Arcline 8/212 User Guide V1.0
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7.4.3 Manually adjusting splay and gain
EASE Focus 3’s “Conventional” auto splay feature usually provides a good balance between
smooth coverage and maximum SPL. Most results will show a mid-high frequency level
variation with distance – typically up to +5 dB near the front dropping to -5 dB at the rear,
which sounds natural and is perfectly acceptable for most applications.
Although EASE Focus 3’s auto splay feature provides an easy way to optimise your array
designs, some minor manual adjustments may be felt necessary where much tighter level
control requirements override a more natural-sounding lowering of levels with distance.
For instance, festival sound system operators are often required to comply with overly
simplistic sound level restrictions. Instead of being asked to ensure that high sound levels
are kept within the site boundaries – a fairly easy task with real-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
instantaneous peaks.
105 dB(A) Leq would be regarded as loud in a domestic environment but, for an excited festival
audience singing along to their favourite artist, it can be weak and uninspiring – especially if
there are subtle weak spots in the voice range. It only takes 32 audience members singing in
unison to compete with 105 dB(A) so it is often more important to ensure even coverage over
the three octaves centred on 2 kHz than worry about a “natural” level attenuation with distance
in these circumstances.
Here’s a reminder of the previously auto-splayed mid-voice coverage for our 100 m venue:
Figure 7.6: Top view showing initial 2 kHz 3-octave coverage
using EASE Focus 3’s “Conventional” auto splay
7 System design
Summary of Contents for Arcline 212
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