Show dictionary · Audio
Line Array
A line array is a vertically hung column of loudspeaker elements designed to acoustically couple into a single tall source. The coupled column approximates a line source, which loses closer to 3 dB per doubling of distance in its near field instead of the 6 dB of a point source.
In practice
That slower level drop is the whole point: one hang can serve the front row and the lawn with workable consistency. The curve of a hang (tighter splay up top for the throw, wider at the bottom for the near field) is aimed coverage design, computed in prediction software before a motor turns.
Line arrays are not magic at all frequencies: coupling depends on element spacing versus wavelength, so the neat line-source behavior holds through the mids and falls apart where physics says it must. Front fills, out fills, and delays exist because a single hang never truly covers everything.
How you’ll hear it
"Twelve boxes a side, top splays at half a degree; the lawn is the delay towers’ problem."
Related resources
Part of the eventools.io Show Dictionary, a free glossary of live event production terminology.