Void Arcline 212, User Manual

Page 1: ...Arcline 8 212 User Guide V1 0 ...

Page 2: ... without notice For the latest online version visit www voidacoustics com Void Acoustics and the Void logo are registered trademarks of Void Acoustics Research Ltd in the United Kingdom USA and other countries all other Void trademarks are the property of Void Acoustics Research Ltd ...

Page 3: ...TM wiring 15 5 6 Arcline 212 Bias Q5 speakON wiring 16 6 Amplification and control 17 6 1 System control using Armonía 17 7 System design 18 7 1 Hearing safety 18 7 2 System design basics 18 7 3 EASE Focus 3 prediction software 20 7 4 Array design using EASE Focus 3 20 7 4 1 How many cabinets 20 7 4 2 100 m flat field example 21 7 4 3 Manually adjusting splay and gain 25 7 2 4 Balconies and bleach...

Page 4: ...vel the less exposure needed to cause such damage Avoid prolonged exposure to the high sound levels from the loudspeaker 1 2 Limitations This guide is provided to help familiarise the user with the loudspeaker system and its accessories It is not intended to provide comprehensive electrical fire mechanical and noise training and is not a substitute for industry approved training Nor does this guid...

Page 5: ...tre will initiate corrective repairs upon receipt of the returned product Please save the original carton and all the packing materials in case shipping is required All products being returned to the factory or service centre for repairs must be shipped prepaid If the repairs made by Void or the Void Authorised Service Centre are not satisfactory the Owner is instructed to give written notice to V...

Page 6: ...incomplete or any of its contents are found to be damaged inform the shipping company and inform your dealer Arcline loudspeakers are heavy and require a minimum two people to lift Undo the four butterfly catches on the transport case then remove the lid making sure the lid is clear before moving sideways If you need to place the Arcline on a flat surface ensure you use a lint free product to prot...

Page 7: ...ically improve the perceived sound quality and definition of the Arcline 8 while an advanced rigging system reduces setup time and the need for more than one person to rig multiple enclosures Delivering a true 110 degree dispersion results in a highly uniform polar pattern bringing uniform sound quality across the entire sound field The high frequency horn design optimises the waveguide and a new ...

Page 8: ...t 145 dB peak Driver configuration 2 x 1 4 compression drivers 2 x 8 mid drivers with phase device 2 x 8 horn loaded low frequency drivers Dispersion 110 H x 12 V Protection Internal electronic control Connectors 2 x 4 pole speakON NL4 Height 285 mm 11 2 Width 881 mm 34 7 Depth 470 mm 18 5 Weight 39 kg 86 lbs Enclosure 15 mm multi laminate plywood Rigging Rigging angle pre selected before you lift...

Page 9: ... 212 User Guide V1 0 Page 9 4 2 4 Arcline 8 dimensions 733 5 28 9 881 34 7 285 11 2 733 5 28 9 881 34 7 469 9 470 18 5 285 11 2 229 5 881 34 7 733 5 28 9 881 34 7 470 18 5 Figure 4 1 Arcline 8 dimensions 4 About ...

Page 10: ...urCoat polyurea finish bringing longevity for life on the road 4 3 2 Key features Extended frequency range from 55 Hz to 120 Hz Flyable with Arcline 8 Cardioid configuration integrated in the rigging FEA optimised porting 4 3 3 Arcline 212 specifications Frequency response 50 Hz to 200 Hz Efficiency1 99 dB Nominal impedance 2 x 8 Ω Power handling2 2 x 900 W AES Maximum output3 132 dB cont 138 dB p...

Page 11: ...Arcline 8 212 User Guide V1 0 Page 11 4 About 4 3 4 Arcline 212 dimensions 876 34 5 733 5 28 9 365 14 4 470 18 5 Figure 4 2 Arcline 212 dimensions ...

Page 12: ...BGV D8 and BS7906 1 Category B for suspending 24 Arcline 8 line array elements as a static load with secondary suspension Arcline 212 fly frame BGV C1 Conforms to BGV C1 for suspending 14 Arcline 212 line array elements BS7906 1 Category A Conforms to BS7906 1 Category A for suspending 17 Arcline 212 line array elements BGV D8 and BS7906 1 Category B Conforms to BGV D8 and BS7906 1 Category B for ...

