Posted by Chris D on August 29, 2002

I don't know about the outdoor concert nor the wedding reception which I have described earlier in the thread. Since you were not at my house fifteen years ago you probably didn't know that I had the system turned almost all the way down when it happened to me... Wouldn't have been a case of overdriving...(I think)

Chris (was I just imagining it all) D


Posted by J Ranger on August 31, 2002

Hum... Well, it would be hard to drive the drivers into thermal overload from excessive signal, I am at a loss to surmise this one. Live even more, learn even more :)

J Ranger


Posted by SteveP409 on August 29, 2002

This reminds of a time long ago...I ran sound on an Island... a benefit for a beach clean up... "Oh I was told, Chevron would supply the power" Actually power came from 3 portable 5 kw gensets and me not knowing any better, hooked my PA up to this. I lost 2 18"s and 4 15's before I realized what was going on. I learned many years ago that gen sets can kill your gear if not properly maintained... or you don't have enough power. It is a miracle I didn't lose a cab to fire...


Posted by David B. Little on August 29, 2002

Club owners are cheap.

They think owning an SR rig is cheaper than hiring one. They think buying the cheapest rig is the best rig. They buy the rig from their pawnbrokers cousin, who sells cheap below MI gear and has no clue to the proper design of a system.

They don't want to pay, so they hire the cheapest "sound tech" they can find - usually the dishwasher's brother that once put a stereo in his car. Because they haven't a clue as to what is going on, the cheap sound tech sets his rig up just like he does his car stereo - visually instead of aurally. The smiley face makes him feel good about working so cheap.

When everything blows up, cheap sound tech tells cheap club owner his cheap gear is at fault and suggest he go to the local mega-music mart because they sell the good gear cheap. Mega-music mart is too cheap to hire a real designer, so the head guitar salesman designs the rig based on what gives him the biggest kick at the end of the month. BTW: guitar boy lacks a real good grasp of balance wiring so the only balanced lines in the rig are the mic cables - you guessed it, everything else is patched with guitar cables.

So the cheap brand name gear gets installed - maybe it's wired properly, maybe it's not - cheap sound tech bangs on it some with the rig not properly gained, wired, limited, powered, whatever (remember the operative word is cheap here) and it all goes up in smoke and flames.

Meanwhile, our cheap club owner has already plunked down almost enough dough to hire a decent rig and tech for 12 months and will spend more fixing what is trashed. Cheap sound tech will continue to blow rig up, guitar boy at mega-music mart will keep selling unneeded upgrade gear at cheap price, and club owner will in one years time spend enough to buy a small regional "B" rig because owning the rig is cheaper than hiring one.

Ed, did I mention the club owner is cheap?

dbl


Posted by AlanH on August 29, 2002

That is REALLY good! ...and very accurate.

-AlanH

Posted by Ed on August 29, 2002

I could agree with you except this is one owner who wasn't cheap just very naive and trusting. First he trusted mr local music shop owner to sell him quality at a decent price. (2 single 15 sound tech tops with subs. total, not per side for several thousand.)Then he payed Mega Guitar for a decent rig at a very decent price and trusted bands to come in and set it up and use it.

Big mistake, every time we came in we had to rewire everything. So finally he trusts someone else to suggest an "engineer" that he could pay to run things right. Oops, he blows everthing up and clears a packed bar out at Midnight on a Friday. Sorry to say this is the right owner doing everything wrong. I can tell you have a bug up, you know, about owners and I've met a lot of them, but this guy isn't cheap and he's a nice guy to boot.