MACKIE C300z - Manual (Page 6)


PLACEMENT
The C00z loudspeakers are designed to sit on
the floor, a tabletop, or to fit on a standard tripod
speaker stand. They can also be suspended by the
rigging points, shown at the right (also see "Rig-
ging" on the next page).
You can lay the cabinet down on its side and use
the C00z as a floor monitor. The asymmetrical
trapezoidal shape of the cabinet provides a perfect
angle for aiming up toward performers from the
front of the stage.
Warning: Do not stack speak-
ers in a column. This is to
avoid the danger of toppling
speakers.
As with any loudspeakers, protect them from
moisture. If you are setting them up outdoors,
make sure they are under cover if you expect rain.
Room.Acoustics
The C00z loudspeakers are designed to sound
as neutral as possible; that is, to reproduce the in-
put signal as accurately as possible, monitoring the
audio signal rather than changing it.
Room acoustics play a crucial role in the over-
all performance of a sound system. However, the
wide high-frequency dispersion of the C00z helps
to minimize the problems that typically arise.
Top
90 0 Dispersion
up to 20 kHz
90 0
Here are some other placement tips:
• Avoid placing loudspeakers in the corners of a
room. This increases the low frequency output
and can cause the sound to be muddy and
indistinct.
• Avoid placing loudspeakers against a wall.
This, too, increases the low frequency output,
though not as much as corner placement.
However, if you do need to reinforce the low
frequencies, this is a good way to do it.
• Avoid placing the speakers directly on a hollow
stage floor. A hollow stage can resonate at certain
frequencies, causing peaks and dips in the fre-
quency response of the room. It’s better to place
the loudspeakers on a sturdy table or tripod stands.
• Position the loudspeakers so the high-frequency
drivers are  to  feet above ear level for the
audience (make allowances for a standing/
dancing-in-the-aisles audience). High fre-
quencies are highly directional and tend to be
absorbed much easier than lower frequencies.
By providing direct line-of-sight from the
loudspeakers to the audience, you increase
the overall brightness and intelligibility of the
sound system.
• Highly reverberant rooms, like many gymna-
siums and auditoriums, are a nightmare for
sound system intelligibility. Multiple reflec-
tions off the hard walls, ceiling, and floor
play havoc with the sound. Depending on the
situation, you may be able to take some steps
to minimize the reflections, such as putting
carpeting on the floors, closing draperies to
cover large glass windows, or hanging tapes-
tries or other materials on the walls to absorb
some of the sound.
However, in most cases, these remedies are
not possible or practical. So what do you do?
Making the sound system louder generally
doesn’t work because the reflections become
louder, too. The best approach is to provide as
much direct sound coverage to the audience
as possible. The farther away you are from
the speaker, the more prominent will be the
reflected sound.
Use more speakers strategically placed so they
are closer to the back of the audience. If the
distance between the front and back speakers
is more than about 100 feet, you should use a
delay processor to time-align the sound. (Since
sound travels about 1 foot per millisecond, it
takes about 1/10 of a second to travel 100 feet.)