« May 2007 |
Main
| July 2007 »
 The word on the street regarding the new UX8800: nicely done, and then some. A wide range of users have been involved in beta testing, with reports filed by these audio professionals overwhelmingly positive.
For example, check out the application of UX8800 with a KF750 rig for concerts by Simply Red in Australia, with audio engineer Tim Millikan (pictured at left with UX8800) providing the details and commentary.
And take a look at this recent thread on the Live Audio Board (LAB) of ProSoundWeb, where again, users in the pro audio community who've been involved with beta testing weigh in with their observations, thoughts and comments.
More details on the UX8800 are available here and here.
The new UX8800 4-input x 8-output digital processor has been created expressly to provide revolutionary Gunness Focusing alignment and driver processing algorithms and protection technology to an ever-growing number of conventional EAW loudspeakers. And with true dual-mode capability, the UX8800 operates either as a standard system processor, or, using the uploadable Gunness Focusing settings, as a loudspeaker-specific processor. Get the full scoop here and here.
The UX8800 provides an unprecedented degree of consistency and interoperability between EAW systems. Users can be confident that cross-rented systems will all have the same starting processing settings. And because of Gunness Focusing, that starting point is phenomenal clarity and fidelity.
Another notable aspect is that in its dual role as a comprehensive digital system processor, the UX8800 is intimately linked to EAW Smaart and FChart acoustic measurement and analysis systems. This is crucial to users and engineers in that it guarantees both standard and “Grey Box” processing exactly matches the processor settings determined in the laboratory by EAW engineers.
Again, more details here and here.
 The historic Paramount Theatre in downtown Abilene, Texas, a monument to an earlier time of movie palaces and vaudeville performance, now offers the most modern of amenities in the form of a new, dynamic sound reinforcement system designed and installed by Gemini Sound of Dallas that's highlighted by EAW KF730 line arrays as well as EAW JF50S compact loudspeakers and SM200iH stage monitors.
Built in 1930, the beautiful facility's distinctive Spanish-Moorish architecture received a new lease on life with a 1986 renovation that has led to it serving as a true community asset in providing live and motion picture entertainment of many varieties. The restoration and renovation took over six months and won the Paramount the prestigious Texas Award for Historic Preservation from the Texas Historical Commission.
 Late last year, Gemini Sound began the process of developing a commensurate sound system for the 1,199-seat theatre, which has a split aisle (no center) configuration with a main floor and a lower, middle, and upper balcony. Jason Litt, backed by Chad Cain, took the lead system design role, working with theatre personnel that included Executive Director Betty Hukill, Artistic Director Barry Smoot and Technical Director Jennifer Lashley.
"We didn't want to utilize a trapezoidal box approach with this design," explains Gemini Sound President Tim Cain. "There were aesthetic and infrastructure issues to address, with a line array design much more capable of eliminating those concerns while also meeting coverage and concert-type performance goals. The KF730 Series furthers this with its very compact size-to-output ratio, and its sonic signature is excellent."
The line arrays are flown to the left and right of the stage, tucked well up and out of the way. Each is comprised of two SB730 flying subwoofers that fit seamlessly within the array structure, with five KF730 full-range modules below, tapered back into a classic "J" shape.
 The arrays are able to provide seamless coverage from front to back and side to side, with careful placement and the inherent pattern control of the boxes helping to keep output off of side walls and balcony faces to prevent reflections and reverberation.
They're supported by compact JF50S loudspeakers on the stagethat supply mid/high fill to the first few seating rows, with four EAW SM200iH wedges available for any stage monitoring needs. The system also includes a 24-channel house mixing console residing in the technical booth at the rear of the main level, as well as premium amplification and digital signal processing.
"This is a well-executed system, fully taking into account the current and future needs of the client - and then some," Cain concludes. "We all agree that it's an optimum solution in meeting sonic requirements in a challenging retrofit situation."
 Subject of the cover feature of the current (June '07) issue of Club Systems International magazine, the new Lotus Lounge was created by founder Michael Romeo to provide Washington DC with a space offering "florid architecture and a soothing ambience." The venue's systems are expertly designed by Ohm Productions to perfectly match and enhance that environment, with key components of the audio experience provided by an abundance of modified EAW Avalon Series and UB42 loudspeakers.
John Fiorito, who heads up Ohm Productions, collaborated with the EAW engineering department to formulate the modified Avalon DC5 systems that perfectly meet both the unique aesthetic and sonic needs of Lotus Lounge.
 These loudspeakers are distributed throughout the venue, providing solid full-range coverage throughtout, and they also provide monitoring in the DJ booth. Coverage is supplemented by UB42 loudspeakers that do outstanding duty in both nearfield and distributed coverage roles.
Lotus Lounge is the latest in a long line of successful high-end club projects where Fiorito and Ohm Productions have chosen to utilize EAW components. More views of the venue and audio system are provided on the attached page. Click here to find out more about Ohm Productions, and, here are the key players in the Lotus Lounge systems project:
John Fiorito - Audio Design and Engineer (Project Manager)
Ryan Rafferty - Lighting Designer & Programmer
Naaman Wood - Master Electrician & Rigger
Charlie Weiner - Head Rigger
Craig Macon - Visual Content Designer
Michael "Spike" Pedersen - Audio Design and Engineer
Jeff Darby - Audio Design and Engineer
Jasper Braswell - Construction Manager
 When the EAW engineering team formulated the MK Series of loudspeakers, to say they hit the mark would be a dramatic understatement. Introduced 10 years ago, this series of compact two-way systems has proven itself time and again, with thousands and thousands of units providing exceptional audio quality in diverse installations worldwide. (At right, MK Series loudspeakers installed by Boston Light & Sound at historic Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox.)
