Audio time alignment delay

It makes it so over a distance the electronic sound delivered through the system is stalled so it doesn’t arrive before the acoustic sound coming “later” because of the physics of waves in air being slower than the electronic signal.

To get a bit geeky about it-

Calypso’s band goes up on the balcony with a bigger PA system that is hitting 100dB at 20’ out from the band(pretty loud). The shoreline is 60’ from that point. So, the level of the band is now approximately 91 dB, still decently loud. But people on a boat roughly 160 feet from the band are only getting 82-83 dB. Plus the upper end frequencies die out more than stuff below about 500hz. So, it’s quiet and muffled.

Electricity is close to the speed of light, sound is really slow. 1130 feet per second, depending on temperatures. So, you can’t just put speakers out on the shoreline because the sound from the band PA will hit those shoreline speakers with a 55ms delay. That’s like adding a rockabilly delay to the whole band. Mess

So, you delay the shore speakers 55 ms plus another 5 or so for haas effect. The shore speakers will now carry the volume and tone out to the boats. The extra 5ms is a technique to ensure the boaters don’t see the band but feel the sound coming from the shore speakers. You don’t have to concern yourself with the subwoofers. Those frequencies are hearty.

The quick method is to play a slow sparse drum groove on the PA while standing at the delay speakers, adjusting the timing until it becomes one clear piece

Is it really worth upgrading your PA for one gig?
I would suggest renting what you only need occasionally, and bake the cost of the rental into your price.

Or perhaps hire a sound company to do that heavy lifting?

Bluetooth comes with its own built in delay.

Analog mixer - we always use mono.

The distance for this venue will be about fifty feet - but I'd like a range of delay settings for other places.

There are apps to calculate how the speed of sound changes with temperature.