Delay Stacks ?

[P MAC]

I have a situation coming up where I may need to run aux speakers beyond the mix station for a larger venue. I expect the aux speakers to be 50 to 70 feet out from the main FOH stacks. I intend to use passive 2 way boxes run full range; no subs for the aux speakers. I understand the concept of delay stacks and etc. My question is; can I use a standard rack mount digital delay unit to achieve the necessary delay time for this application? Any input / discussion would be helpful.
Thanks;
P Mac

[Ron]

Hey Pat,

Should not be a problem using a standard delay.

To figure out a rough delay time, just divide the speed of sound by the distance the aux speakers are from FOH.

70 ft divided by 1130 ft/s = 0.0619S = ~62mS

[onetooloud]

Flown would be best if not your sound imaging will suffer.

[lonewolf]

It should work fine as long as the delay is full frequency response with high S/N & low noise. But then, you already know that.

If you run into this more often, you may want to consider getting one of the higher end dbx or (gulp$) Sabine speaker management processors. They kick ass and you can save different rooms to memory.

[LHSL]

I would recommend a Behringer DCX2496. It has plenty of delay available and is a very flexible piece of gear for like $260 or so.

If you use a typical digital delay (used for effects) make sure you run the effect dry and turn off any feedback control or multiple taps.