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Topic: Dance Floor Audio Setup (Read 7496 times) previous topic - next topic
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Dance Floor Audio Setup

Not sure if this is the right forum section to post under, but any help would be greatly appreciated.

I am currently in the design stage for an audio setup in the basement of my house. What I am essentially trying to do is convert a fairly small basement room (not sure of the exact size of this room I can get this info in a couple of days) into a dance floor. The ceiling of the room is pretty low, most people can probably touch the ceiling by extending their arms. I'm trying to figure out how would be the best way to do this. After doing some research we came to the conclusion to go the following route:

Place a Samson Live 612m Powered Monitor (http://www.samash.com/webapp/wcs/st...10002_-49991872) in one corner of the room.

Place a Sony STR-DE345 receiver (http://reviews.cnet.com/av-receiver...7-30098275.html) with SA-WMS230 Subwoofer (http://pjcomputers.net/index.asp?Pa...PROD&ProdID=430) and SS-CN230 and SS-V230 speakers and some Aiwa SX-ZR525 speakers (http://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-92197815-_JM) that I found, and putting all this on the other side of the room.

Connect both of the above to this Toneport UX1 (http://line6.com/toneportux1/) which is connected to audio source (computer/ipod).

Is this an efficient and effective setup for us to use? Going for a traditional setup of PA speakers and separate amplifier and mixer looks like it will cost too much.

Another route we thought of going was to just have a receiver and speakers in the room, but the question is will this provide the right type of sound quality for a "dance floor". In other words will it be bassy enough, etc. Any help will be very appreciated!!!!

Dance Floor Audio Setup

Reply #1 –
All clubs I've visited had some sort of 2.1 system - enormous subwoofers and satelites. If you are not so much concerned to have as flat sound as it can be, but to have club/disco sound, then it is a must - sub + satelites, highly efficient (~100 dB). Something like this, for example.
TAPE LOADING ERROR

Dance Floor Audio Setup

Reply #2 –
Quote from: hlloyge on
All clubs I've visited had some sort of 2.1 system - enormous subwoofers and satelites. If you are not so much concerned to have as flat sound as it can be, but to have club/disco sound, then it is a must - sub + satelites, highly efficient (~100 dB). Something like this, for example.


Well the thing is it's not a very big room. Someone suggested getting 2 of these - http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.js...oductId=3477258 and using them with my receiver because supposedly they push out a lot of bass. But would this require me to get an amplifier? Is this a good idea?

Dance Floor Audio Setup

Reply #3 –
what's your price limit? you may also consider active speakers/subs. tapco by mackie has some really cheap active ones. i heard they sound "ok" for the price.

Dance Floor Audio Setup

Reply #4 –
This is a difficult question, because if I recommend something that I know is adequate, it will probably be overkill, and will probably cost more than you want to spend.

Quote
Going for a traditional setup of PA speakers and separate amplifier and mixer looks like it will cost too much.
Well...  Since you're not using turntables or a microphone, you don't really need a mixer, and you can use your receiver as an amp.  A couple of nice PA speakers, and maybe a (powered) subwoofer, and you're in business!

You don't need so many speakers!  And you don't need an "enormous" subwoofer either, but my gut feeling is that you probably want at least a 12" sub.  If you want to feel the bass, you do need a big speaker in a big cabinet.  It's hard to say how much "thump" it's going to take to make you happy.  If you position the sub in a corner you will get more "boom", which can be a bad thing for high-fidelity, but maybe good for "club sound".

How are the acoustics in the room?  Loud music in a small room, especially a small live/reflective room can get fatiguing.  OTOH, a live room will make it louder!  If you've got concrete walls, try experimenting with some "acoustic treatment"...  Maybe hang-up a decorative blanket or rug on the wall(s).  You also don't want a completely dead room...  The room can have just as big of effect as the sound equipment.  An "average" home stereo in a good large room can sound great!  I've had my (large) speakers in a "dance hall" a couple of times, and they sound much better than in my living room.

For the similar reasons, I would avoid any kind of surround sound setup unless the dance floor is in one corner, and your friends can "escape" the surround sound if they wish. 

You also need enough power and/or efficient-enough speakers so that you're not distorting.  I assume that you have some of this equipment?  Start by setting-up the equipment that already you have, and if there are any weaknesses, you can go from there. 

Those Radio Shack/BIC speakers would probably be fine.  Larger speakers tend to be more efficient (go louder and require less power) than small speakers, and larger speakers usually put-out more bass.    Plus, bigger speakers look more impressive!    But, you might still want a subwoofer.

