in SPL over the entire seating space for the 500 Hz, 1 KHz, 2 KHz, 4 KHz, and 8 KHz frequency bands frequency response of 40 16,000 Hz ± 5 db %ALCONS no greater than 10% over entire seating space minimum 48-channel mixing console minimum of 4 separate monitor mixes (and corresponding monitor loudspeaker systems may choose an in-ear monitoring system as an alternative) support for a minimum of 20 compatible wireless microphone channels (include multiple transmitters/receivers to support all 20 channels) good assortment of general-purpose wired and wireless microphone systems for speaking, individual vocalists, a variety of musical instruments, choral performances digital media recording/playback capability all equipment mounted in rack cabinet(s) budget of $500,000-3-

4 1.0 Engineering Design Process The venue we are designing our sound system for is a standard concert hall with a widening space as one moves away from the stage, much like our own Elliot Hall of Music. Similarly, it contains two balconies as well. The walls are made of plaster as we believed that this would be the most common material used for a simple music hall like this. We were originally somewhat unsure of how to properly use the EASE software s mirroring feature when we started (one could even say that it s not EASEy to use), and so designed a very large hall that ended up being able to seat over 8000 people instead of the suggested The general structure of the hall was designed by both Aaron and Shannon, who used the manual to figure out how to design a new venue from scratch. In hindsight we wish that we had known about the sample venue options provided by EASE so that we could ve saved time on the design process. Our main difficulty designing the hall came when we had finished designing the hall and subsequently realized that the hall had to properly sealed as well to properly work for the sound modeling part of the software. We persevered and discussed with other groups, and eventually were able to make a well sealed venue. The dimensions of our venue ended up being something of a larger scale, as mentioned earlier. The stage was about 150 feet wide by 30 feet long by 100 ft high. This is somewhat of a massive stage. The seating area is equally massive, with a length of about 300 feet and a width of 150 feet at the front of the house and a width of closer to 300 feet at the back of the house. The change of elevation from the front to the back of the house is approximately 50 feet. We thought that this incline would be sufficient to allow all seats to have a clear view of the stage without making the hall inconveniently steep (want to make it usable for the elderly and handicapped too). -4-

5 For the balconies we did our best to locate them so that they would have a clear view of the stage and not be way too steep either. For the top balcony we made it a little steeper to provide a better view for those who are furthest away, a sort of nosebleed section. this allowed us to maximize the number of seats that we could fit into this space. The lower balcony (A2), is located at a height of 15 feet above the back of the house s ground. This is sufficiently high to give the area a more spacious feel and still allow room for speakers to be hung from the underside of the balcony. At its narrower end balcony one has a width of about 250 feet due to the sloped shape of the hall. The second balcony (A3) is approximately 20 feet above balcony one. This allows sufficient room above for its own set of speakers to make sure adequate levels are heard from up there. -5-

6 2.0 Design Constraint Analysis The power amplifiers we decided on in our final design were the Crown Audio Xli channel amplifiers and we chose to purchase 28 units. The amplifiers provide 1000W per channel at an 8 ohm load. We decided on these speakers since our 3-way Vertec speakers operate pretty continuously around 1000W and most can operate lower so 1000W would be a good value to set as our maximum. Each Vertec speaker has 4 drivers in it, 2 low range drivers that are powered independently, a mid range driver, and a high-frequency driver. Considering we have 4 drivers per unit, we needed enough power amplifier channels to run each driver sufficiently. This resulted in a total of 56 channels, requiring 28 units. When dealing with this much power, electrical safety becomes a very important factor. It is necessary to have proper grounding for all electrical devices and speakers. Our goal is to use threeprong grounded plugs for all of our power sources to help make sure that everything is connected to the building s ground. There are many recorded incidents of people being badly shocked on stage due to poor grounding or grounding differences between equipment (such as two different guitars connected to two different amplifiers), so it is vital that this is properly considered. We will also have to include surge protectors on all major electrical equipment that doesn t already have one built in. The Furman power conditioner that we have included on our rack will work to protect our amplifiers and other rack equipment from surges and other potential electrical problems. In order to save money, we had originally chose Yamaha XM4180 amplifiers to power our system since they were 4 channel amplifiers. Unfortunately, as we upgraded the speaker selection in our venue to Vertec speakers, the Yamaha amplifier s output of 180W per channel wasn t going to provide sufficient power for our new power hungry speakers. As a result, we upgraded to the Crown audio amplifiers. -6-

