Thanks for the post. I found it very interesting.
I was looking at some of the LD Systems column arrays and their P900 was just super sexy. OMG, but the price is $4K each. How much speaker would I be getting for $4K? But wait, I need 2 of these (left and right). Yeah, $8000 for a pair of column arrays. I know building your own set is a huge undertaking but, I'm sure I could build something decent for way less $$.
I was looking at some of the LD Systems column arrays and their P900 was just super sexy. OMG, but the price is $4K each. How much speaker would I be getting for $4K? But wait, I need 2 of these (left and right). Yeah, $8000 for a pair of column arrays. I know building your own set is a huge undertaking but, I'm sure I could build something decent for way less $$.
Hm, before I started this project, I was checking commercially available systems of similar concept (bass cabinet with amp/DSP + column speaker).
I wanted to make something that can easily outrun sound quality wise most of the column systems, which are made mostly from cheap plastic, with very small fullrange drivers (from 2" to 3" mostly).
I've had a chance to listen couple of these systems (Bose, LD stystems, etc.) but they sound "relatively" fine on lower levels (under 100dB), and typically struggle to sound clear on higher outputs (>110-115 dB)
I've actually never heard for this particular model "Maui P900", but just looking at brochures, I actually don't quite understand which market was targeted => design is nice, it has impressive number of drivers/technology used, but for 8k USD I don't see lit like excellent value for pro audio renting business.
As most of the people here, I always doubt manufacturers claim for SPL ratings without proper measurements, so I searched for one decent "Maui P900" review with measurement , and I actually found one , but in German, and you have to pay for download.
I paid for this test, and download it today => just looking at this measurement, I think that I never, ever saw such big hole in 300Hz - 3kHz response:
I aim to have +/- 3dB response in most of the range, and struggle to obtain this after many measurements & trials, and "Maui P900" has around - 25dB response on 1kHz....
It almost looks like the mid drivers were turned off in the left hand chart, and the right hand chart does not look at all the same, LF/mid rolloff starts about an octave higher (~400Hz vs 200Hz).
The gross response makes me wonder what the test conditions and distance from mic to source were.
Art,
I will agree that above Maui P900 measurement have no sense, because:
a) If the mid drivers are turned off for some specific measurement purpose, that has to be clarified in the measurement notes,
b) If the mid drivers are accidentally turned off with some DSP switch/there was a factory wiring error/etc. , again measurement guys should notice such hole in the midrange immediately,
c) As an engineer, I don't want to believe that LD systems flagship speaker can pass QC with the midrange response hole size of Mariana Trench.
Therefore, I searched for some other more relevant measurement, but finding "real", honest measurement was tougher than I expected, but I managed to find another source - a "Harvest Of Sound" speakers shootout that happened last year (2022.):
https://harvestofsound.com/2022-speaker-shootout-results/
What could be interesting to other DiyAudio forum members, beside measuring Maui P900, on that shotoout they measured many commercially available & popular PA systems:
a) 15 column speakers,
b) 4 battery powered speaker systems,
c) 22 point source active speakers
So according to this shotoout, frequency response of Maui P900, seems much more reasonable (without extremes) => on axis freq. response starts from around 40Hz (-3db) , and gradually decreases on mid frequencies (2-4kHz), and then it has slight rise around 14-18kHz. Low end is around 10db "hotter" than midrange, which should give pleasant sound (loudness effect):
I will agree that above Maui P900 measurement have no sense, because:
a) If the mid drivers are turned off for some specific measurement purpose, that has to be clarified in the measurement notes,
b) If the mid drivers are accidentally turned off with some DSP switch/there was a factory wiring error/etc. , again measurement guys should notice such hole in the midrange immediately,
c) As an engineer, I don't want to believe that LD systems flagship speaker can pass QC with the midrange response hole size of Mariana Trench.
