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Our Community would like to stage an event in our local village hall. The hall itself is 100' long and some 40' wide. The ceiling height is about 15'. We have 6 windows around the hall 3' x 6' and we have a problem. The problem we have is where should we place the speakers so as to create the best sound? Our discussions involve, placing the speakers on the floor, having them fixed at head height and the final suggestion was a mixture of both. Is there anyone that could help us solve this dilemma?
Put the mains at ear height or above and the subs at ground level.
I like the tweeters at ear level. Anything reproduced with any accuracy will sound great this way. If you have small speakers, this isn't that big of a deal. If you have huge speakers it gets more important. Basically the higher the pitch the more important the direction it is going in becomes. You want the highest frequencies pointing in the most direct direction. I take the position that is very important for lows too, but not as much so the priority should be that the highs have the more accurate, more phase critical emphasis. Again a good mix is really going to hum along with plenty of warmth and weight, so the highs sound best when boosted naturally due to speaker placement. The majority of the sound should be around 500-3000hz cutting deep through the mix.
There are great suggestions here, I think. Are people going to be moving about the hall or sitting stationary in chairs most of the time? If they're moving about, there's only so much you can do.