Dance Floor Audio Setup

Reply #5 –
You raise some really good interesting points. I would say the room size is about 1200-1500 square feet, and the ceiling is very low also, about 7-8 feet high, so it's not a big room. The point of "escaping" the music is one I just thought of too, I guess we don't want to go for overkill. I was thinking of getting the BIC speakers, putting them in two corners on one side of the room, and then have the receiver plus my Sony active subwoofer http://pjcomputers.net/index.asp?PageActio...&ProdID=430 in a corner on the other side. 

Would this probably provide enough bass and at the same time not be too much? If this is the case an amp is probably not needed, the receiver should be enough to power as you said.

Quote from: DVDdoug on
This is a difficult question, because if I recommend something that I know is adequate, it will probably be overkill, and will probably cost more than you want to spend.

Quote
Going for a traditional setup of PA speakers and separate amplifier and mixer looks like it will cost too much.
Well...  Since you're not using turntables or a microphone, you don't really need a mixer, and you can use your receiver as an amp.  A couple of nice PA speakers, and maybe a (powered) subwoofer, and you're in business!

You don't need so many speakers!  And you don't need an "enormous" subwoofer either, but my gut feeling is that you probably want at least a 12" sub.  If you want to feel the bass, you do need a big speaker in a big cabinet.  It's hard to say how much "thump" it's going to take to make you happy.  If you position the sub in a corner you will get more "boom", which can be a bad thing for high-fidelity, but maybe good for "club sound".

How are the acoustics in the room?  Loud music in a small room, especially a small live/reflective room can get fatiguing.  OTOH, a live room will make it louder!  If you've got concrete walls, try experimenting with some "acoustic treatment"...  Maybe hang-up a decorative blanket or rug on the wall(s).  You also don't want a completely dead room...  The room can have just as big of effect as the sound equipment.  An "average" home stereo in a good large room can sound great!  I've had my (large) speakers in a "dance hall" a couple of times, and they sound much better than in my living room.

For the similar reasons, I would avoid any kind of surround sound setup unless the dance floor is in one corner, and your friends can "escape" the surround sound if they wish. 

You also need enough power and/or efficient-enough speakers so that you're not distorting.  I assume that you have some of this equipment?  Start by setting-up the equipment that already you have, and if there are any weaknesses, you can go from there. 

Those Radio Shack/BIC speakers would probably be fine.  Larger speakers tend to be more efficient (go louder and require less power) than small speakers, and larger speakers usually put-out more bass.    Plus, bigger speakers look more impressive!    But, you might still want a subwoofer.

Dance Floor Audio Setup

Reply #6 –
Quote from: jstarks4444 on
You raise some really good interesting points. I would say the room size is about 1200-1500 square feet, and the ceiling is very low also, about 7-8 feet high, so it's not a big room.


1200 square feet is not a particularly small room, by home standards 
Something at least on the order of 30ft by 40ft? Do you have vertical beams in there supporting the floor above? Were you thinking cubic feet or have an extra zero in there?

The BIC speakers look very (deliberately) reminiscent of the old Cerwin Vega style, and so are probably a decent choice for a dance club-style environment at that budget.
15" woofers are a good idea for a PA style use in a good sized room. They're ported with cones all three ways; BIC is claiming 90dB (sensitivity) with 8 ohms, so most any decent stereo amp will have no trouble driving them to pretty high SPLs.

That Sony looks to be a small pseudo-sub, and so more suitable for low-end home theater work (like the speakers it comes with) in a bedroom or small living room.
I'm confused about why you'd use a single floor monitor like that samson paired with the home theater system that sony is attached to, and further confused by the Toneport (for hooking up the floor monitor? It's an XLR input not output) since it's used for guitar/bass recording and that doesn't sound like what you're doing. If you have an amp, connect the audio source directly to the amp via an analog patch cable, plus any specific adapters (1/8" to RCA perhaps) necessary.
Likewise, throwing a whole bunch of low quality speakers at a surround sound receiver and mixing stereo to, say 5.1, is going to be less satisfying in home settings than a single pair of better, larger speakers. This assuming stereo music source material of course.

So yes, the BIC option seems much superior.

edit: disambiguation, redundancy, phrasing, last paragraph

Dance Floor Audio Setup

Reply #7 –
Quote
I would say the room size is about 1200-1500 square feet, and the ceiling is very low also, about 7-8 feet high, so it's not a big room.
I agree with Audible.  That's not an "acoustically small" room!  A room that size has potential for really good sound...  There is plenty of space for the sound to "expand into" and "bounce around".    Of course, I don't know anything about the acoustics of your living room or basement, but I'll bet your system sounds better down there than in your living room. 

OK...  It's not the size of a "dance hall" or "concert hall", but I'm much less worried about hard walls & reflections now.    It's still possible to have too much reverberation, but natural reverb usually sounds better in bigger rooms than in small rooms.