Therefore, I searched for some other more relevant measurement, but finding "real", honest measurement was tougher than I expected, but I managed to find another source - a "Harvest Of Sound" speakers shootout that happened last year (2022.):
https://harvestofsound.com/2022-speaker-shootout-results/
What could be interesting to other DiyAudio forum members, beside measuring Maui P900, on that shotoout they measured many commercially available & popular PA systems:
a) 15 column speakers,
b) 4 battery powered speaker systems,
c) 22 point source active speakers
So according to this shotoout, frequency response of Maui P900, seems much more reasonable (without extremes) => on axis freq. response starts from around 40Hz (-3db) , and gradually decreases on mid frequencies (2-4kHz), and then it has slight rise around 14-18kHz. Low end is around 10db "hotter" than midrange, which should give pleasant sound (loudness effect):
To stay on topic - this summer, I had an opportunity to rent the whole system for one commercial event in my local city (Rijeka, Croatia).
I've never planned to comercially rent my system, as it was originally desgined from my personnal events, but this was an interesting possibility to have real-life feedback from large number of unknown people.
The event is interesting as well - it was one of the biggest "Vespa" motorcycle owner's meeting in this part of Europe, and it was international, multi-day event, where I supposed to rent system for the final day, where more than two hundred "Vespa" lovers would attend.
Chosen location was quite nice - beautiful, green park in front of Governor's Palace , that was built in XIX century:
The park was roughly square-shaped, 30m wide and 30m deep, and I have to cover the whole area as much as possible, so I chose to place speakers on one side of the park, approximately on centerline.
I've mounted both line arrays on top of the "Keystone" Sub, and placed THAM's one on each side.
Each line array was sligthly rotated to one side, to cover better left & right areas:
To power "Keystone" Sub, I temporarily installed one "Hypex" FA502 in bridge mode in my 19" rack (with CNC machined front panel adapter from HPL laminate):
When the official DJ arrived, I've connected my system to his "Numark" mixer output , but during first sound check it was obvious his RCA outputs are not sufficient to drive all three "Hypex" amps to nominal power level => I could drive system maybe to 60-70% of the nominal output,
At that moment, I could quickly change "Hypex" preamp settings for RCA inputs in "Hypex" software, but considering type of event (standing crowd), and location of event (residential area downtown), I decided that it is probably not required (and I was curious if this will work out).
I have a quick chat with the DJ and ask him if he ever played on DIY setup - he said never , but he was also curious to see performance of the whole system.
Anyway, the system performed flawlessly, from beginning to end, and 60% volume limitation was sufficient, even though during last hours people started to get considerably louder and started to dance.
DJ had playlist consisting of 80's/90's pop/rock/new wave/synth pop hits, where lowest bass was mostly around 60-70 Hz => so in the end, "Keystone" Sub was barely required for such non-demanding program material.
I've never planned to comercially rent my system, as it was originally desgined from my personnal events, but this was an interesting possibility to have real-life feedback from large number of unknown people.
The event is interesting as well - it was one of the biggest "Vespa" motorcycle owner's meeting in this part of Europe, and it was international, multi-day event, where I supposed to rent system for the final day, where more than two hundred "Vespa" lovers would attend.
Chosen location was quite nice - beautiful, green park in front of Governor's Palace , that was built in XIX century:
The park was roughly square-shaped, 30m wide and 30m deep, and I have to cover the whole area as much as possible, so I chose to place speakers on one side of the park, approximately on centerline.
I've mounted both line arrays on top of the "Keystone" Sub, and placed THAM's one on each side.
Each line array was sligthly rotated to one side, to cover better left & right areas:
To power "Keystone" Sub, I temporarily installed one "Hypex" FA502 in bridge mode in my 19" rack (with CNC machined front panel adapter from HPL laminate):
When the official DJ arrived, I've connected my system to his "Numark" mixer output , but during first sound check it was obvious his RCA outputs are not sufficient to drive all three "Hypex" amps to nominal power level => I could drive system maybe to 60-70% of the nominal output,
At that moment, I could quickly change "Hypex" preamp settings for RCA inputs in "Hypex" software, but considering type of event (standing crowd), and location of event (residential area downtown), I decided that it is probably not required (and I was curious if this will work out).
I have a quick chat with the DJ and ask him if he ever played on DIY setup - he said never , but he was also curious to see performance of the whole system.
Anyway, the system performed flawlessly, from beginning to end, and 60% volume limitation was sufficient, even though during last hours people started to get considerably louder and started to dance.
DJ had playlist consisting of 80's/90's pop/rock/new wave/synth pop hits, where lowest bass was mostly around 60-70 Hz => so in the end, "Keystone" Sub was barely required for such non-demanding program material.
