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 Premier PA hire company Pronorte Sonido of Asturias, Spain, is supplying EAW KF730 compact line arrays as the key components of a full sound reinforcement system and technical support for Madrid concert performances by Argentinian comedy-musical group Les Luthiers.
Formed in 1967, Les Luthiers is very popular among numerous Spanish speaking countries in both Europe and South/Central America. The five-member group is known for its hommade musical instruments (the term “luthiers” is French for "musical instrument maker"), which are employed in their performances, accompanied by refined humor.
 The sold-out Madrid shows by Les Luthiers, titled “Las Obras de Ayer,” are being held in the 1,900-seat Palacio Municipal de Congresos. And, as they have in several trips to Spain, the group has once again selected Pronorte Sonido to provide the concert sound system and support.
Miguel Zagorodny of Buenos Aires, sound technician for Les Luthiers over the past 10-plus years, is most concerned with exceptional intelligibility and solid coverage throughout the entire listening area. Working with Pronorte, he has formulated a left-center-right main loudspeaker rig to meet these goals for the Madrid dates.
Left and right arrays are each comprised of seven EAW KF730 full-range line array modules, with the center array made up of four KF730 modules. The system is complemented by six EAW SB1000 dual-18-inch-loaded subwoofers, with all loudspeakers driven by Lab.gruppen fP Series power amplifiers.
 “Usually we tour with the larger EAW KF760 Series line arrays, but the lesser scale of the Palacio Municipal meant that the KF730 is the optimum choice to meet all of our sound reinforcement goals,” Zagorodny explains.
This marks the fifth consecutive time Pronorte has been selected to provide the system and support for Les Luthiers in Spain. All five members of Les Luthiers - Carlos López, Jorge Marona, Marcos Mundstock, Daniel Rabinovich and Carlos Núñez – are outfitted with Sennheiser MKE40 lavalier microphones, which work in tandem with the loudspeakers to produce results meeting Zagorodny’s expectations.
 As Pronorte Director José Javier García explains, “Miguel (Zagorodny) is a very exacting sound technician, with a great deal of experience. He’s studied all of the top loudspeaker systems available, so he’s obviously quite pleased with the EAW-Pronorte tandem. The system is quick and efficient to install, has an exceptionally natural midrange and is very predictable to adjust, so he has more time to work on microphone issues with voices and the unusual assortment of instruments.”
Pronorte began working with EAW equipment more than 15 years ago, providing the venerable EAW KF850 Virtual Array system for a wide range of concert tours, including Placido Domingo and the New York Metropolitan Orchestra.
“The efficiency of all EAW loudspeakers we’ve utilized, and their widespread acceptance with tours, has been an enhancement to our profitability,” García adds. “The KF760 and KF730 Series follow the same EAW philosophy: efficiency, reliability, ease of operation and exceptional overall sound quality.”
 New Coverage Calculator (“CoverageCalc”) software configures EAW Commercial loudspeakers in a distributed layout using SPL (sound pressure level) mapping as the primary criteria.
CoverageCalc is a Windows-based program that uses standard Windows operational conventions, and not only does it provide SPL map of listening area with adjustable resolution and frequency, it also offers user-adjustable layout density, rectangular or hexagonal layout patterns, and much more.
Click here to access the download of this program.
 Seattle Pro Audio just finished up a stellar design and installation of a new sound reinforcement system at Emerald Downs Racetrack, a horse racing facility located just outside of Seattle in the town of Auburn, Washington.
The new system features an all-EAW loudspeaker line-up, including KF730 Series line arrays innovatively deployed to provide blanket coverage to the entire main grandstand.
Meanwhile, a combination of MQV Series and AX Series loudspeakers proved ideal for meeting other coverage needs, including a vast audience and paddock area adjacent to the grandstand, running several hundred feet along the track.
 Seattle Pro Audio is led by Michael Gardner, and on the Emerald Downs project, Walter Lucas played a pivotal role. Additional support on the project was supplied by SM Audio. (Key system team members - left to right, Walter, Michael and Steve Malone - are shown in the adjacent photo.)