Page 13: ...Cable considerations for fixed installations We recommend specifying installation grade Low Smoke Zero Halogen LSZH cables for permanent installations The cables should use Oxygen Free Copper OFC of grade C11000 or above Cables for permanent installations should be compliant with the following standards IEC 60332 1 Fire retardancy of a single cable IEC 60332 3C Fire retardancy of bunched cables IE...

Page 14: ...HF 8 MF 8 MF 1 4 HF 8 LF 8 LF Figure 5 1 Arcline 8 wiring diagram speakONTM pins 1 1 speakONTM pins 2 2 In LF 2 x 8 MHF 2 x 8 and 2 x 1 4 Out LF link MHF link 5 4 Arcline 212 wiring diagram 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 In Out Link 12 LF 12 LF speakONTM pins 1 1 speakONTM pins 2 2 In LF 12 LF 12 Out LF link LF link Figure 5 2 Arcline 212 wiring diagram ...

Page 15: ... Bias Q5 wiring Bias Q5 Output 1 Output 2 Output LF 2 x 8 MHF 2 x 8 and 2 x 1 4 Note that Q5 amplifier output channels do not share a common ground for 1 and 2 Avoid grounding Q5 amplifier outlet pins or loudspeaker connector pins Never wire loudspeaker installation panels with common Ch1 and Ch2 loudspeaker return lines 5 Cabling and wiring ...

Page 16: ...iring Bias Q5 Output 1 Output 2 Output LF 12 LF 12 Note that Q5 amplifier output channels do not share a common ground for 1 and 2 Avoid grounding Q5 amplifier outlet pins or loudspeaker connector pins Never wire loudspeaker installation panels with common Ch1 and Ch2 loudspeaker return lines LF 1 LF 1 LF 2 LF 2 LF 1 LF 1 LF 2 LF 2 ...

Page 17: ...ia powersoft it for details Ensure that all your Bias Q5 amplifiers are loaded with the same firmware version 1 Different firmware versions on different amplifiers may lead to latency mismatches 2 Keeping your amplifier firmware up to date will ensure that your Bias Q5 amplifiers work with the latest version of Armonía Plus Arcline presets and updates All void prestes are available through the mar...

Page 18: ... The array curvature Summation is related to coverage overlap between multiple cabinets and becomes more critical at high frequencies where the vertical directivity of individual cabinets is higher and where multiple arrival phase shifts reduce vector summation 7 System design To avoid noise hazards please note the following Public address loudspeakers are designed to project sound to a large audi...

Page 19: ...ergy from that sound particularly at mid and high frequencies The tuning of that resonance varies with temperature and relative humidity in a complex way but tends to be worse around 20 RH and worse at higher frequencies The significant thing about air absorption is that it attenuates in dB over linear distance not per doubling as with radial attenuation Air absorption can be as high as 0 287 dB p...

Page 20: ... afmg support eu AFMGDownloads Downloads aspx SWP EASE 20 Focus amp FILE EASE_Focus_v3 0 18 zip Windows 7 requires Microsoft NET Framework 4 0 available from https www microsoft com en us download details aspx id 17851 7 4 Array design using EASE Focus 3 7 4 1 How many cabinets The following factors should be considered Maximum low frequency SPL will increase by approximately 6 dB for every doubli...

Page 21: ...your way around it here are some example plots of a house left array for a 100 m flat field using 16 x Arcline 8 It makes sense to optimise one side before copying and pasting for stereo or multi channel A note about these auto splay and manually adjusted examples The following plot examples are for one side only Full stereo will add 3 5 dB over a wide coverage area The first few views simply use ...

Page 22: ... initial 2 kHz 3 octave coverage using EASE Focus 3 s Conventional auto splay 7 System design Figure 7 2 Top view showing initial 6 3 kHz 3 octave coverage using EASE Focus 3 s Conventional auto splay Good for checking HF propagation Conventional auto splay examples ...

Page 23: ...n SPL maximum near the front at about 25 m in the example above This is due to the arrays finite size making it act partly like a conventional point source at low frequencies This is perfectly acceptable if mid and high frequency coverage is smooth and often reduces when larger array presets are employed 7 System design Figure 7 4 Side view showing initial 2 kHz 3 octave coverage using EASE Focus ...

