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Sound reinforcement help needed

westend

westend

Audiopile
I need to setup some kind of a sound system for my kids' Graduation party.
My daughter, the synth player will be playing files through her laptop. My son, the guitar player, will be offering up some tunes through his Marshall setup. I'll be offering some background/party mix/polka through CD player.
The room is approx. 100' x 40'. This is a community center so has a wall of windows, vinyl floors, and a 9' ceiling height.
I have a lot of various vintage stereo, of course:amps, equalizer, speakers,
CD players, etc. I also have a QSC pro-audio amp (around 500w. a side at 8 ohm) and the two Marshall half stacks will be in atttendance w/ the 100w. tube head.
I was just messing around with a pair of Yamaha NS-1235's with a pair of JBL 4312's stacked. With a Kenwood 80w/side it is nearly deafening in my garage at less than half volume. Can I expect a rig like this to fill that room or do I need more speakers?
 
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That's 4000 square feet. I would use the QSC for this, and just control volume at preamp level/input section on amp. If it's overkill, then you can always just turn in down. It's better than the alternative: nobody being able to hear and there being nothing you can do.
 
I'm thinking of running the signal out from the Kenny into the Marshalls for the later night dance crowd. I could also use the QSC and patch into the Marshall cabs, as Max suggested. If I go that route it will be a wiring nightmare, I'm sure. RCA, 1/4", and XLR all in the chain with disconnects.
I was informed a bit ago that there will be other musicians/band members in attendance. Maybe they will have a PA setup. It's going to be an interesting mix of folks at the party. The kid's musician friends, the schoolmates and their parents, a few of my crowd, and the 140 Polaks from the wife's side. The wife's family is all good, though. Those folks know how to party.
 
Leave the QSC home or you're likely going to break speakers in that large of a room.

With the QSC's power factor in that size room, it needs to be connected to "pro" speakers that can safely manage the QSC's power output, especially with the variety of sources involved and no sort of signal limiting.
 
westend said:
I'm thinking of running the signal out from the Kenny into the Marshalls for the later night dance crowd. I could also use the QSC and patch into the Marshall cabs, as Max suggested. If I go that route it will be a wiring nightmare, I'm sure. RCA, 1/4", and XLR all in the chain with disconnects.
I was informed a bit ago that there will be other musicians/band members in attendance. Maybe they will have a PA setup. It's going to be an interesting mix of folks at the party. The kid's musician friends, the schoolmates and their parents, a few of my crowd, and the 140 Polaks from the wife's side. The wife's family is all good, though. Those folks know how to party.
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You'd better find out about the PA -- you'll be better off trying run all the different sources without unplugging the amp head and plugging in the Kenny, assuming you have the right adapters. I've done a little DJ for family weddings and sporting events, even strippers. You might try to find a local music retailer that rents out PA systems. I remember renting a powered mixer and 2 cabs for around 150 clams a weekend. That was all I needed for halls and gyms. Also keep in mind that you don't want to push your home stuff very hard, as they most likely won't hold up. Made that mistake at our college parties -- fried many a tweet.

Good luck and tell us how it went!
 
About patching into the cabs.. aren't they just straight 1/4 inch? And what does the amp have as output? Normally, there's binding post, speakon, or TRS(1/4 inch).
 
Well go find some tweeters! That's a good point, I hadn't thought about that.. I figured that they might have one built-in.. I have seen some Ampeg cabs I think that have tweeters.
 
Hey, thanks to all for the advice and to Powerman for the loaner possibility. Unfortunately, I'm not close or that could have worked well. Here's what I used, explaining for others that need to provide sound for an event something like this:
I set up an 8' table about midroom that had the Kenwood 8150, Adcom CDP, laptops. On the ends of this table I placed a pair of Yamaha 1235 floor-standers, atop the Yamaha's, a pair of JBL 4312 studio monitors. This setup, with the Yamaha's toed in and the JBL's pointed 45 off axis to the rear of the room, provided low-level listening for conversation and dinner time. Also, high-level dance volume, for the youngins' after the bulk of the elders had left.
A band arrived during the evening and that part of the sound was taken care of by their equipment and ours combined.
I was impressed by two things: The amount of volume that can be generated with the mid-level stereo components in a fairly large room ( I was asked, once, to lower the volume during the "conversational" period). "Rager's Fantasy" at 3/4 volume was all that was needed for explosive dance music.
Secondly: Young adults are very sophisticated, musically. I would estimate that 30 or so performed either, in the band, with others, or by themselves. I heard pop, rap, folk, and classical. It was a real treat to see a guy in a ripped T-shirt and dirty ball cap sit down on the bench of the Center's piano and break out a Beethoven Sonata.
We were required to close up at 12:00 PM but went a little longer. Separating the instruments from the stereo setup was a good decision as I was able to throw in a CD and attend to the other tasks at hand and it did the job. My Daughter and her buds took over the playlist for the dancing and musicians set up and played in their own fashion. All in all, unqualified success. Thanks to all for the help and offers.
 
Good to hear you pull it off. Something that is loud 5 ft away is still loud 20ft away, yes? looks like you made the right choice and thanks for the update
 
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