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Ayone know the wattage used at a Rock concert?

I just attended a Dave Matthews concert last night at a large outdoor venue (very good show). The sound level was incredible, the bass was chest thumping. I'm wondering what type of amplification is used at something like this, ie, number of amps, type of amps, number of watts, that type of thing. Anyone have any experience with this stuff? I kinda like trivial knowlegde of this sort. Thanks.
mijknarf
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
4,908 posts
 
I saw The Who and AC/DC, but my loudest show was The Ramones in L.A. in the 90's. I can't remember the venue, but the room was all cement, the sound bouncing off the walls from every direction forever. I got SUCH a headache.
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koestner
293 posts
 
It's a different world today. I don't think they even use separate amplifiers today, but rather Class D amps built into the speakers with DSP and equalization controlled through a computer network. Paul McCartney which I recently saw a few years ago was louder than any of the concerts I saw 25-30 years ago. Yes, these are horn loaded compression drivers with very high efficiency.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
4,163 posts
 
B-1 bombers don't make 250dB and there's no way you made 191dB!
czarivey
4,494 posts
 
Live set-up at Red Hat Amphitheater has 80kW per each side of total power for most of the rock concerts.
Live set-up at Town Hall NYC had 22kW per each side during King Crimson performance
Cro-Bar night club NYC has 30kW per channel if all amps are on.
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