Did My VRX Design Work? | Complete System Design & Tuning Project Review

►► Get this project's design files and tuning data in my audio toolkit:
www.producedbymkc.com/audioto...
It's one thing to have a grip on the theory behind sound system design, but what about when you're measuring your rig after an install? Does it hold up?
I was recently hired by a church up in Pennsylvania to design a system with 8 VRX boxes they had purchased. Their old system wasn't cutting it and they needed to get the most amount of mileage these new boxes.
Today I walk you through not only the design itself, but how I interacted with the client, the questions I asked to gather data, and the tuning data in the field.
We'll learn about:
How I got 4 boxes of VRX within +-3dB front to back
What tools I used to manage the project and share data with my client
Why a video walkthrough is paramount to clear communication
How I split up processing between the console and the amps
00:00 - Intro
01:59 - Project File, Gathering Data From Client
08:13 - System Design File Overview
10:43 - On-Site Rig & Venue Walkthrough
14:02 - Console & Amp System Processing
20:21 - System Recap

[@edwardsaint-hilaire8250]

Great working with you Michael!

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

Thanks for having me out, Edward!

[@Jonas-lo3kg]

Hey Michael, thanks for sharing! Would love to see a video on your notion workflow. Everything looks so well organized :)

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

You got it!

[@DCAVL]

Keep these coming! I'm inspired thanks!

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

You got it!

[@malcolmdproducer]

This is amazing. Very detailed and informative. Wish I could afford the courses you offer. Thank you for putting these videos out. Blessings.

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

You're very welcome!

[@matthewsoza417]

Nice design! I’ve always found VRX to be super hard to work with especially in the field for rock and roll type set up, but for installs they seem to work out pretty well with a good system tech like yourself🎉

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

Thanks, Matthew!

[@hezekiahcharles6754]

Great work.... Excellent

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

Thank you!

[@willcastilloe]

Thanks for sharing! ... great info

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

You're welcome!

[@kor3321]

It's a great system design and I think you're a great sound engineer. Also I can imagine the sound of JBL just by looking at the magnitude trace on your smaart v9. Looking forward to more good videos in the future. Thank you.

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

Thank you, Sabi.

[@SuperMcgenius]

Thanks, I have learned some things watching .👍

[@ekiokojohn]

Good work, thank you sir.

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

You got it.

Thanks for sharing. It would have been nice to have a sound sample before and after ;-)

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

I'll keep that in mind for next time.

[@anthonyanzalone]

hey Michael, thanks for the rundown. these are awesome. how did you come across the need for the 290 dip and slight top end roll off on the matrixes?

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

Thanks, Anthony! I compared the measurements at all microphones I got with the system pre EQ, then compared that to my target trace. I found that there was too much low end overall, so brought that down to match my target trace, then did the same with the top.

[@MatthiasKlingner]

Sounds like that room could benefit from 2 small and matched speakers at front of house. I think with a good tuning, they can blend in extremely natural and are able to provide the sound engineer with much better informations for his mix decisions, especially for music stuff. Seems like it wouldn't be to big of an addition to that existing setup and would benefit the sound immensely in my opinion.

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

Yes, that'd be a great addition. Like you said, could get the EQ and levels matched to the majority of the house setup.

[@SuperMcgenius]

Years ago I had a sub placement problem , my solution because I didn’t have floor space for the subs I mounted them in the basement firing up through the floor Centred at the stage, it worked and had floor gain that was easily dealt with with my EQ.

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

Cool solution!

[@bradleyhenady2032]

Man they should have went with the white boxes. They would have looked so much better in that venue.

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

You take what you can get : )

[@jarkkokeinanen]

Thank you for this detailed breakdown! I was wondering how you accessed the amps from FOH? I have a similar system with XTi amps and I need to find a way to control the from FOH.

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

Great question. My client had set up a small PC in the amp rack, then remoted into it from the machine at FOH.

[@djbman81]

Hey Michael, I just purchased 6 of the hdl 6 a’s for dj gigs because I wanted a louder “point source” than my Yamaha DSR 112’s. Since they’re discontinued I figured I could at least double the sound by mounting 3 hdl 6’s on crank stands so that the bottom box is at least 2 feet above my head. I guess my question to you is am I getting better coverage and somewhat louder than my 134db point source box per side.

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

I'm not sure the coverage specs on the Yamaha DSR 112's, but I can say that the HDL6-A's are 100° wide. If you have them on crank stands I'd spread out their splay angles to 10° so you can have 30° of vertical coverage. They're Max SPL is 132dB, but with three boxes together you'll get more than that.

[@djbman81]

@@MichaelCurtisAudio those Yammies are 90 horizontal and 60 vertical with a max spl of 134db. I wish I could “safely” get 4 hdl6’s on that pole mount.

[@pioman2805]

Hello!!! Is there analysis on systems with central arrangements for live sound, especially in churches? Do you have videos with analysis with pros and cons of this application? Thanks!!

[@peevonb7070]

Awesome, I’m working on this speaker in my local 1100cap venue. Great content as always. Why are the hf drivers not mirrored? You can rotate the rigging per speaker.

