I have a friend - he used to work for me, at my level and now is a system tech on international touring for big name bands. The PA manufacturers constantly fiddle and tweak and send him new files to 'improve' the sound. He installed one ahead of a show in Germany and was very happy. When the next version arrived, he put it in and realised he had mistakenly put in last time an elderly one, and hadn't noticed. I suspect strongly that large format sound systems are so dependent on the spaces they are in that the concept of 'quality' is considerably different. If you have spent vast sums of money on integrated and coordinated systems, then not putting in what the manufactuers sends you is a bit silly. They have the test gear and systems to prove the improvement. Nobody can argue with that. However, I remain uncertain that these 'improvements' are audible. After all, when your ears hear output from multiple sources, you are always compromised. Quantative measurements can be made from simple systems where everything is controlled. With big systems in big spaces, so much time is spent tweaking to try to give as many seats as possible the same sound. I work mainly in big theatres - opera houses, that kind of thing and I quietly grin watching the sound designers wandering all over, tweaking this, tweaking that and then they go away, leaving it in the hands of the show operators. For certain shows nowadays we do a version for people who have specific needs. We call them relaxed performances. So there will be folk with varying degrees of autism, or hearing or sight issues. My role is to watch as much as I can and keep the shows exactly as the Director wanted, putting a stop to slide and shortcuts. As a result I have seen the same production from almost every place, and the sound fares worse than lighting. So I will instruct the sound op to reduce the subs in certain locations where it would be too much, perhaps reduce the top end crispness in others. I'll remove pyrotechnics and cut strobes - all for one, safe, gentle performance for people who cannot take the usual loud, bright, exciteing and sometimes deliberately shocking stuff.
Often, what I do is not at all what the various designers wanted, but for just one show, this is how it is. Many people report they did not notice the changes.
we started this topic with discussion on if it was worth bi-amping smaller boxes that have passive crossovers. I've done this myself and come to the conclusion, it rarely works unless the speakers are designed to allow this - then it does work. Some manufacturers use their own amps to drive their own speakers which is probably the best integration to ensure what comes out is what was intended to come out.
Does anybody remember those Philips motional feedback speaker systems where the speakers sent back information on what they actually did to the amp, which then modified the output to creater a closer replication of the waveform? That concept didn't last very long.
I'm just an old sceptic at heart. Few 'improvements' really jump out anymore. They tell you they're better and people believe them. On this forum, so many times, we have had people suggest products that really break the rules and work. People who have used a mic in a very unusual way, through need, and discovered it really works. Then we have others who dismiss products based on internet gossip and rumour.
Grump over - sorry.
