Why build a sound system and why does it matter?

There are of course lot’s of ways to express yourself in the many creative arts & pursuits. The obvious options within electronic music feel like DJ’ing, producing or recording music.

For us and our events, it is about being able to portray an experience through music style & sound that we ourselves would enjoy if attending an event or a reminiscent of previous nights out that meant something to us.
A big part of this is the sound system and how sound is delivered to people on the dance floor. It sounds a bit nerdy for sure, but when the sound is really on point, most people may not notice exactly what was good about the atmosphere at an event but that it just felt good!

Our main aim is to deliver a strong club sound. By this we mean a very clean & transparent reproduction of the recorded source regardless of format (goes without saying), but with the low-end thump and rumble with bottom end sub frequencies designed to help people really feel the music.
We aren’t exactly aiming for audiophile grade or listening bar type approaches. These are great for moments of relaxing or deep listening.
We want people to dance and feel the energy of the music. Sometimes this means playing music back without a completely flat EQ response and sometimes tailoring to the room or style of music to create that ‘rumble’ and make you want to dance.

We started our system with one ethos. If we wanted it to sound like the clubs we were inspired & educated on from the 90’s and early 00’s, then we needed to use the same kit to re-create that sound faithfully!

To this end, we started acquiring kit. The first major purchase was a full EAW cinema system which came with Crown XLS amplifiers and DBX digital processing. This was a great start but before we could use it for any events, we needed more sub pressure. The sound was accurate and tight but would lack the important rumble factor for house music.

The next purchases were 2 x Tannoy VSX 215b subs to help us improve the bottom end. They were an opportunist purchase. They have huge power handling capacity. We used them for our first event with Atjazz. They were fine but we weren’t satisfied…. We needed more. The 15″ drivers of these cabinets are ideal for the low-mid/kick frequencies but not really the sub 50hz frequencies we needed down to around 30hz.

In light of this the next purchase was a pair of vintage Turbosound TSE218 sub woofer cabs. These were unloaded and looking a bit sorry for themselves. This was perfect for us though as it meant we could refurbish & paint them to our taste.
The TSE218 is a dual 18″ folded horn subwoofer cabinet. It was originally released in the late 80’s into the early 90’s. It was fitted with drivers designed between Turbosound and UK driver manufacturer ‘Precision Devices’. The original spec of these drivers was probably a bit light for the high gain of modern house music.
As a fitting replacement we chose new RCF 18″ woofers. They could handle a much higher amount of power and also after modelling their parameters within the TSE 218, they came up great. Even extending the low end slightly – exactly what we needed.
Eventually we sourced another pair of TSE218’s. These were in a lot better condition. We swapped the drivers with the RCF as per our other units and these 4 cabinets with their 8 x 18″ drivers form the core low end of our sound.

The power for this low end comes from the renowned Crown Macrotech 5000vz Amplifier. If you don’t know about these, they are amazingly high powered amplifiers. Capable of delivering in excess of 5000 watts of power into loads as low as 1ohm. Basically they can run a lot of speakers of a single amplifier without really breaking a sweat. They were and still are used in many clubs across the world.

The Tannoy VSX215’s have been moved on to our low mid/kick role & we use the high mid and top boxes from the EAW Cinema sound system. These are reflective of the Richard Long (of paradise Garage sound system fame), horn designs that he worked on with EAW for a number of years as a consultant designer. They feature a wide dispersion horn for the compression tweeter & a 10″ woofer with a phase plug in front of it for delivering the upper mid.
It is these EAW boxes that provide the real polish and shine to the sound. They excel on persussion and re-produce a beautifully clean high end that doesn’t sound harsh or ear damaging but still powerful.

All of our speaker cabling is either dual 4mm core Van Damme or Klotz. Tough enough for the environment but very conductive and high in copper to deliver clean sound. We only use genuine Neutrik connectors.

Our Full Kit list currently consists of:

4 x Turbosound TSE218 twin 18″ Subs with upgraded RCF Woofers.
2 x Tannoy VSX215b dual 15″ subs
2 x EAW Mid/High boxes.
2 x JBL 4726 AP – 10″ 2 way Full range DJ Booth Monitors

1 x Crown Macrotech 5000vz Amplifier
1 x Crown Macrotech 3600vz Amplifier
2 x Crown XLS 802 Amplifier
1 x DBX Driverack PA

3 x Technics 1200mk2 – Upgraded with new pitch faders & re-calibrated to exact pitch gain & frequency as per factory spec, Stanton 890 Cartridges for high output and clarity.
1 x Rane MP2016 + XP2016 6 Channel Rotary Mixer.
1 x Pioneer EFX-1000 effects unit on master send/return loop from mixer.
1 x Traktor A10 – Audio Interface for running Traktor DVS on 3 turntables.
2 x Pioneer CDJ 3000 Nexus – Hired in as per DJ Rider.

Bespoke mounting framework made from steel for mixer, FX unit & Traktor controllers to allow for salnted ‘NYC’ style mounting in front of the turntables/Media players.