We'll have more details on this exciting project here soon, and in the meantime, check out more photos of the system and venue by clicking on the link below.
 This just in: EAW Smaart Version 6 (v.6) has been nominated for a 2007 Technical Excellence & Creativity (TEC) Award in the category of Outstanding Technical Achievement, Ancillary Equipment.
Smaart v.6 sound system measurement and analysis software features a comprehensive re-write of its underlying architecture that dramatically enhances multi-tasking, in addition to a new streamlined interface for simpler operation and for the first time ever, full compatibility with Macintosh OS X
 The TEC Awards was established by Mix magazine in 1985 to honor outstanding achievement in the professional recording and sound production industry. The nominations are made by a panel of approximately 165 audio industry professionals.
Qualified Mix subscribers will make the final determination via an online ballot beginning August 1. (Don't forget to vote!) The winners of the 23rd Annual TEC Awards will be announced at a ceremony at the Marriott Marquis during the 2007 AES Convention in New York City.
 Joe Fustolo is definitely someone at EAW you should know. This professional audio industry veteran was recently tapped to head up the EAW Application Support Group (ASG), our multifaceted team offering a wide range of specialized technical services to the EAW customer base.
What does your work with EAW entail?
Joe: As the manager of ASG, I handle loudspeaker designs for a lot of medium- and large-scale venues, worldwide. I also aid in teaching of our customers about how to best utilize our products to suit their needs. Another important part of the job is insuring that ASG maintains its very high standards in working with our clients to provide the best technical support in the industry.
What's your favorite aspect of working with EAW?
Joe: The people of EAW, and the best engineering team in professional audio, bar none.
Tell us about your previous audio-related experiences.
Joe: Well, let's see. Here's the list: recording engineer, monitor and FOH engineer, stage hand, technical director for the Lowell Auditorium in Lowell, MA, rigger, theatrical rigging installer, sound system sales/designer/installer...
What's your favorite thing to do outside of work?
Joe: Spend time with my family and kids.
Any hobbies?
Joe: Archery, hunting, target shooting, riding my motorcycle.
Best rock n' roll band ever?
Joe: Hmm.... that's a tough one, there are so many to choose from. How about this, or this, or this? Uh... just kidding! But "The Hoff" is something else, no? Just exactly what that something is, we can't be sure...
What's the best live show you've heard/seen, and why?
Joe: The most recent was Iron Maiden. It was truly amazing to see what the KF760/761 Series can do for a show of that nature.
What's your favorite EAW product?
Joe: The MQH1344e, due its sonic clarity, horsepower, and low-frequency pattern control. Truly one of the best loudspeakers ever, ahead of its time.
What's the most common audio/system question asked of you?
Joe: How does it sound? How can I make it sound better?
What's the most overlooked yet beneficial aspect of EAW?
Joe: We have the widest range of application specific loudspeakers in the industry, and the capabilities of designing any loudspeaker to fit any need required.
Last question. Why did the audio engineer cross the road?
Joe: Because the lighting guys wanted him to count to 3...
 EAW products and systems are utilized in thousands of demanding professional applications around the world, equally adept at exceeding expectations in both live and installed realms.
Now, the new EAW Application Reference Lists provide you with the opportunity to check out the venues and sound companies that utilize EAW products and systems. Not only are these lists updated and fresh and new, but they’re also available in handy printable pdf format by simply clicking a link at the top of each page. Click here to access the lists.
 From EAW Europe Sales Manager Sean Martin
The B4 Roadshow tour bus pulled up in the outskirts of Paris at the premises of Axente, France, close to Orly airport. The weather was cool and windy, which did not bode well for the next day's Bootcamp and Tradeshow.
Paris was the only destination on the tour that gave us the opportunity to actually hold the roadshow at the distributor's premises. In this case the Bootcamp was held in the massive car park of Axente and parent company Impact Evenement.