Page 24: ...s but can provide an overly sharp cut off for outdoor use where temperature and wind gradients can modify propagation We usually recommend designing outdoor systems for a few degrees extra vertical coverage to provide up to 10 15 extra coverage distance as a hedge against climatic effects Figure 7 5 Broadband side view using EASE Focus 3 s Conventional auto splay 7 System design ...

Page 25: ...l time network controlled line array systems like the Arcline 8 even with varying atmospheric conditions noise abatement restrictions often assume that the sound system will be as leaky as a wide vertical point source and calculate maximum front of house FOH levels accordingly often restricting FOH levels to around 105 dB A Leq over typically 10 minute intervals with a very strict limit on instant...

Page 26: ...gure 7 7 Top view showing initial 2 kHz 3 octave coverage after manual inter cabinet angle adjustments When every dB helps it makes sense to smooth out vocal coverage and it s always worth ensuring that if the FOH level is going to be monitored for noise abatement purposes its vocal levels shouldn t be significantly higher than other audience areas Note A relatively flat coverage profile is usuall...

Page 27: ...erms This situation would only happen in practice if all the array section limiters were ganged and then only when the highest gain section was driven into limit So it s best to leave any array shaping to the Void Arcline 8 presets which will be banded rather than broadband The array sizes per venue depth shown here will be perfectly sufficient in reality as peak SPLs will be significantly higher ...

Page 28: ... would be made with listening tests to achieve a natural reduction of level vs distance Bleachers A double curvature approach can also help with floor and bleacher audience areas Note the two curvatures one from the top to the bottom of the bleacher and another from the rear to the front of the floor Figure 7 8 Venue side view showing initial stalls balcony 2 kHz 3 octave coverage after manual int...

Page 29: ...tive feet used when Fly Frame inverted for stacking Note The stowage positions should never be used as flying or safety points Figure 8 2 Void Arcline 8 Fly Frame looking from font left shackles and pip pins deployed Pip pins in lock positions both sides Lanyards not shown Shackle positions Protective feet front and rear used when Fly Frame inverted for stacked arrays see section 8 4 Pip pins stow...

Page 30: ...afety lanyard Thread locking fluid must be used on the wing head screw threads to prevent loosening Always observe laser safety precautions Click here to download the Prolight2 User Guide Cabling Data is transferred from the sender unit to the meter via a fully populated all pins connected Cat5e cable with EtherCON connectors The sender unit gets its power via this fully populated Power over Ether...

Page 31: ...eployment Once the pip pin is removed from the Store position the link can easily be pushed forward to emerge from the front of the rigging mechanism It may then be rotated to a vertical position ready for use Push here after removing pin from Store position Rotate link to upright position ready to use Angle selection slider in store position Slider scale Pip pins positions Upper pip pins in store...

Page 32: ...due to the slotted rear link mechanism Arcline 8 cabinets may be tight packed typically in groups of four allowing all the inter cabinet angles to be preset with the Angle Selection Slider and pre pinned This example shows two cabinets preset for a 0 splay angle Groups of cabinets are usually raised at the rear to tight pack and then lowered in a controlled way using a small chain hoist or lever h...

Page 33: ...et angle is obtained once the bottom boxes are lowered and the normal link pin reaches the top of the rear link slot An extra pin is now inserted into the lock position to prevent accidental array compression when an array is up tilted for example Lock pin insterted Normal link pin 8 Flying and stacking ...

Page 34: ...ition Arcline 8 lock position Upper pip pins in store position 8 1 4 Arcline 212 8 Flying and stacking Arcline 8 and Arcline 212 front link follows the same procedure See section 8 1 3 above for instructions on fitting the front link and pip pin Pip pin removed Free movement possible using slider Removing the rear pip pin allows the rear link to move freely Use the slider to move the link into the...

Page 35: ...the cabinet is in position insert the lower pip pins from the upper cabinet into the lock position Note that for Arcline 8 use the upper lock position as shown above When deploying the Arcline 212 in cardioid configuration follow the same procedure but move the slider to the cardioid position and insert the pip pin Slider in cardioid position ...