The MK Series began humbly, with four models shown at the 1997 NSCA Expo, all offering a design that eliminated the uneven coverage associated with "typical" two-way loudspeakers. During the engineering team's research, they discovered that the problem is the mismatch in the coverage angles at crossover between the woofer and the high frequency horn/compression driver.
 The key is careful matching of the coverage patterns of high and low frequency subsystems at the crossover point to produce smooth power response. The optimal crossover point for any given coverage pattern is at, or near, the frequency where the woofer's pattern matches the coverage goal. Obviously, the design does what it's intended to do, and then some. (At left, MK Series loudspeakers installed by Parkway Electric for the chapel at Resurrection Life Church in Michigan.)
The MK Series is now comprised of 14 models, all continuing to set the standard for compact 2-way installation loudspeakers, with a plethora of coverage patterns and three woofer sizes available in a clever "mix and match" format.
 MK products are ideal to use as the main PA for smaller venues, including houses of worship, A/V systems, hotel ballrooms, and meeting rooms. The series is also equally well-suited for distributed or fill purposes in larger venues, including houses of worship, auditoriums, theaters, arenas, stadiums, nightclubs, themed entertainment complexes... You name the application, and MK Series is up to it! (At right, an MK Series installation by Quiet Voice Audio at the San Diego Aerospace Museum.)
 Attention audio professionals in Australia! (And anyone else who wants to travel in the quest of test and measurement enlightenment...) Production Audio Services will be hosting the first in a series of Smaart School sessions, starting in Melbourne next month (July '07).
Specifically, the two-day Smaart School session will be held July 10-11 at the Production Audio Services facility, 4-621 Whitehorse Road, Mitcham, VIC. Cost is $275 (including GST), and participants are required to have Smaart v.6 installed on their Mac or PC, and to bring along their own measurement kits.
For more information, talk to Tim, Graeme or Ben at Production Audio Services: (03) 92648000. (For more contact info, click here.) By the way, further announcements will be coming soon regarding more Australia Smaart School dates. Learn more here about Smaart School.
 The new Guthrie Theater in downtown Minneapolis is a state-of-the-art live performance facility, to say the least. Replacing the theater's original building, the new venue offers three versatile rooms, including the 1,100-seat Wurtele Thrust Theater, to stage first-class productions in a tradition dating back more than four decades.
Under the direction of The Talaske Group, a Chicago area consulting firm, and the theater's Scott Edwards (sound supervisor) and Ross Anderson (master audio engineer), the audio systems throughout the facility are first-class, featuring EAW loudspeakers thoughout. The Wertele Thrust Theater, for example, offers a system headed by EAW KF730 Series line arrays, joined by KF300z, SM200iH, JF60z, and UB82e to meet a wide range of challenging coverage needs.
Meanwhile, the theater's 800-seat McGuire Proscenium Stage features most of these same EAW loudspeaker models to also meet coverage and audio quality expectations. All loudspeakers, by the way, are driven by Lab.gruppen power amplifiers. We'll be presenting more details about this dynamic project - including photos - so check back soon.
 The soon-to-be-released EAW UX8800 digital processor, bringing revolutionary Gunness Focusing technology to an ever-increasing number of conventional EAW loudspeakers, is making the testing rounds, where some audio professionals putting it through its paces at live gigs as well as doing evaluations in the shop. With true dual-mode capability, the 4-input by 8-output unit is equally adept as a loudspeaker processor or an overall system processor.
The EAW General Discussion Forum offers several threads with commentary on various aspects of the UX8800, including first impressions, operational issues, how it's working with various EAW loudspeakers, and so on. Want to get a glimpse of a future that's just about arrived? Click here to view and take part in the discussions currently ongoing in the forum.
An example: "We were able to listen to a side-by-side comparison of our previous processing against the UX8800. It sounded so much better that I almost felt bad for ever using them without the UX8800." - Troy Gwin, ACS Sound & Lighting, Columbia, SC
 Once again, Consorcio Audiovisa S.A de C.V. of Mexico City supplied and supported a large-scale rig featuring EAW KF730 compact line arrays and EAW SB1000 subwoofers - as well as EAW LA Series loudspeakers for stage monitoring - for the annual Festival Internacional Ollin Kan.
The lively month-long music festival is held in Bosque de Tlalpan before culminating with shows in Zocalo, the main square in Mexico City. The 2007 version featured 72 musical groups and artists from around the globe, celebrating music and dance of the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America, Asia and Europe, Africa and America.
 Consorcio Audiovisa, a member of ELAN and owned by José Luis and Alex Morales, supplied sound reinforcement and support for all Festival Ollin Kan dates. They deployed arrays made up of KF730 line array modules to each side of the stage (flown or stacked, depending upon facilities), with SB1000 sub stacks beneath each array. In Mexico City, which presents an extremely wide coverage area, the main arrays were supplemented by two more KF730 arrays posted to the very far left and right of the stage, again with SB1000 subs underneath.
Morales adds that Consorcio Audiovisa was selected to provide sound for the festival because of its successful work last year, and the KF730 has played a significant role in that success. "The KF730 has helped us enhance the events we work, and has opened doors to expand our client base." Below is the hard-working sound team that worked the Mexico City portion of Festival Olli Kan 2007.
|