7 The Crown Xli3500 require 5.1A at 120V at 8ohm operation, which caused us to require much more power handling capabilities. Since our Furman PL-Pro DMC Power Conditioners only output up to 20A, we need another conditioner for every group of 4 amplifiers. This resulted in a total of 7 power conditioners to adequately power our amplifiers. We had originally picked out Cyber Acoustics CPS1215RMS units as our power source for each rack, however after researching them and their performance, they re not much higher quality than an average power strip. They provide surge protection, however don t offer as many safeguards against electrical fault like the Furman units do. The Furman units have an Extreme Voltage Shutdown (EVS) feature that allows them to restrict power at up to 6000VAC and 3000 amp surges. The Furman units were designed for professional audio applications and are a much better match for our venue. -7-

8 3.0 Design Constraint Satisfaction The majority of speaker selection and placement was done by Nick in our group. The size of our venue created a myriad of problems for us when we began attempting to install speakers into our hall, particularly on our over 300-foot-long main floor. Our recurring problem was that we were unable to produce very much volume from the vast majority of speakers we could find in the software s database. The only exception was the Vertec speakers we found, which operate more like multi-speaker arrays. These speakers could produce a very high amount of volume while maintaining a very respectable %ALCONS rating (Below 10% in the vast majority of locations). The interesting thing about these speakers was that the frequency vs. directivity and the db vs. frequency plots showed completely flat lines. We don t believe that this is actually possible, especially because we found that there were severe dips in the level for our venue at the high end of the frequency spectrum. We did however find that the directivity and level of just two speakers was sufficient to create a fairly flat response on each of the balconies. Most of our issues, understandably, were created by the main floor. The main floor was difficult because to keep from obstructing audience vision, most of our speakers were hung from the ceiling of our venue off to either side. At the front of the house this created a very long distance to send the audio due to the sloped nature of our venue and its flat ceiling. We would experience very good levels and uniform dispersion of sound for the bass frequencies, but would frequently only see a small line of loud sound at the higher frequencies. Our first instinct was to add several speakers pointed at different angles towards the main seating area to the ceiling at the front of the house.this worked fairly well, but still left us with low levels for the higher frequencies for the majority of those seats. To help mitigate this problem, we decided to place two more Vertec speakers on the stage -8-

9 angled slightly downwards towards the audience. this helped boost the high frequency levels for most of the audience in the front where it was lacking before. The area underneath the first balcony was covered by two more of these speakers hung from the ceiling of the balcony. these were angled down towards the audience and the back of the room. Some soundproofing of the back wall will most likely be necessary to prevent the soundwaves from violently bouncing back on the audience. Much of our level issues were almost certainly due to the SPL loss caused by the distances created by the giant hall that we constructed. This made it so we were unable to use much variety in our speakers as individual speakers had very little impact on the overall level. The Vertec speakers we chose had a very interesting directivity pattern that wasn t a cone at all, but more of a horizontal line more like a line source output. This is understandable as the individual components are marketed as line array elements, and the ones used by the software are actually arrays of these speakers made up of about four elements each. We found that taking two units on opposing sides of the venue and aiming them towards the center produced fairly even coverage in most areas. We did have a little sibilance distortion going on underneath balcony one, and this may have been because of audio reflecting off the back wall and back up onto the bottom of the balcony and mixing with the other audio. As for rigging, our plan for most of the speakers was to hang them from the ceiling. We will use standard safety precautions when rigging our speakers and having professionals come in to install them most likely strategically attached trusses. After all, one of the worst things that can happen in a venue is to have a speaker fall and hit someone in the audience or on the stage. The two speaker systems that will sit at about stage level will be rigged using poles, which will also allow us to give them the proper angling. -9-

