' SLS loudspeakers Inc., 2002. All rights reserved.
16
A strong upper lobe is evident, resulting in higher SPL at the back seats. Then there is a
large seating area below, between 65 ft and 164 ft (distance from the first row), with SPL
down to – 15 dB relatively to the normalized highest level in the venue at about 10 feet
(4
th
of 5
th
row). The array with progressive splay angles exhibits much better coverage
consistency (Fig.21). By splaying the upper elements at very small increasing angle and
evenly dispersing sound energy to the lower seats it is possible to create smoother, more
consistent SPL coverage with higher average levels throughout the venue. The resulting
system provides remarkably consistent coverage at only –10 dB SPL in mentioned 65ft-
164 ft area and beyond up to the farthest seats, yielding total +/-5 dB SPL deviation
throughout the entire venue.
It is worth noting that both systems have the same number of elements and the same
total vertical coverage angle. Hardly any “level shading” or other DSP processing (except
the common crossing and leveling of the drivers within each element) is necessary for
such a system. The true line array performance capabilities of the RLA/1 combined with
power and accuracy of the LASS program, makes such remarkable results possible.
Fig.20 Coverage of the RLA/1 array in J-type configuration at 2 kHz.
Fig.21 Coverage of the RLA/1 array in progressive splay configuration at 2 kHz.