Page 36: ...during motor operations Do not allow yourself to be distracted by inclinometer readings etc The inclinometer meter may be checked each time the rig is stopped Do not use a telephone even if hands free whilst rigging Always concentrate fully on the rigging operation Do not rig equipment that is worn damaged corroded mishandled or over stressed in any way Do not fly more than 24 Arcline 8 cabinets D...

Page 37: ...ssembly illustrated below to the bottom cabinet s lower rear Lock Link positions and attach a bridle to the bottom cabinet s lower rear pip pin position 4 Then attach a temporary chain hoist or lever hoist between the bottom cabinet s rear bridle and the Void supplied oval ring Note the bridble is not a lifting device and is not intended to be used as a sole point of lifting 5 Now temporarily tigh...

Page 38: ...he rear Lock position pins arrowed in figure 8 10 9 Remove the temporary chain hoist 10 Remove the rear bridle Figure 8 10 Steps 7 10 have been completed and the chain hoist and rear bridle have been removed 7 Hoist is gently released to allow cabinets to take their preset inter cabinet angle positions 8 Link pins replaced arrowed 8 Flying and stacking ...

Page 39: ...inet s lower rear pip pin position 4 Again attach a temporary chain hoist or lever hoist between the bottom cabinet s rear bridle and the Void supplied oval ring Not visible in the illustration below but usually attached to a rear Fly Frame 5 Now temporarily tight pack the new four cabinets 6 Preset the inter cabinet angles with the angle selection slider and pin the appropriately coloured angle h...

Page 40: ...ns 8 Replace the rear lock position pins 9 Remove the temporary chain hoist 10 Remove the rear bridle Figure 8 12 Steps 7 10 have been completed and the chain hoist and bridle have been removed 7 Hoist is gently released to allow cabinets to take their preset inter cabinet angle positions 8 Link pins replaced arrowed 8 Flying and stacking ...

Page 41: ...rgin Do not tether to scaffolding unless it has been specifically designed and ballasted for the purpose When designing stacked Arcline 8 arrays always use EASE Focus 3 with the latest approved Arcline 8 System definition GLL file installed and ensure you make things safe if presented with warnings Ensure that EASE Focus 3 confirms that your Arcline 8 stack s centre of gravity CoG at least 150 mm ...

Page 42: ... stack showing inverted Fly Frame and cabinets Stacking spacer Steeper tilts may be required if the system is stacked on a high stage wing or a tall stack of subwoofers Mirror image stacking spacers are available to provide an extra 10 of tilt when required The stacking spacers fit between the lower Arcline 8 s rear arms and the Fly Frame arrowed above Figure 8 15 Arcline 8 stack showing stacking ...

Page 43: ...ay be stowed at the rear centre of the Fly Frame for transportation Figure 8 17 Stacking spacers in stowed position for transportation 8 Flying and stacking Rear of inverted Fly Frame Stacking spacers deployed Use pip pin supplied Front of inverted Fly Frame Stacking spacers in stowed positions Pip pin used to pin bottom Arcline 8 rear arms in position See earlier illustration Retaining pip pin ...

Page 44: ...4 x Arcline 8 A standard configuration for ground stacking is three Arcline 218 with four Arcline 8 This gives a loading of 2 66 Ω on channel 1 and 2 for the Arcline 218 and 4 Ω on channel 3 and 4 for the Arcline 8 Loading the amplifiers asymmetrically like this makes use of the amplifiers power sharing capabilities ...

Page 45: ... Typical configurations Bias Q5 Bias Q5 9 2 Flying Arcline 8 Figure 9 2 16 Arcline 8 Flying eight Arcline 8 per side for stereo sound with four cabinets per every two amplifier channels keeping the impedance at 4 Ω Use one amplifer per side ...

Page 46: ... 46 9 3 Flying Arcline 8 with Arcline 212 Bias Q5 Figure 9 3 Arcline 8 with Arcline 212 Arcline 8 and Arcline 212 should be configured in a 2 1 ratio Two Arcline 212 and four Arcline 8 keeps the impedance to 4 Ω 9 Typical configurations ...

Page 47: ...your dealer will need to see a copy of your sales receipt as proof of purchase so please have this to hand when applying for return authorisation 10 2 Shipping and packing considerations When sending a Void Arcline loudspeaker to an authorised service centre please write a detailed description of the fault and list any other equipment used in conjunction with the faulty product Accessories will no...