10 4.0 Equipment Selection 4.1 Power Amplifier Requirements and Selection The power amplifiers we decided to include in our final design were the Crown Audio Xli channel amplifiers. In order to provide enough amplification to our speakers, we chose to purchase 28 Crown Audio Xli3500. These amplifiers provide 1000W per channel at an 8 ohm load. We decided on these channel amplifiers because our 3-way JBL VT4889 speakers operate pretty continuously around 1000W and most can operate lower so 1000W would be a good value to set as our maximum. Each JBL VT4889 speaker has 4 drivers in it, 2 low range drivers that are powered independently, a mid range driver, and a high-frequency driver. Considering we have 4 drivers per unit, we needed enough power amplifier channels to run each driver sufficiently. The total amount of power amplifier channels resulted in a total of 56, requiring 28 Crown audio amplifiers at a final cost of $18,172 (unit cost $649). In order to save money, we had originally chose Yamaha XM4180 amplifiers to power our system since they were 4-channel amplifiers. Unfortunately, as we upgraded the speaker selection in our venue to Vertec speakers, the Yamaha amplifier s output of 180W per channel wasn t going to provide sufficient power for our the Vertec speakers. As a result, we upgraded to the Crown audio amplifiers. The Crown Xli3500 requires 5.1A at 120V at 8 ohm operation. Because of this, we need more power conditioners in our system. Our selected power conditioner, the Furman PL-Pro DMC, only output up to 20A. This means that in order to to provide enough power to the Crown Xli3500, we need another Furman PL-Pro DMC power conditioner for every group of four Crown Xli3500 amplifiers. This resulted in a total of seven Furman PL-Pro DMC power conditioners to adequately -10-

11 power our Crown Xli3500 amplifiers. We had originally picked out Cyber Acoustics CPS1215RMS units as our power source for each rack, however after researching them and their performance, they re not much higher quality than an average power strip. They provide surge protection, however don t offer as many safeguards against electrical fault like the Furman units do. The Furman units have an Extreme Voltage Shutdown (EVS) feature that allows them to restrict power at up to 6000VAC and 3000 amp surges. The Furman units were designed for professional audio applications and are a much better match for our venue. -11-

12 4.2 Signal Processing Requirements and Selection Our chosen signal processor is the Shure DFR22 Audio Processor that costs $720 per unit. Even though our mixing console, the Yamaha CL5 has built in signal processing, we ve decided to purchase another signal processing device in order to give flexibility and options to the sound engineers and to eliminate learning curves for the sound engineers who have no experience using a multi-purpose device such as the CL5. The Shure DFR22 has compressor/limiter, equalizer, delay, and other signal processing effects. The compressor/limiter helps to eliminate distortion or sound coming from the mixer that is being sent to the amplifier, the equalizer gives the collected sound more clarity and reduces feedback, and the delay aligns the loudspeakers throughout the venue so it feels as though the sound is coming from a single source (the stage). These effects help to insure that the sound reaching the audience is of highest quality. The signal path wiring diagram in Appendix D shows wire mic being directly connected to the mixing console and the wireless mic being connected to the receiver and then to the mixer. The wireless microphones need an additional step because there is no direct connection from the mic to the mixer. After that the flow graph divides into two paths: one using the Shure DFR22 signal processor and one without the signal processor. This is done because there are signal processor capabilities within the mixer but if a sound engineer does not wish to use the signal processor effects within the Yamaha CL5 mixer, then they can do all signal processing within the Shure DFR22. After signal processing, both paths continue to amplification using the Crown XLi3500 and finally the signal is sent to the JBL VT4889 speaker which is where the sound reaches the listener. -12-

13 4.3 Mixing Console Requirements and Selection For our mixing console, we decided to go along with the Yamaha CL5. The Yamaha CL5 is an excellent choice for live venue mixing. It has 72 mono and 8 stereo inputs, signal processing abilities, and Dante connection that makes it flexible and easily customizable. The Yamaha CL5 has up to 1000ms delay which allows all speaker delays to be set properly in a large venue like our own. The Yamaha CL5 is a flexible device. It can be used for live music recording as well as stage performances. The three Mini-YGDA cards also allow the mixing console to be expandable and adaptable. The Dante connection allows easy set up the the Yamaha CL5 and quick communication between the mixing console and other devices. The addition of the Dante produces high quality audio with minimal delay. The mixing console has a Live Sound Toolkit including a 32-channel graphic equalizer rack, compressor limiter, and an effect rack with over 50 built-in effects. This makes having a separate signal processor almost completely unnecessary. We decided to still invest in a signal processor as a backup for sound engineers that do not know how to fully utilize the effects provided within the Yamaha CL5. The CL5 is designed for friendly use and relatively easy to learn how to use. The board is clearly laid out and labeled for sound engineers. It is a very visual device and has a touch screen that allows the sound engineer to see and have full control over the device. Overall, the Yamaha CL5 has high user satisfaction and won t cause any issues to sound engineers new to the mixing console. Another mixing console that was considered is the Yamaha QL5 which is very similar to the Yamaha CL5 but it was quickly ruled out since it is typically used for smaller venues than the one we designed and it also lacks the Dante connection. -13-

