Case Study / Club & Lounge
Fixing a mass failure of bass drivers through phase diagnosis, a reconfigured low end and amplifier protection.
Project summary
- Challenge
- Ten days after installation, the new system had already lost 20 of its 24 bass drivers; the rigging caused phase cancellation and there was no suitable limiter.
- Solution
- Hardware restored, coverage recalculated, a curved subwoofer array configured, DSP added, Peak/RMS Limiters locked and the rack moved into a dedicated equipment room.
- Result
- The low end was reconfigured for the listening areas, and the system now has protection thresholds and a clearer operating procedure.
From First Survey to Handover
01 / Diagnosis
When Tony Lab Audio took on Kosho Club, the newly installed speaker system had lost 20 of its 24 bass drivers after only 10 days, on a dance floor that runs several nights a week. On-site measurements showed that the speaker clusters, rigged facing each other across the middle of the floor, were cancelling each other out in exactly the busiest area, and the system had no amplifier protection thresholds at all. Tony Lab Audio re-simulated the entire coverage in EASE before touching any equipment, separating configuration faults from hardware faults.
02 / Engineering decision
The core of the solution was arranging the subwoofers along a calculated curve, placing the cabinets along a calculated curve instead of facing each other, and moving the equipment rack from beside the DJ booth into a separate equipment room, away from heat and accidental changes. On the DSP, the team locked Peak/RMS Limiter thresholds and fine-tuned the Crossover and Time Alignment in real time — a layer of protection the original system simply did not have. The burned-out hardware was repaired and checked before reinstallation in the new configuration.
03 / Verification and value
Before handover, we re-checked the signal flow, coverage, phase and protection thresholds across the whole system. From the VIP area to the middle of the floor, the low end no longer has cancellation spots, and every output is held by a locked limiter. For the owner, the biggest change was not that it sounded better, but that the system has equipment-matched protection settings and an agreed operating procedure.
“Since Nhan (Tony) reset the speakers, we have had a full house every night and the speakers have not broken down again.”
The Project in Pictures
01 / 04 — Line-array clusters being hung and angled for coverage at Kosho Club during installation — Tony Lab Audio.
Before and After
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Centre bass SPL | Cancelled out by phase misalignment | +6dB, even within ±2dB |
| Phase cancellation (out-of-phase) | Severe, speakers rigged facing each other | Resolved through 3D coverage simulation |
| Equipment rack location | Beside the DJ booth | Separate equipment room |
| System protection (Limiter) | None installed | Peak/RMS Limiters locked |
| Real operating life | Failed after 10 days in use | Stable for 6 years (2018–2024) |
Frequently asked questions
Why do club speakers burn out their bass drivers, even from big brands like JBL?
High-end speakers still burn out if they are set up wrong. The main causes are usually: (1) no Peak/RMS Limiter threshold on the DSP, so the speakers are overloaded at the peaks, and (2) speakers rigged at the wrong angle cause phase cancellation, so the operator thinks the sound is lacking and pushes the power past what the voice coils can take.
What are the advantages of the curved subwoofer array used at Kosho Club?
At Kosho, the cabinets were arranged along a calculated physical curve. Array spacing and alignment were checked to improve coverage across the dance floor; the result depends on frequency and listening position.
How do I book a survey and new measurements for a club system with phase cancellation?
You can contact the Tony Lab Audio engineering team directly through the Contact & Survey Booking page to have the site measured and get advice on the best approach.
How long did the Kosho Club project take?
The whole survey, installation and tuning process at Kosho Club took 6 weeks. For similar troubleshooting projects, the actual time depends on the extent of the damage and the size of the system — Tony Lab Audio always surveys the site before giving a timeline and a quote.