Page 48: ... square of the distance so sound intensity measured in power per coverage area e g watts per square metre will decrease with distance squared This is the often quoted inverse square law However as sound pressure is proportional to the square root of sound power sound pressure measured in force per coverage area e g newtons per square metre or Pascals decreases in proportion to the distance not the...

Page 49: ...m s nearfield The only snag with this imaginary cylindrical radiation pattern is that it rarely exists in practice unless you believe some manufacturers sales hype or install an infinitely long array or a floor to ceiling array where the floor and ceiling are perfectly hard boundaries Polar response vs array length and signal wavelength A real world i e finite length vertical array s vertical dire...

Page 50: ...h other centre to centre or horn mouth to horn mouth at high frequencies where wavelengths are short and tolerances proportionally tighter We can achieve more practical polar responses by curving our arrays to tailor the vertical coverage to the venue profile This curvature also gives us control over element to element summation at the listening position Near zero inter cabinet splay angles emulat...

Page 51: ...rtical coverage A wide variety of summation coverage options are available for all the angles in between Here s an example of a real world i e finite length curved Arcline 8 array Figure A 4 Array of 8 x Arcline 8 adjusted for very smooth 5 kHz octave coverage of a 35 m flat floor venue The inter cabinet angles were adjusted in the above example for a very flat HF level coverage shown red above to...

Page 52: ...rce type attenuation rate a 6 dB level reduction per doubling of distance ignoring air absorption 2 A curved array will exhibit similar level compensation vs distance characteristics but with fewer cabinets contributing to the rear audience summation at mid and high frequencies depending on the curvature In our example for instance repeated below the rear of the audience will be out of the main co...

Page 53: ... above assumes omnidirectional array elements It is only applicable where individual cabinets vertical baffle or horn mouth dimensions are acoustically small compared with the wavelengths to be projected Most modern line arrays e g the Arcline 8 are modular with each element having acoustically small vertical dimensions below a few hundred hertz 500 Hz and lower for the Arcline 8 Modular arrays re...

Page 54: ...sing a line array of course Adequately sized arrays Figure A 10 shows a 24 cabinet array that is more suitable for 100 m coverage Flying and curving the array can move the coverage peak out a few more metres but the array still acts like a point source Any attempt to apply low mid equalisation to the cabinets covering the front 30 m would be futile as such equalisation simply makes the array act e...

Page 55: ...distances from the array See later for information about air absorption Broadband coverage level The length of an array also affects the overall system level A contiguous straight vertical array one that acts as a uniform line source will provide an additional 6 dB of sound pressure towards the furthest coverage distance every time you double its length Figure A 11 6 1 71 m 12 3 42 m 24 6 84 m cab...

Page 56: ...ival sites These processes are per cycle per wavelength This is a problem for long distance sound propagation as it means that the resultant absorption is per metre not the radial type per doubling of distance And the absorption increases with frequency Relative humidity Temperature C 10 C 20 C 30 C 40 C 10 0 0696 0 176 0 262 0 220 20 0 154 0 217 0 167 0 116 30 0 188 0 168 0 114 0 0838 40 0 179 0 ...

Page 57: ... calculators The author uses a Wolfram Computable Document Format CDF player running a CDF object designed by Prof Dan Russell of The Pennsylvania State University to calculate air absorption The illustration above is a marked up screen shot from the programme See www acs psu edu drussell Demos Absorption Absorption html for free laptop software and CDF file Note that Void Acoustics cannot be resp...

Page 58: ...to vsound 20 055 273 15 C metres second The above simplified formula gives the following figures for the speed of sound in metres second are 337 47 m s at 10 C 343 37 m s at 20 C 349 18 m s at 30 C 354 89 m s at 40 C Temperature gradients Air heats up or cools down most effectively by conduction rather than by radiation so in open spaces e g festival sites heating or cooling is usually via contact...

Page 59: ...roughout the normal range of temperature gradients if we add 20 m or so contingency to our festival site coverage But we must also consider noise leakage to neighbours several kilometres away And because those neighbours are beyond the previously mentioned transition distance our steerable line array technology will revert to spherical wavefront behaviour and be difficult to control If the outdoor...