14 4.4 Microphone Requirements and Selection For wired microphones, we chose the Shure SM58 and the Audio-Technica AT These microphones are relatively cheap with the Shure SM58 being $99 per microphone the Audio- Technica AT 2050 being $299 per microphone. The Shure SM58 is a simple handheld vocal microphone with a cardioid polar pattern. This microphone is only for vocals; the frequencies are brightened in the midrange and have increased lower frequencies so that the vocals have an honest sound. The cardioid polar pattern helps to remove noise from background sources and helps to eliminate any feedback. The Audio-Technica AT 2050 microphone is a multi-pattern condenser microphone that can be used for a variety of instruments including drums, strings, vocals, etc. Because of it s flexibility, we chose it as our main live instrumental microphone type. For wireless microphones, we decided to go with the Shure UH4-R Wireless system. This wireless system is compatible with almost any kind of wireless microphone with the use of the Shure UR3 plug-on wireless microphone transmitter. This allow for maximum flexibility because performers can bring their own wireless microphone and their microphones can be easily installed into the UH4-R system. The Shure UH4-R is composed of the UR4+ diversity receiver which connects to any of the UH4-R transmitter devices. The UR4+ is a single-channel and dual-channel receiver that is compatible to a max of 160 systems. it has both USB and Ethernet built-in and is easily customizable which allows for maximum flexibility for different performance types. Our chosen wireless transmitters for the UH4-R system are Shure UR1, UR2/SM86, and PGA98H. The Shure UR1 transmitter is a body back transmitter that has an eight hour battery life and a 500 ft. transmitting range which allows the transmitter to be almost anywhere in the venue but it can still connect to the UR4+ receiver. The Shure UR2/SM86 is a wireless microphone transmitter. It is compatible with the UH4-R system (without the use of a UR3 plug on) and has a battery life of -14-

15 9.5 hours which is enough time to last the entirety of a performance. These microphone have a high cost of about $1000 per microphone but have high performance quality. The Shure PGA98H is a clip on wireless microphone that is mostly used for solo instrumentalists. For example, it can be clipped to the horn of a saxophone so the sound received from the transmitter doesn t pick up sound from other surrounding instruments. Using the Shure PGA98H give soloing performers a more intimate sound than using the chosen Audio-Technica, which is a less directed microphone. Some other options that were considered were the Neumann U47 FET condenser microphone and the Shure BLX288/PG58 wireless microphone. The Neumann U47 FET was not chosen over the Audio-Technica AT 2050 microphone due mainly because of its cost. A single U47 FET costs about $4,000 dollars. If we wanted just 10 of these microphones, the total cost would run up to $40,000. Just like the Neumann microphone, the Audio-Technica AT 2050 is a condenser microphone with a cardioid polar pattern. The AT 2050 is a great condenser microphone for the cost and produces a high enough quality sound for live performance. The Shure BLX288/PG58 is a dual channel handheld wireless system. This wireless system selection was quickly eliminated because it can only handle two wireless microphones and is not comparable with the UH4-R system in terms of flexibility. -15-

16 4.5 Rack Requirements and Design We have two main rack designs, one that is for behind the stage for connecting microphones to the dante and another that connects dante to the signal processor and amplifier for the speakers. The racks are Odyssey FZ1115WDLZ. These racks were chosen since they have wheels that make it easy to rearrange rack placement. The rack for the microphones is organized (from top to bottom) UR4+, UR4+, UR4+, Space, Dante, cabling/wiring, power strip. The UR4+ is the receiver for all the wireless transmitters. All microphones, wireless and wired, connect to the dante connection which is sent to the Yamaha mixing console. The space in this rack is to allow heat to the escape between the receivers and the Dante, assuming that the receivers may emit some heat. The second rack primarily holds the amplifiers and signal processor. The order of this rack (top to bottom) is Crown Amp, Crown Amp, Crown Amp, Crown Amp, Space, Dante, Signal Processor, cabling/wiring, powerstrip. The space again in the rack design is to allow heat to escape. The dante has two possible paths it can take depending on whether or not it utilizes the signal processing effects within the Yamaha CL5 mixing console. If it does not utilize those effects within the mixer, the Dante takes the signal from the Yamaha CL5 mixing console and sends it to the signal processor, the Crown XLi3500 and finally it is sent to the JBL VT4889 loudspeaker. If the Yamaha CL5 mixing console is used, the Dante would send the signal directly to the Crown XLi3500 amplifier and then that the signal will be sent to the JBL VT4889 loudspeakers. -16-

