Dave Wilkins with Apogees

As the audio department manager for an audio visual company, I am constantly immersed in the challenges of providing audio as support for large multimedia presentations. The challenges can stem anywhere from neglect on the salesman/client side to the politics of doing business in hotels. As much as these challenges are a growth opportunity they can quickly become a headache if not properly addressed. Personally, I like to make my job easier by having a sound system prepared and ready to endure the ever-changing mind of a corporate client.

The system that I’ve found to be a sure bet for corporate clients is what I call a pseudo-5.1 system. Five points of sound, left, center, right, left rear, right rear and a sub woofer system. This approach generally works well in covering the audience at all angles with the addition of the center. Another reason for this set up is to create a back-up system with the rear speakers. If a hotel server walks behind the dark screen and accidentally kicks out the power cord for your front amp rack, you will still have sound from the rear. This can be a nice safety feature that will save you the embarrassment of running backstage to troubleshoot.

What I normally use for the front left and right mains are 2 trapezoid 15” full range cabinets, usually either CGM TRAP 115H-EX’s or Ramsa WST-215’s. My center speakers, if possible, are the CGM’s hung on a lighting truss, but almost always I will place speakers under the stage for the front few rows. I like to use Carvin 810 speakers because they fit so well under a 16 inch stage, and can put out some noticeable power.

My rear speakers are two Apogee SAT 3’s, clustered and hung on lighting pipes in each corner of the room. I have developed a bracket and clamp system that allows me to hang the SAT 3’s on 12 foot pipes and have them angled down so that they are pointed right at the audience and not back towards the stage.

I almost always will delay these speakers to try and line them up with the mains, but it can never be perfect so I just make sure they aren’t too loud.

The subwoofer system I employ is two community CSX 500S 18” enclosures usually placed behind the screens. I drive them from an aux send, because I only want certain things going to the subs (definitely not lavalier microphones.) My subwoofer amp rack incorporates an Ashley crossover, just using the low output, and an ART 341 graphic 2/3 octave EQ to boost the “sweet spot” of the sub. A Crown CE 2000 amplifier is then set to mono bridge, to power both subs.