I will use this page to post questions and answers related to the SD592 (a.k.a. SoundDesign) program. The program manual contains the answers to many of the most common questions. This manual is included with the software. The manual is called Manual.PDF and can usually be found in your Program Files directory. The program used to view this manual is available from Adobe.
Question: In Option A I have the option to enter the area's size in either square footage or by it's dimensions. If I enter the same area first with it's dimensions and then with it's square footage, I get different results. Why ?
Answer: The example on page 6 of the manual addresses this issue. Take an area of 100,000 square feet for example. This area may be made up of a length of 100' by a width of 1000', a length of 316' by a width of 316', or a length of 200' by a width of 500'. If you just enter square footage, the program must choose a design length and width. Let's say the area is a moderately noisy area. The program's default horn spacing for a moderately noisy area is 80 feet. Therefore, the program will design as if this room is 80 feet wide by 1250 feet long. This results in 16 horns. First the 80 foot width is divided by the desired spacing (80'/80' spacing), this results in 1 row of horns. Next, the 1250 foot length is divided by 80 (1250'/80' spacing), this results in 16 horns per row. A total of 16 horns for this area. If you actually enter the area's dimensions, the program will design for those actual dimensions and will provide a configuration that is tailored to the actual area. If you wish to use a horn spacing that differs from the default suggestion, you can simply enter that spacing on your computer's numeric keypad once the resulting configuration screen is displayed.
Question: Option C defaults to a 4 volt drop. Is this important ?
Answer: Yes and no. Self amplified speakers horns will work over an wide range of voltages. The reason that the program defaults to a 4 volt drop is simply this; this is a very safe voltage drop to use for design (for the majority of real world conditions). The actual tolerable voltage drop depends upon the manufacturer's design and the level of audio that the speaker or horn will encounter on it's input.
