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Puzzle: exceptional sound in custom amphitheater

I'm hoping to build a very good (ideally exceptional) sound installation in a forest amphitheater I'm building on my property. The goal is a large, clear, coherent, moving sound space covering perhaps 20'x20' (or maybe 30'x30'). Potentially with 30+ people milling about.

The main issue is: what mains to people suggest? I'm currently thinking industrial la scala's rebuilt using ALK parts driven by some kind of tube amp. I'd shunt everything below 100hz to subs, avoiding the la scala's anemic bass issues.

However: is there a better speaker family to use? I'd like very loud, very clear, and moving. They would have protective enclosures for between uses, but some resistance to dust would be good.

Related: are there any tricks I can play to make a larger sweet spot using > 2 speakers given that I'll have minimal reflections to fight?

For context:

I used to go to a many outdoor multi-day outdoor music events and while loud, most had poor quality sound. It seems that doing it myself has two nice features. First, unlike making good sound inside, there's fairly minimal reflections / room fighting. (If there any any features outside that cause problems I can use a chainsaw and dozer to eliminate them) Second, there's a whole lot of things pro sound people have to worry about that I can mostly ignore and so can optimize mainly for high quality audio rather than, for example: transport, resistance to spilled drinks, thieves, etc.

As calibration, my home system is dunlavy sc-v's driven by pass xa100.5 monoblocks with two jl 212 subs for lows.
dddrrreee
dddrrreee OP
38 posts
 
Thanks for the responses guys!

Walls are certainly important. (My favorite bromide is that the room is the real speaker, the loudspeakers are just drivers.) However, for many rooms, the walls are the problem, not the solution.

I wish Paul's quote was a bit more technical: does he mean that for residential speakers the frequency response has been modified in anticipation of some frequency ranges been enhanced from reflection?

When I cranked the la scala's outside they seemed to work pretty well. But it does seem that I'll have to go to pro audio.

Have people had any experience comparing D&B to Danley?

dddrrreee OP
38 posts
 

And, one issue is that a high quality pro rig seems to run 20-50k, even used. So in the meantime, I'll likely have to get by with a more modest consumer method ---- is there a clear winner over upgraded la scala's for this kind of outdoor use?
elevick
2,638 posts
 
DJ and PA speakers are usually designed to be place in the open. Most home speakers actually will tell you how close to walls they should be placed for optimal sound.

As a former klipsch owner (cornwall & heresy) my biggest concern would be plywood speakers outdoors. These were never meant for outdoor use. Klipsch does have a commercial line that is more durable. JBL has some nice rugged speakers as well.
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