Thread: Speaker Selection for thunder / lighting soundtrack with firefly or i-zombie

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Hello Everyone. So I have decided to purchase several 5 LED floods and a lightning generator/machine for my haunt this year.
I have not decided between I-Zombie or FireFLy but they seem to be the best of breed. I have def decided I am choosing LED spots and the higher end of either model. I figure the cost between the unit, lights, and numerous extension cords will be $1,000. I accept this.

Where I need all of your help is deciding which speakers would be best to use with the thunder soundtrack that comes with either unit.
I have seen some people recommend and (2) active powered "all in one" 15" PA speaker. I want to utilze the stereo option with the units so I want at least (2) speakers. When I went to guitar center yesterday, they recommended buying a separate, 18" sub and (2) speakers verses trying to get both highs and lows out of the PA. The subs (new) he recommended alone were $600 to $800

I would like to limit myself to spending no more than $800 on 2 or 3 components to accomplish this goal. I will consider new or used as I see these pop up on craigslist or even on consignment at guitar center often.

The reality is these speakers will get used for 2 weeks out of the year however I do want to invest in a setup that will wow my TOT's. I plan to keep haunting until I myself one day will return as a Zombie.

My opinion is ambiance (lighting/sound) are the most important elements in a haunt so I want to get it right without spending stupid money.
Thoughts? Opinions?

Note sure if you caught this thread in your search but some of us were hashing out the same thing: Firefly lightening machine help? In that thread is a couple of videos to show how it all sounded. I ended up with the Behringer EuroLive 12" and loved it. It is a single speaker because if you use the soundtrack with the FireFly the stereo soundtrack is split with one side giving the sound input to the lightning and the other to the speaker. So, it's only has a mono signal actually going to your speaker. FireFly also offers the stereo version of the soundtrack. The difference is the in the split version there is a time delay so you get more realistic time delay like with an actual lightning storm.

Terra, that is valuable information. You continue to be my favorite person on this forum. Want to do another interview with me! lol.
So what about the I-Zombie? I wonder if it too delivers the signal the same way. I prefer to have the more realistic sound/lighting effect if I had to choose.

While I don't know i zombie or firefly but thunder and lightening should be fairly simple. i. Couldn't you use a color organ? 2 Couldn't you make your own soundtrack and run dtmf tones thru one side to operate relays for the lights? 3. Try vixen to control the lights thru various controllers? I would probably use the vixen method as you can control when the lights come on and at what intensity and there is plenty of hardware it can control even rgb lighting. You can even get RGB floods for a cheap price that would light up the whole yard. Just a thought. If my controllers weren't packed up I would show a quick show on how easy it would be and cheap. Heck. Give me a day or two and I will try and dig them out and take a video.

Terra what model firefly do you have?

Don't hate me - but the 501... was a Christmas present But to make you feel better - I had never got the dimming channel to work enough where it was that noticeable enough. Probably was operator error but I suggest you don't make that option a heavy consideration.

As far as the speakers go, I can give some input. I did this for my neighborhood up to a few years ago when I moved. Each year I set up 4 1000watt DJ strobe lights daisy chained together stretched across the street on a wire that went from the peak of my roof to a tree on the other side of the road about 20 feet off the ground.

I found that the most realistic way to do it doesn't work as well. I mean having the delay like 'real' lightning. I found that I got a better reaction having the sound and flashing going off at the same time. When I included a delay, people just thought things weren't working right. The startle effect is also bigger if the big sound of the clap of thunder and the flash hit at the same time.

In fact, if the storm were right on top of you, they would happen at about the same time, so it's not necessarily wrong.

Anyway, about the speakers. I was going for complete realism (or the best I could achieve), At the time, I was a mobile DJ and had lots of audio equipment.

I used a total of 4 speakers. 2 Peavey SP3 2 way speakers with a 15" woofer and a mid/high horn, and two 24" subwoofers for deep rumbling bass. I powered them with 2 large A/B power amplifiers, each 900 watts per channel. One for the subs and the other for the Peaveys. I started with smaller amps, but upgraded over the years. The subs were both hidden on the ground, and the main speakers were up high. One in the open second story window of my house and another in a house down the street (2 houses down. I used 250 feet of 16gage wire for the run).

I made the soundtrack so that many of the thunder crashes (most of which I recorded myself from actual storms over the years) were stereo balanced to start more to one channel and slowly 'roll' over to the other channel to give the impression of rolling thunder I used a small audio mixer and fed the same output from the CD player into 2 stereo channel inputs using Y connectors. Using monitor or auxiliary outputs, I fed the stereo output to the amplifiers and a mono version to my home made lightning machine which sensed the audio and flashed the strobes when there was audio present.

You can see what I built here: Audio activated switch/lightning machine…CHEAP!

The result was lightning of realistic brightness aimed at my haunt from over the heads and behind the people. (You can see the setup here: http://halloweenbobshaunt.com/pics2007.html (Scroll down about halfway in the right hand column to see the strobes setup.)

The audio could be heard in the next neighborhood, but the harsh Higher pitched sound were aimed over people's heads so it was both realistic and loud as well as not too harsh on the ears of the people on the ground.

I guess my point is that you want to get the most powerful speakers with the widest range of frequencies that is in your budget range. It would probably be just as effective in mono with only one speaker and one subwoofer if you are using a pre-recorded thunder track. Real thunder has incredibly low bass frequencies, so if you are going for realism, you need to get speakers and an amp capable of the lowest frequencies and the most power that you can afford.

You could also rent speakers and amplifiers from a rental store that handles audio equipment instead of buying it. You may be able to get the most bang for your buck that way, although you would have to rent every year. Strobes can also be rented from places that rent DJ equipment.

I hope that helps somewhat.

Originally Posted by Terra

Don't hate me - but the 501... was a Christmas present But to make you feel better - I had never got the dimming channel to work enough where it was that noticeable enough. Probably was operator error but I suggest you don't make that option a heavy consideration.

I'll probably be buying the same one. Thanks

Hbob, wow thanks for the detailed example of your setup. So just when I was convincing myself that I can get away with one 15" speaker due to the signal coming in as mono because of the other going to the lights!! I guess I will just have to hear the lights alive track in mono and stereo on a few different speaker setups at guitar central to judge for myself. I have a friend that is an audio/video consultant and might be able to get wholesale prices on what I need. What would you suggest if I just wanted one good active speaker on a stand?

I don't have the inclination to build my own lightning controller so I will just buy one. I need that time and mental bandwidth to concentrate on building more props this year. I do like electronics and generally like the DIY approach for everythign but I need to prioritize. I guess I need to accept that spending $1,500 in speakers isn't a wise investment for someone who is not a DJ and will only use these 2 weeks of the year.

Yeah, I hear you HalloweenBob. Been seeing both options and so it's a decision thing. Your set-up sounds incredible and very scary. Mine is more of a backdrop type of set-up. Was terribly nervous of ticking off my neighbors with a really loud display because we are close-up and in a cul de sac so am going the bit more passive approach. It's still very loud and pretty scary so it was a good compromise for what I wanted. But, boy, I bet yours sounds outstanding!