17 4.6 Cabling and Wiring Requirements Being a part of technology in the 21 st century is a pretty incredible thing and taking advantage of technology and its benefits can be a huge help when designing a live entertainment venue. By using a digital system to coordinate and modify our signals, it can greatly increase the complexity while at the same time can provide huge benefits that with an analog system would cost much more and require much more equipment. For example, our Yamaha CL5 mixing console provides a digital output through a Dante connection to communicate with our many channels on stage. Also, instead of sending a snake of 72 wires from the mixing console to the stage, we are able to send one cat6 Ethernet cable and the same, if not better, sound quality is accomplished. In order to ensure high quality data transfer, we used 23 AWG Belden 2413 cat6 Ethernet cables to connect our equipment. This cable provides a high data transfer rate over cat5e as well as better protects from external interference. For the stage wires to our Dante interface, we used Pro-Co balanced line XLR cables at various appropriate lengths (20, 50, 100 ) to connect our on-stage mics and temporary on stage monitors, if desired. We also used balanced line cables to connect our amplifiers to all of our speaker units to reduce interference between equipment. -17-

18 5.0 Summary and Recommendations Our recommended system configuration is centered around versatility for the end user. We ended up using only about 300,000 dollars of our 500,000 dollar budget so our customer would have a lot left over in the end. We have a few recommended ways that this money could be spent. We strongly recommend, as stated above, that some sound proofing materials be purchased to help reduce unwanted audio reflections, particularly at the back of the house. Good acoustical treatment can make a good deal of difference in the sound quality at a venue. The money should be also used to pay professionals to do the installation to make doubly sure that the job is done correctly and doesn t have to be done a second time. Another potential good investment for the user would be to look into other line array speakers with a better high frequency response curve. These would be best located on the walls or ceiling and pointed directly at the central part of the main seating area. We believe that this could make the listening experience that much better for the people in attendance. These would have to be fairly powerful to make a notable difference, and most likely something a little newer than what is available in the EASE software. We suggest that the user bring on board some contractors to assist with this as well. -18-

19 6.0 References Appendix A: Activity Logs -19-

20 Activity Log for: Shannon Sremac Activity Date Start Time End Time Time Spent read through EASE manual 4/18 6pm 7 1 create new project create planes for theatre 4/23 6pm 8 2 choose speakers 4/24 6pm 9 3 edit theatre 4/25 8:30am 11:30 2 edit theatre, db graphs 4/27 7pm 9 2 db graphs 4/28 4pm 7 3 complete project/report: equipment selection, 5/3 5pm 3am 9 create powerpoint, rack layout, cost analysis 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5 5/4 6pm , 4.6, images and appendix 5/5 4pm

21 Activity Log for: Aaron Corbett Activity Date Start Time End Time Time Spent read through EASE manual 4/18 6pm 7 1 create new project create planes for theatre 4/23 6pm 8 2 choose speakers 4/24 6pm 9 3 edit theatre 4/25 8:30am 11:30 2 edit theatre, db graphs 4/27 7pm 9 2 db graphs 4/28 4pm 7 3 researched equipment to purchase, made powerpoint, helped with db plots 5/3 8pm 4am 8 wrote sections 2, 4.1, 4.6 5/4 3pm 7pm 4-21-

22 Activity Log for: Nick Upton Activity Date Start Time End Time Time Spent read through EASE manual 4/18 6pm 7 1 create new project create planes for theatre 4/23 6pm 8 2 choose speakers 4/24 6pm 9 3 edit theatre 4/25 8:30am 11:30 2 edit theatre, db graphs 4/27 7pm 9 2 db graphs 4/28 4pm 7 3 complete project/report 5/3 5pm 3am 8 Wrote report sections 1, 3, 5 5/4-22-

23 Appendix B: Venue Illustrations -23-

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25 Appendix C: Loudspeaker Placement and EASE Simulation Results -25-

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30 Appendix D: Signal Path Wiring Diagram -30-

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32 Appendix E: Rack Design and Power Sequencing/Distribution -32-

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34 Appendix F: System Component List and Street Price Estimate -34-

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36 Appendix G: Manufacturer Data Sheets -36-

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