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March 2013 l 49
livefeature
festivals, as well as for outfill and delay systems along with LEO,” says LEO product manager, Luke Jenks. “And there are a lot of veteran M3D systems in Europe that still work hard every summer. We don’t expect any of them will be sitting inside a warehouse during August.” Martin Audio’s MLA and MLA Compact systems have been doing very well all over Europe. Access in Italy; Complete Audio in Germany; Norway’s DM Audio and EM Nordic; and the UK’s RG Jones Capital Sound have all invested in MLA. Capital Sound’s Paul Timmins says in the modern era it is no longer a case of buying a system simply because you’ve been associated with the same brand for 25 years. “We reviewed and demoed
every major market system, but in the end it was vital that we backed ‘second generation’ technology,” he explains. “However good the other systems were, only the MLA offered us this, with the right size and weight package.” Another system that Capital Sound has made a sizeable investment in is Nexo’s new STM series, which draws on the French manufacturer’s Alpha Series of point source cabinets, sharing the basic principles of scale through modularity, and theoretically allows users to build their own systems for audiences from 200 to 100,000. Capital was the first UK company to take delivery of the STM, having worked with the French manufacturer for two years on the system’s design and spec. It is also Capital’s first ever Nexo investment. “As the STM concept emerged,
we became heavily involved in the development of a genuinely groundbreaking and unique product,” explains Capital Sound’s technical manager, Ian
D.A.S. Audio kit will once again be used at the Arenal Sound festival in Spain
Colville. “Nothing was used as a starting point, nor was it based on an existing product. All of the STM components, materials and manufacturing techniques have been optimised for one product and one purpose.” Wigwam has also just
purchased an STM system – 144 units in total (48 of each of its elements). According to Chris Hill, the criteria was pretty straightforward: will it sound good; and will it be flexible and quick to rig?
“The engineers really listened;
they went away and came up with the STM concept, as opposed to just bringing out another cabinet design that none of us really wanted,” says Hill, who will be working closely with Capital Sound at how he will package the system. “It’s a different way of looking at things; it’s scalable and we can use it for many different applications.” Other international rental companies that have taken STM systems include Sound Linear in Germany and Monitor City in Australia. Spain’s D.A.S. Audio will
deploy a number of its Aero 50 and Aero 40A Advanced Line Array System (ALAS, which debuted at NAMM in January) three-way, large-scale systems to a string of Spanish festivals in 2013, including the massive annual Arenal Sound festival, which takes place close to D.A.S.’s Valencia headquarters. “Besides the well-tested Aero
50s, our aim is to have the Aero 40A ALAS at a number of selected events,” says D.A.S. Audio’s marketing director, Robert Giner. “By the end of the summer, we hope to have all the different system configurations and presets in place, communications tested, rigging systems given the OK, and confirmed reliability of all systems in the extreme heat,
PRODUCT ROUND-UP
Sirius in Germany and GMB Productions in Poland have made significant investments in JBL’s VTX series
D.A.S. Audio’s Aero 50 will be in action across Spain this summer
The K1 remains top of the pile for L-Acoustics in Europe
Coda Audio’s newest offering - ViRAY
“Large-scale PA systems no longer consist of big, cumbersome boxes; what everyone is trying to do is increase the flexibility of their
systems, so it’s now all about trying to create systems that can carry out a bigger workload, so are less specialised”
humidity and long hours of operation. It will be an interesting summer for us, I believe.” [Your correspondent can
vouch for the heat issue, by the way, having being temporarily trapped in a portable toilet at Arenal Sound last August in 45º heat... Anyway, moving on...] d&b’s J- and V-Series are two systems with high profiles when it comes to the touring and festival events. A recent rental firm which made a sizeable investment in the latter model is London-based Entec Sound & Light’s audio division: 16 V8 loudspeakers, four V12 loudspeakers, and eight V-SUBs. “We have a great demand for
d&b,” says audio sales manager, Peter Codron, whose firm has been a d&b advocate for the last decade. “We chose the V-Series for its tonal compatibility with the larger J-Series, and it will be
Gert Sanner, Harman
used on a whole diverse range of shows and events. The manufacturer used its Q- and J-Series technology to produce this remarkable system, and it’s perfect for all types of live performances.” Adamson’s E15 Line Source
Array has also been causing quite a stir. It’s been adopted across the globe, and by several European rental companies including Fluge in Spain and the UK’s Wigwam Acoustics. Wigwam invested in 48 boxes some 10 months ago now; and the boss is suitably impressed. “I like the concept – it’s the most different thing I have seen for quite some time,” he says. “When it’s fully developed I think it’ll be particularly interesting too – with the power amp built into it and all the ground signal path racks in place – and most importantly, it
Wigwam is beta testing Adamson’s E15 Line Source Array on the Australian Pink Floyd tour
sounds very good. We are beta testing it now on the Australian Pink Floyd tour, and the reports back are absolutely storming. “Like anything, it had its teething problems, and we’re always cautious at first, but Adamson made sure they addressed these issues, and now all the firmware and software updates are done, and we are in a position where we are very happy with it.” Evidently, rental companies
across Europe and beyond are continuing to make sizeable investments in the plethora of new, large-scale (or should that be medium-scale?) PA systems, though equally they’re not in any real hurry to get rid of the old stuff, as ‘it still works, so why change it?’. The dreaded R-word has now made it to triple-dip status in various European territories. But while the touring and live sound companies are continuing to invest, we can at least feel cheery about the festival market. Let’s hope we get the weather for it this summer… n
www.adamsonsystems.com www.britanniarow.com www.codaaudio.com www.dasaudio.com www.dbaudio.com www.jbl.com www.l-acoustics.com www.martin-audio.com www.meyersound.com www.nexo-sa.com www.sseaudiogroup.com www.wigwamacoustics.co.uk
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