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

Great catch on the driver mirroring! I totally forgot those boxes could do that.

[@peevonb7070]

@@MichaelCurtisAudio might compensate for the eq difference in Left and right. The VRX is very odd in coupling and comb filtering for that matter. Thanks for the info! Very helpful in my own design.

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

@@peevonb7070 You got it.

[@eliezeryamzon5224]

Thanks for sharing. Do you find the SQ limited HPF on the matrix problematic when aligning the sub. I just received my HDL6 and they don’t have built in HPF. I have to rely on my SQ-5’s HPF. Thanks in advance

[@tony8236]

beautiful Michael. I wanted to ask you: did you find cancellation somewhere in the room with the subs so far apart?

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

Yes, but the wall reflections and reverb time help "fill in" some of the cancellations.

[@Carlos-sy7ye]

Would love to hire you for our church set up. We have main room with 2 side wing rooms.

[@techbuuth]

I really need some basic training on this while system design softwares. I get lost at times. Do you have any basic course i can enrol in?

[@keatonharper8594]

You mentioned always verifying in the field that the research-based design actually works in the real world. What variables have you encountered that have caused issues with your design in the past? Obstacles (like this chandelier fixtures) or something else?

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

Great question. It usually comes down to some sort of construction/obstacle related problem. There's an AC duct in the way of a rigging point, or we can't hang the speaker where we want it because it will block site lines to a screen. It's the little things : )

[@pioman2805]

PS: Center cluster with point-source loudspeakers or Line array systens .

[@javiersotero7133]

Hello Michael, I’ve been fallowing you for months now and being trying to buy enough tools to be able to tune a room. I have my Evo 8, Mac mini M2 and currently looking for RTA Mics. But first I have to design the room. I’m having trouble with how to start the design. I downloaded Mapp 3D but haven’t had the time to implement everything. How much would you charge me to help Design the room! Is a very small church with and old fashion chapel ceiling. 12FT is the highest spot for flying speakers , the room is 38Ft Wide and 43FT long . Currently have 2 DB15s set on floor stands. Thank you for your time!

[@RadimCep]

Hello. Very good job. I woud like listen it live. Please, tell me - what program you use for your workflow? Thank you. Radim, Czech Republic

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

The system tuning software is SMAART.

[@RadimCep]

@@MichaelCurtisAudio I know and use SMAART (thank you for your tips to measuring systems, its very helpful), but i mean program in 2:29 for example.

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

@@RadimCep Got it! Sorry I misunderstood your question. That software is called Notion - notion.so/

[@simonclepkens7862]

Are the HF eqs in the VRX FIR filters ?. If not, how is the phase not shifting ?.

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

They're regular old IIR filters. A +6dB high shelf would only shift the phase 30° or so, and since the EQ changes are so small we're not seeing much of a shift.

[@simonclepkens7862]

@@MichaelCurtisAudio okay that’s what I thought !

[@crud118]

Holy crap - I've never actually scene someone put the KW153 on a pole. I always joked about it even having a polemount.

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

There it is!

[@jiaweizhang9789]

How much oct should we use to analyze the curve, different oct corresponds to a large gap in the target curve.

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

What do you mean, "How much oct?"

[@jiaweizhang9789]

@@MichaelCurtisAudio octave weighting

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

@@jiaweizhang9789 Octave weighting would not change the target curve, but it would change how you see the measurement. I usually work at 1/12 or 1/6.

[@jiaweizhang9789]

@@MichaelCurtisAudio Thank you Michael Curtis for your reply, I think you can use 1/48 or 1/12 of ''How to analyze the measurement curve'' and make a video, I believe many people will like it.

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

@@jiaweizhang9789 I'm still a little confused about what you're asking. Are you saying the video should cover whether you should use smoothing (octave weighting) or not when looking at measurements?

[@vadimmartynyuk]

biggest mystery about VRX932 for me is how do people hang them symmetrically, with tweeters either in or out, every place I've been to (about 8 locations ) that have VRX932 installed, they always have them hanging symmetrically.

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

As long as the tweeters end up in the center of the coverage zone I'm not too picky.

[@burhanuddin127]

Hi TYSM for the knowledge. BTW aren't 8 vrx's too loud for this much sized venue? Cause these are pretty loud speakers. I guess 3 per side would've done the job as well no?

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

Selecting the right amount of speakers is not ONLY about SPL or level. It's about coverage as well. I needed four VRX speakers to properly cover all the listening areas.

[@burhanuddin127]

@@MichaelCurtisAudio right, thank you....

[@JonathanMartinez-qn2kt]

Hi Michael, how does someone contact you to do a job

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

Hey, Jonathan. You can find my email on my website.

[@wienerstein2817]

People dog on VRX alot. With a decent design VRX can absolutely work well.

[@MichaelCurtisAudio]

Yup, they did the job, for sure.

[@iXetsuei]

The hangs are too closer together - you're going to get increased levels towards the middle and drop off towards the sides. The original speakers were closer to the correct distance apart.