 This gave us for the first time, the opportunity of setting up the systems the day before we opened to the public, although the speed with which the scaffold towers went up did make us think that spare day could easily get
used up!
The following day opened to brilliant sunshine of the type we'd witnessed in Barcelona. The mixed crowd from France, Russia and Belgium all appreciated the benefits of Gunness Focusing from all locations of the car park.
 The new EAW UMX.96 new digital mixing console was a particular hit. In fact, run-throughs of the UMX.96 almost outweighed the system demonstrations, such was the interest.
A fantastic French lunch was followed by continued system demonstrations at high SPL, unhindered by either neighbors or the local constabulary. This was followed by the Tradeshow, held inside the Axente facility.
 As the tour bus drove into the sunset, (and we said goodbye to our truly great bus driver, Werner, pictured at right), the next day (Friday) saw the end of the B4 tour as the Smaart School was enjoyed by a small number of solely Belgians (which we found strangely mystifying), held in one of the many rooms inside the Axente facility.
The conclusion: the B4 Roadshow tour of Europe has been a well worthwhile exercise and presents optimism about continuing possibly later in the year. As a tired but satisfied crew made it's way back to various locations on the planet, just the thought that the tour might have made EAW systems even more listenable left a satisfying feeling. (More photos of our stop in Paris follow.)
 Leading up to the B4 Roadshow stop in Barcelona, we'd been hearing that attendance would be especially strong. But we were totally blown away with just how many audio professionals came - and stayed - for both full days.
System Bootcamp and Tradeshow was held in a venue plenty big to accommodate everyone and then some. The site, Velòdrom D'Horta, a bicycle racetrack built for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, was ideal to provide full-fledged demos of KF760 Series line arrays, the new SB1002 flying subwoofers, the coming-soon UMX.96 live digital mixing console and more. (The rig and venue are shown above.)
 And in what must be at least close to a record, Smaart School attracted more than 60 attendees! With so many audio professionals wishing to learn about recently released Smaart v.6 as well as solid test and measurement principles, we definitely could accommodate the crowd. A bit of reconfiguring, some great work by EAW distributor Pro 3 & Co., and everything worked out just fine.
A lot of people, a lot of learning, and even more fun. Now it's on to Paris for the final stop of the European leg of B4! (Click on the link below for more images from Barcelona.)
 EAW has named Scott Pizzo to the position of Director, U.S. Sales, with the appointment announced by Jeffrey Cox, Vice President of the EAW Brand Group.
Scott brings 20-plus years of pro audio experience to the position, where he will lead the company’s overall sales efforts in addition to directing EAW’s team of 17 U.S.-based independent sales rep firms. He will be based at theWhitinsville offices.
Scott joined EAW nearly five years ago as a member of the technical sales team working in the install, touring and retail channels with the company’s sales rep network. Previously he held a position in Technical Sales for Lexicon, and prior to that, he worked as an independent sound engineer.
“During his tenure with EAW, Scott has consistently demonstrated great responsiveness in serving the needs of our growing customer base,” Jeffrey noted. “His in-depth understanding of the market and technology are also a huge asset both for the company and our customers.” (Click here for more about Scott.)
 U.K.-based Peak Sound and Light has recently chosen to invest in EAW KF730 Series SLAM line arrays (16 KF730 full-range modules and eight SB730 subwoofers) as the latest addition to the Cheltenham-based lighting and sound rental company’s inventory.
“I’ve been a big fan of EAW for a number of years, and when the need for a new system arose, my first thoughts turned to the SLAM (Small Line Array Module) system from EAW,” says Karl Ashman, managing director of Peak. “The company and products have always impressed me.”
 Peak selected the KF730 Series primarily due to its scalability and modular design, as Karl explains. “As a company we work on a wide variety of events – everything from a small conference to large outdoor events – the system we have bought will give us the capability to cover all of the events we work on.”