Page 60: ...d beyond the site Cooler air near the ground after sunset will cause the sound propagation to head towards the surface causing one of two scenarios Sound will either be scattered and dispersed at surface level or if the surface happens to be cold water ice frost or just a significantly colder surface layer long range propagation can occur Sound gets trapped at ground level deprived of normal dispe...

Page 61: ... A 17 Normal array propagation through stable air in the stadium This temperature inversion line rises from the field up past the loudspeaker system see illustration below and then disperses in a matter of minutes This creates consternation amongst the sound crew as the abrupt temperature change causes the array wavefront to split The upper propagation keeps calm and carries on for a while whilst ...

Page 62: ...eed of sound the wind speed and direction or wind vector if you like as the resultant speed of sound Because wind speed tends to be lower near the ground and higher at altitude due to decreasing density with height friction with the surface objects getting in the way on the ground etc wind effects cause sound propagation to veer from a straight path This variation of wind speed with height is usua...

Page 63: ...me that the sound source is a typical curved line array or cluster with very little propagation upwards or backwards Omnidirectional noise sources may act quite differently For example the above tail wind could cause upwards propagation to diffract up and over in a large arc increasing off site leakage instead of decreasing it Figure A 20 Reduced acoustic propagation due to tail wind 11 Appendix A...

Page 64: ...speed of sound and its direction under the influence of the side gust For simplicity we ve drawn the side gust coming in at right angles to the intended propagation This simplifies the calculation of the change in sound direction to Change of direction degrees tan 1 speed of side gust speed of sound tan 1 the angle whose tangent is The illustration above shows the effect of a 40 km h side gust 11 ...

Page 65: ...udible a 6 dB octave lowpass filter set to about 8 kHz sometimes helps reduce the audible effects until the gusty weather has passed Wind and temperature gradients significantly affect off site coverage but their individual effects can be quite subtle on site However the combined effects of wind and temperature gradients may cause significant on site coverage degradation if it isn t taken into con...

Page 66: ...ber IT1198 Flight case for Arcline 8 Clamshell design Holds four Arcline 8 Arcline 8 fly frame flight case product number IT1197 Flight case for Arcline 8 Fly Frame Holds two Fly Frames Central compartment for hardware storage Arcline 212 flight case product number IT2922 Flight case for Arcline 212 Holds two Arcline 212 Arcline RAL extention product number IT1832 Stacking spacer for ground stack ...

Page 67: ...g Bias V9 DSP amplifier input cable connectors XLR or TRS jack analogue input cable connectors XLR AES 32 channel digital audio cable connector Use V9 IN2 socket Note For AES3 2 channel digital audio signals via a 110 Ω twisted pair cable XLR pins 2 3 polarity is unimportant ...

Page 68: ...tocol digital audio plus control data for distances up to 100 m Lower cost U UTP Cat 5e cables Unshielded Twisted Pair with no overall shield as defined by ISO IEC 11801 200 may be used in low interference environments but you must avoid running cables near mains lighting or video screen drive cables Adherence to the colour coding TIA EIA 568 B standard illustrated is very important as the cable c...

Page 69: ...xis bandwidth shall be 110 Hz to 20 kHz 3 dB for a single enclosure and 90 Hz 20 kHz for three enclosures shall average 110 directivity pattern on the horizontal axis and 12 on the vertical one 6 dB down from on axis level from 1 kHz to 12 kHz maximum SPL of 145 dB peak measured at 1 m using IEC268 5 pink noise bursts Power handling shall be 500 W AES at a rated impedance of 2 x 16 Ω crossover poi...

Page 70: ...ing IEC265 5 pink noise Power handling shall be 2 x 900 W AES at a rated impedance of 2 x 8 Ω and a pressure sensitivity of 99 dB measured at 1W 1m The system shall be powered by its own dedicated power amplification module with DSP management with the wiring connection via two Neutrik speakON one for input and one for loop out to another speaker The enclosure shall be constructed from a 15 mm mul...

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Page 72: ...s Research Ltd Unit 15 Dawkins Road Industrial Estate Poole Dorset BH15 4JY England 44 0 1202 666 006 info voidacoustics com Registered in England Wales No 07533536 North America Void Acoustics North America 503 854 7134 sales usa voidacoustics com ...