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52 l March 2014


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livereport UNITED KINGDOM


Muddy tracks, crystal sound


A pairing of Powersoft with D.A.S. Audio provided a breakthrough for supplier Soundart at the biggest German Supercross event. Dave Robinsonreports


THE WESTFALENHALLEN in Dortmund has a history of staging major rock concerts and sporting events, including the traditional motorsport season opener when Supercross (SX) offers the audience a unique blend of action, sport and entertainment within a 4,700sqm oval arena. In order to host the largest


such event in Germany – the ADAC Supercross, with its dedicated fanbase of some 9,000 -10,000 each day – the interior of the hall is converted into 300m-long courses with 200 truckloads of dirt shipped so that riders can compete in the SX1 and SX2 categories (with the grand finale on Sunday). The Red Bull Freestyle finale, when two-wheeled daredevils defy the laws of physics with


their stunts and jumps, then raises the background cacophony to new heights. Local pro audio company


(and D.A.S. Audio network partner) Soundart GmbH, who first became involved in the event three years ago, is used to balancing the necessary SPL to overcome the sound of throttling bikes and even louder audience horns within the tight thresholds imposed by the German authorities. The rental house is also familiar with the compromises involved in flying a 360° rig around an existing infrastructure, with no floor space and minimal rigging points. This year, D.A.S. Audio’s


Hold on tight for thrills and spills ...


business development manager, Claus Behrens, chose to partner with electronics specialists Powersoft for his amplifier needs. The Italian company’s K6


Left: D.A.S. Aero 50 and 40-A line arrays flown in the arena


touring switch-mode amps, providing power of up to 3,600W per channel at 2 ohms, would drive the 24-box Aero 50s (divided into four hangs) for the long axis of the hall. Soundart also trialled 24 of the smaller Aero 40-A three-way powered systems for the first time (also in four hangs). While the Aero 50 needed to fire over distances of 35-40m, the Aero 40-A projected around 26m across the shorter wings. Connectivity to the Powersoft


control environment enabled remote system monitoring and control to be carried out via its proprietary Armonía Pro Audio Suite software.


Benjamin Hartmann, CEO of Soundart, says the decision to switch to Powersoft was “inspired”, noting that in “slimming down” for the first time while driving the Aero 50, it had offered the best weight-to- efficiency ratio on the market. “The analogue amplifiers we


were using previously were non-intelligent, quite heavy and old fashioned. Also the processing we were running it with was being discontinued so there would be no further software updates.


ADAC Supercross is the sport’s biggest event in Germany


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