Peak's new KF730 arrays are shown in the two photos with this post, serving the recent "Making our Mark" event in London. For more about this application, as well as photos of another recent Peak application of the rig and additional commentary, click on the link directly below.
Peak was founded almost 30 years ago, but it is the last few years that have seen massive growth in the company. From the relatively humble beginnings providing discos and theatre lighting, the company is now involved in a number of large conferences and events all over the UK.
 In fact, the EAW system was barely in the warehouse before being shipped straight to central London for its first job – less than a week after it arrived.
“We were asked to provide sound services for the Making our Mark event – a march through central London followed by a concert in Kennington Park – and the system worked perfectly” adds Karl. “And then just a few weeks later we were at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool for the Assemblies of God Conference (pictured on this page). It just goes to show the diversity of the system – one week we are in a field for 3,000 people – the next we are inside a conference hall for 2,500.”
 The system has been bought to work in conjunction with another recent purchase - a pair of Litec D30 flying towers which is “a perfect match” according to Peak’s General Manager, Stu Petersen. “The system works equally well when ground stacked, or flown – it’s so easy to fly that it’s now our preferred option.”
But it isn’t all about the system itself. Peak is proud to join the ELAN (EAW Line Array Network) which will lead to more opportunities both for networking with other EAW owners as well as collaborations on future projects. This has been further enhanced by the recent B4 Roadshow which was attended by Karl, as well as FOH engineers Dave Cleaves and Dan Keating.
“We were impressed by the forward thinking nature of the team at EAW, particularly their focus on the end user,” added Karl. “It was great to see the advances that EAW are making, and I hope that this is the first step in a life-long partnership.”
Dave, Dan and Karl of Peak are pictured below with the EAW team at the recent B4 Roadshow stop at Bray Film Studios outside of London. (Click here for more info about Peak Sound and Light.)
 Day Two of the B4 Roadshow stop in Milan featured well-attended System Bootcamp and Tradeshow sessions. The range of current and coming-soon EAW products drew crowds, and in particular, the UMX.96 live digital mixing console. (Moray is shown at left providing a console demo.)
Exhibo, S.P.A., the EAW distributor for Italy, did a fantastic job in handling the numerous (numerous!) details it takes to pull off a successful B4 presentation. Our sincerest thanks to them for their hard work. The B4 site - Alcatraz Music Island - is a noted live music venue in downtown Milan, and it worked out great. As expected, the acoustics were conducive to effective audio presentations. Now, on to Barcelona! (Click on the link below for more Milan images.)
 Exhibo S.p.A., EAW's distributor for Italy, provided expert support in the deployment of EAW LS432 line source loudspeakers and JF50 compact loudspeakers to supply highly intelligible sound reinforcement for the Galileo Awards, held recently in Padua, Italy.
The prestigious event, honoring scientific inquiry and literature, was fittingly held at the historic Palazzo della Ragione in Padua, the town that is the site of Galileo's observatory in the early 1600's when he helped complete an astronomical revolution.
 Further, Palazzo della Ragione is one of the most important ancient buildings of the European Age of Commons, constructed starting in 1218. The beautiful hall, measuring 82 meters (270 feet) long and 27 meters (85 feet) wide, has a roof shaped as a reversed hull, with hard surfaces abounding. A tough acoustical situation, to say the least, and one that the sound team worked carefully to tame with a distributed sound design featuring the LS432 and JF50 loudspeakers mounted on stands throughout the listening area.
"Due to its extremely high reverberation time, the room has always been a nightmare for rental companies to organize events," explains Riccardo Rasponi, Exhibo rep for the Venice area, who served as the coordinator between the rental companies - Target Due of Padova and Full Sound Service of Pressana - that worked the event.
 "The highest speech intelligibility was the goal for these ceremonies," Riccardo continues, "and this dictated loudspeakers with extremely narrow and controlled vertical coverage patterns within the speech frequency spectrum. The LS432 did this job perfectly."
