PA Setup Advice Needed - Yamaha DXR10 + JBL Eon One

[RonD]

My acoustic duo (two guitars, two vocals, keys and BeatBuddy) usually plays smaller rooms using my QSC Touchmix 8 into a JBL Eon One (it works great). Tomorrow night we're playing a larger room, so I'm thinking of dragging out my Yamaha DXR10 speakers and using them as the mains, in addition to the Eon One. My primary reason for using both the DXR10s and the Eon One is to get some low frequency coverage for the keys and BeatBuddy through the Eon One's subwoofer, and maybe get some additional "throw" for the vocals through the Eon One's array.

How would you best run these together? I'm thinking that I'll run the DXR10s from the Left/Right Main Outs of the Touchmix, and then possibly run the Eon One from one of the Aux Outs of the Touchmix (feeding it just the keys, BeatBuddy and a touch of vocals). Alternatively, to keep it simple, I could just daisy chain the Eon One off of one of the DXRs and adjust its volume as needed.

The only other complication I see is that I mix from the stage, usually wearing in-ears and listening to the main LR mix through the Touchmix Cue feed. If I reduce instruments in the main mix (feeding the DXRs) in order to feed them to the Eon One (via the Aux), then I may not quite hear what's going on out front.

Any thoughts? Should I even bother bringing both?

[gfa]

My $.02, which is actually worth far less, is that you may run into troubles (mud, comb filtering, ??) if you run the vocals through both speaker systems. Also, I'm not familiar with the EonOne, so don't know if it's sub can keep up with the DXRs. If the sub can keep up, I'd feed the Eon via an Aux.

[lschwart]

Can you use the Eon's sub separately--in other words just as a sub? If there's a crossover in the Touch mix (or less ideal, but maybe usable, a crossover in the sub), I'd try simply using the DXR's with the Eon's sub, letting the crossover take care of sending the lower frequencies from the keyboard and the Beatbuddy to the sub. If the Eon sub won't work separately, maybe rent a small sub--it's not like you need huge thump, but a little extra bass will, as you suspect, be nice.

I think that's more likely to give you clear sound at the levels you need than combining the Eon and the DXRs for your mains.

Are you all getting your stage monitoring through an in-ear system?

Louis

[The Kid!]

Originally Posted by gfa

My $.02, which is actually worth far less, is that you may run into troubles (mud, comb filtering, ??) if you run the vocals through both speaker systems. Also, I'm not familiar with the EonOne, so don't know if it's sub can keep up with the DXRs. If the sub can keep up, I'd feed the Eon via an Aux.

That's what I would do.
The way the OP is thinking about doing it is pretty overcomplicated and he could run into a bunch of issues.

[zhunter]

Leave the Eon at home. Not much of a sub really and the DXR10s are good speakers. If you are worried about the bass, put a low shelf at about 150 and roll it off -6 below. Your mix will be less murky and you can add have more punch.

hunter

[DavidE]

Originally Posted by zhunter

Leave the Eon at home. Not much of a sub really and the DXR10s are good speakers. If you are worried about the bass, put a low shelf at about 150 and roll it off -6 below. Your mix will be less murky and you can add have more punch.



hunter

The original Eon One has a pretty decent sub actually.

[RonD]

Thanks for the suggestions. This definitely gives me something to think about for future gigs. I am going to experiment with running the JBL without the array speakers (using just the sub) and see how it sounds with the DXRs. I will also plan on going back just to the DXRs for a couple of future shows.

For this gig, we got an email late Friday night from the venue (a brewery just north of Boston) with a picture of a large PA system they had just purchased, and they asked us if we'd be OK using it for our show. Of course we said yes...as it would save us from lugging our gear and would be plenty powerful for the space (and they were providing a sound guy).

We got to the venue an hour prior to the start of the show and started setting up, at which point the sound guy told us we were the "guinea pigs' for the new PA. I should have know this was not going to end well. Keep in mind, this is in a very large room with concrete floors, high ceilings (with no acoustical treatment), a hard wood wall behind us on the stage, and glass wall at the opposite end of the room (with a view into the brewing area).

Needless to say, they hadn't worked out the kinks in the system and we spent the next 90+ minutes dealing with feedback issues and terrible sounding monitors. We normally use in ears, and play much smaller/quieter rooms, so it just quickly turned into a disaster as the sound guys were trying to sort through cable issues, and figuring out what cables were plugged into which channels on the snake, etc. If had opted to bring our own gear, we would have been up and running in 20-30 minutes and sounded great.

The first set was a bit of a train wreck but we managed to get through it. We sorted out a technical issue with our keyboard, and the second set went much smoother. However, we literally could not hear anything from the monitors and were relying mostly on the FOH mix to hear ourselves. Furthermore, it sounded like we were playing in the world's largest echo chamber. The audience gave nice applause at the end, but I honestly have no idea what it actually sounded like from their position. It also felt like we were pushing a huge amount of volume, which we're typically not accustomed to, so it definitely changes your approach to playing/singing.

Lesson learned...when possible, don't be the "guinea pig" for a new sound system and sound guy. Ugh.

[lschwart]

Originally Posted by RonD

Thanks for the suggestions. This definitely gives me something to think about for future gigs. I am going to experiment with running the JBL without the array speakers (using just the sub) and see how it sounds with the DXRs. I will also plan on going back just to the DXRs for a couple of future shows.

For this gig, we got an email late Friday night from the venue (a brewery just north of Boston) with a picture of a large PA system they had just purchased, and they asked us if we'd be OK using it for our show. Of course we said yes...as it would save us from lugging our gear and would be plenty powerful for the space (and they were providing a sound guy).

We got to the venue an hour prior to the start of the show and started setting up, at which point the sound guy told us we were the "guinea pigs' for the new PA. I should have know this was not going to end well. Keep in mind, this is in a very large room with concrete floors, high ceilings (with no acoustical treatment), a hard wood wall behind us on the stage, and glass wall at the opposite end of the room (with a view into the brewing area).

Needless to say, they hadn't worked out the kinks in the system and we spent the next 90+ minutes dealing with feedback issues and terrible sounding monitors. We normally use in ears, and play much smaller/quieter rooms, so it just quickly turned into a disaster as the sound guys were trying to sort through cable issues, and figuring out what cables were plugged into which channels on the snake, etc. If had opted to bring our own gear, we would have been up and running in 20-30 minutes and sounded great.

The first set was a bit of a train wreck but we managed to get through it. We sorted out a technical issue with our keyboard, and the second set went much smoother. However, we literally could not hear anything from the monitors and were relying mostly on the FOH mix to hear ourselves. Furthermore, it sounded like we were playing in the world's largest echo chamber. The audience gave nice applause at the end, but I honestly have no idea what it actually sounded like from their position. It also felt like we were pushing a huge amount of volume, which we're typically not accustomed to, so it definitely changes your approach to playing/singing.

Lesson learned...when possible, don't be the "guinea pig" for a new sound system and sound guy. Ugh.

Did they pay you extra to be their guinea pig? They at least owe you another date--hopefully with someone who knows the system and how to use it! I hope they book you again soon.

L.