Specifically, LS432 loudspeakers were positioned along the long walls of the hall, supplemented by JF50's. "Switching the impedance from 4 ohms to 16 ohms, which was done by Full Sound, allowed eight JF50's to be driven with one amplifier in a quick and reliable way. As a result, the entire room was fully covered by only eight LS432's and eight JF50's."
Guido Diamanti, Exhibo's electroacoustic designer, adds: "We did some careful calculations in order to determine the exact right number of loudspeakers, to be sure that not only could enough sound pressure level be attained, but also to avoid stray energy that would serve as reverberated sound."
All went very well with the application, Riccardo notes, and in fact, Padua authorities have already asked for the same system for other events scheduled for later this month.
 The B4 Roadshow team arrived in Milan, Italy around
1 pm, and upon figuring out that our hotel was near the famous Monza Motor Raceway, we set out on what we thought would be a quick stroll over to see it.
I should mention here that Bernie is a huge racing fan (shown here with Ferrit at a statue at the track), so for him this was more like a pilgrimage. After about and hour and a half of walking, it started to feel like Gilligan's Island to the rest of us: "A three-hour tour, a three-hour tour..."
 Actually, we ended up walking though the Monza city park and it was absolutely gorgeous. We saw the Royal Palace at Monza, built by the Hapsburgs in 1777, and then, the location where the last king of Italy, Umberto I, was assasinated in 1900. We also saw some interesting art in the park that the boys promptly named "The Wicker Bundt Cake." (Pretty accurate description, according to the photo at left.)
When we reached the Monza raceway, we were thrilled to discover that there was a bike race going on that day and that the track was open. Bernie kissed the ground. I took pix. And an hour and a half later we stumbled back to our hotel, legs aching and discovered that we had walked about 10 km (6 miles), round trip.
 The next morning, Jamie kicked off Smaart School for a full class of 14 people (most of them pictured here), hosted at EAW Italian distributor Exhibo's facilities in Monza. Exhibo just moved into new facilities back in November, and the new digs are really nice. The class went swimmingly and 14 more people went out into the world a little "Smaarter"... (Sorry, I'll stop.)
While Jamie was teaching, the rest of us traveled to the Alcatraz Music Island in Milan to set up for the B4 Bootcamp and Tradeshow slated the next day.
 Alcatraz is a famous live music venue in downtown Milan. The facilities were great, as was the staff.
Both Ferrit and Moray had actually done gigs there back in the mid-90s with Ronnie James Dio, so they were immediately familiar with the place.
Also, this venue presented much better acoustics than our previous two stops, so there was no battling seven-second delays and the like.
 In the evening, the wonderful folks from Exhibo took us out to dinner and we watched as the Milan soccer team beat Manchester United to move on to the final of the European soccer championship. And Bernie ordered a French fry pizza... Check out this photo at right - it really does exist. (The B4 Roadshow continues to work its way through Europe - click here for the schedule. And in the meantime, below are more photos of the stop in Milan.)
 All of us at EAW wish to express our sincerest condolences on the passing of Justin Warren, a valued member of the PCM Marketing team. Just 30 years of age, Justin died tragically in a motorcycle accident on April 19 while traveling to work.
"Justin was a great person and made us all better too," stated Alan Thiele of PCM Marketing. Justin started his career in the pro audio world by playing guitar in and mixing live bands throughout the Baltimore/Washington DC area, spent four years at the largest MI retailer running the audio department both inside and outside the store, and was providing excellent outside sales services for PCM Marketing at the time of his passing.
"From my perspective, Justin was on the ball and a pleasure to work with. He was eager to jump in and learn about our products," added Scott Jordan, EAW ASG Specialist. "When you establish relationships with reps, you start to not see them as a separate company, but more an extension of your own co-workers. Justin was certainly someone (along with the rest of PCM) who personified this. His loss is one that is certainly felt by all those who had a chance to work with him."
A trust fund has been established for Justin's family. Anyone wishing to contribute should make checks payable to “Justin Warren & Shawna Dixon’s Children Fund." Checks can be mailed to:
Justin is survived by his parents, Penny Todd and Jim Warren; brother, Gavin Warren; sister, Caitlin Warren; his long-term partner, Shawna Dixon; and their four children, Dashawn, Ahmad, Khalil and Hasaun.
 Pop divas the Sugababes have just completed a concert tour of the UK, Ireland and Europe to promote their new release Overloaded, with the EAW KF760 Series-led PA provided by top-flight UK-based touring company Concert Sound.
The tour appeared in a range of venues offering different sizes and configurations, dictating a flexible system approach. The largest iteration of the system, deployed at London's Wembley Arena, included 14 KF760 full-range line array modules and three KF761 wide coverage modules per side, joined by six KF750 full-range concert loudspeakers, three KF755 downfill loudspeakers and 12 SB1000 subwoofers on each side.
 Supplemental coverage came courtesy of medium-format KF300 loudspeakers for infill and compact JF80 for lipfill. Loudspeaker processing and control was provided by XTA DP448s and DP226s which were operated via XTA AudioCore software and a WISER wireless network. (All photos with this post were provided by Aron Ross of Concert Sound, who served as system technician for the tour. Thanks Aron! Also, our thanks to Gasoline Media for their editorial contributions.)
 The ongoing B4 Roadshow, currently appearing at several locations across Europe before moving on to North America, has drawn the attention of the Live Audio Board (LAB) community on ProSoundWeb.
Click here to check out the LAB discussion, including comments from attendees.
 Professional audio industry veteran Joe Fustolo has been named Manager of the EAW Application Support Group (ASG), the multifaceted team offering a wide range of specialized technical services to the EAW customer base. The appointment was announced by Jeffrey Cox, Vice President of the EAW Brand Group.
Fustolo brings more 15 years of hands-on pro audio experience in leading the ASG team, which serves to provide in-depth technical and system information, including product and application guidance, loudspeaker system design and review, as well as hands-on training and educational tools such as white papers and CD-ROMs. ASG also provides answers and input via EAW’s popular on-line technical forum.
Fustolo joined EAW five years ago as an ASG Specialist, and previously served as a sound system designer/installer for a leading system integration firm in the Boston area. Prior to that, he served as FOH and monitor engineer for a large sound reinforcement company based in New England, in addition to a stint as a recording engineer.
“I plan to not only continue the exceptionally high standards set by ASG in serving our customers, but to expand upon EAW’s overall long-standing tradition of providing the best support possible,” Fustolo notes. “It’s truly a privilege to work with cutting-edge products and the brightest, most passionate people in the pro audio industry.”
From EAW Marketing Director Karen Anderson
The B4 Roadshow team set off from Wolfach in the morning and drove south through the Black Forest and into the Swiss Alps. Absolutely gorgeous.
We didn't have an actual destination or any hotel reservations, but thanks to Bluetooth technology,we were able to hook into the Internet from the bus. Wiith Moray translating into Italian, we were able to find a hotel with six rooms available at the last minute. (May 1 is a national holiday in Italy so most everything was booked.)
The hotel is in a little town called Ispra, on Lake Maggiore in the Lombardy region of Italy. It took about eight hours to get there, as well as some expert driving from Werner as he navigated our 48-foot tour bus through mountain passes and narrow Italian hillside streets.
Our day off in Ispra included finding wireless Internet in the hotel lobby, and all of us doing some work while drinking espressos all morning. Once sufficiently jittery, we found the local laundromat and did some much needed laundry and then we took off to explore the town of Ispra and Lake Maggiore.
The town is beautiful - as have been most of the towns we've seen on this trip. Moray braved the frigid temps and swam in Lake Maggiore.
Later we went out for some of the best pizza I've ever had and Moray made pizza art (see the photo at the top of this post). I ate a pizza bigger than my head.
We've departed to Milan, with Smaart School scheduled for Wednesday (5/2) followed by Bootcamp on Thursday. Click here for the full schedule.
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