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 The new Shuttle Launch Experience at Kennedy Space Center in Florida was recently awarded a TEA (Themed Entertainment Association) Thea Award for Outstanding Achievement, with EAW selected to play a significant role in sound reinforcement for the attraction.
Conceived and designed by BRC Imagination Arts, the Shuttle Launch Experience is a $60-million project incorporating a wide range of production elements. Techno-media Solutions LLC provided technical AV systems integration, with the Shuttle Simulation Theater featuring an audio system incorporating EAW SB850z subwoofers, three EAW KF695z main loudspeakers, two more KF695z's joined by two EAW KF300z's for four surround sound channels, and an overhead channel with two EAW MK Series loudspeakers.
The project is the subject of an in-depth feature article written by Judith Rubin that appeared in the March 2008 issue of Sound & Communications magazine. Click here to check it out.
 Hugos Lounge and Skyy Bar of Sydney has been named "Nightclub Of The Year" at the recent 2007 Seventh Annual Australian Bar Awards, and a huge key to this success must be attributed to sound design and installation by DJW Projects.
Headed by Dave Coxon, DJW Projects is one of Australia's leading club sound providers, and they oversaw the system conversion to world-class status as Hugos transformed from a restaurant-oriented venue to one of the hottest nightspots in Sydney.
The large-scale system project encompasses Hugo’s Lounge, the cocktail bar, Skyy Bar one and two, as well as the entire outdoor balcony area and a private room.
 "We didn't cut any corners as we fit the entire venue with an array of EAW loudspeakers, ranging from Avalon Series DC5 and DC6 boxes for the dance floor, through to JFX88 as room fill and CIS400 ceiling loudspeakers for the balcony," explains Coxon. "Skyy bar has been fitted with cabinets from the MK Series range, and all aspects of the system are backed by sophisticated digital processing and zoning."
Other high-profile Sydney clubs outfitted with EAW loudspeakers by DJW Projects include Norths Rugby League Club, The World Bar, The Barclay, Springfields, Trademark Hotel, The Piano Room, and W-Bar.
 Proaktiv Systems just finished up a prestigious installation headlined by EAW Commercial loudspeakers and power amplifiers at the Singapore Changi International Airport Terminal 3, which opened to great fanfare earlier this year.
The $1.75 billion Terminal 3 is able to handle more than 2 million passengers a year, offering a multitude of facilities for travelers, including 140 retail shops and F&B outlets spread within the public and transit areas. Proaktiv Systems was awarded the contract to specify, supply, install and commission an Emergency Overriding system for numerous shops - Coach, Bvlgari, Vertu, Harry’s at T3 (a F&B outlet) and Luxury Fashion among them.
Proaktiv chose EAW Commericial components for the system, including CIS50 ceiling loudspeakers and SMS3 surface-mount loudspeakers driven by CXA160 power amplifiers. (The system also includes a Tapco Mix.120 mixer.)
 “As the coverage areas are small, we used EAW models that were small and compact yet did not compromise sound quality," explains Chandan Mahtani, managing director of Proaktiv Systems.
Proaktiv, which has offices in Singapore as well as Malaysia, Indonesia, Moscow and Central Asia, worked closely with the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) on the project, as they've done previously. As a result, they were well aware of the stringent requirements and ensured that every specification was met with. With the EAW Commercial components already in their inventory, the company was able to deliver the project very quickly - within about a week from start time.
(Thanks to Proaktiv Systems for the information and photos, and to see more photos of their work at Changi International Airport Terminal 3, click here.)
 A very good account of sound reinforcement for the European tour of the legendary Joe Cocker is provided in a recent issue of Die Referenz (The Reference), a leading German pro systems publication.
The report, presented in German language, was filed by Tom Becker, who also did the photo work. Tom details the system for the tour that was supplied by leading hire company Concert Sound, featuring EAW KF760 Series and KF730 Series line arrays, as well as other EAW loudspeakers. Click here to read the report. And, if you missed our initial report on the system for this tour, go here.
 The upcoming world concert tour by R.E.M. will feature EAW MicroWedge Series stage monitors deployed by Monitor Engineer George Squiers (pictured left) to provide monitor sound on stage for all band members.
The tour kicks off in late May with a month of North American dates before moving on to an extensive set of European dates over the summer. Rat Sound Systems Inc. is serving as the sound reinforcement company for the tour, and is supplying the 22 EAW MicroWedge MW12 wedges under the direction of Squiers.
 “The new EAW MicroWedge is a very loud and great-sounding design,” states Squiers. “I love the smooth natural high-end and the amazing low-end it reproduces. The low-end is leaps and bounds over any single 12-inch design I've run across, competing with and exceeding most single 15-inch designs. Single source point philosophy also goes very far in my book.”
Among the most popular and enduring artists in the history of rock music, R.E.M. is touring in support of the critically acclaimed album Accelerate, released earlier this year, which debuted at number two on the Billboard charts. The band continues to be led by iconic lead singer Michael Stipe (pictured here), with Peter Buck on guitar and Mike Mills on bass. They are supported by Scott McCaughey as a second guitarist, keyboardist and utility man, as well as Bill Rieflin on drums.
 Four MW12’s will be utilized for Stipe at his central stage position, arrayed in an arc with two for vocals and two for instruments. Dual MW12’s are to be dedicated to Buck, Mills and McCaughey on the frontline, while Mills also gets another pair of MW12’s at the midstage position where he plays piano and synth, and yet another pair at downstage right, a location he frequents during shows. McCaughey will also be supplied with pair of MW12’s at his keyboard position.
“The air movement and warmth on stage is very important for these guys,” Squiers explains. “I do not have sidefills filling in the lower registers, so the wedges need to be able to stand on their own.”
 Yet another pair of MW12 is dedicated to Rieflin’s drum position. (“He loves the push we get out of his kick drum and floor toms in these wedges,” Squiers notes.) More wedges are in consideration to be flown at points around the stage to supply additional fill, with the rated flytrack incorporated in each MW12 enclosure making this much easier as well as far more stable than other approaches.
“Michael Stipe also loves to hop on his wedges, and prefers the comfort and stability of the MicroWedge low-profile design to anything else we or he has run across,” Squiers adds with a laugh. For this tour, each pair of MW12 wedges for the floor is mounted to plywood and secured by aluminum clamps in their ports, providing even further stability. It also simplifies and quickens setup and strike during change-overs.
It was a full and very active two days last week (April 8-9) for the more than 20 attendees of the most recent Smaart School at the Holiday Inn Northshore in Skokie, Illinois, just north of Chicago. (The class and instructors are pictured above during a break.)
The educational sessions were led by Doug Fowler and Harry Brill, Jr., working with Audioseminars.com. Both of these veteran audio professionals are Smaart experts lauded for their teaching abilities. More Smaart School sessions are scheduled soon - click here to find out more. And thanks to Harry for the photo!
 Bormann Marketing, EAW's fine sales rep firm serving several Midwestern states, is once again holding its "Bormannia" Really Big Show, coming up May 5 - 8. Contractors, pro and MI dealers and consulting firms are invited to see, hear, and touch all of the latest gear from the manufacturers represented by Bormann, including new developments from EAW.
In addition, EAW Application Support Group Team Members Joe Fustolo and Adam Howarth (both pictured below) will be on hand to answer questions and talk about products/systems throughout each day of the show. This year marks the 10th annual Bormannia show, which last year drew more than 300 attendees.
 The event kicks off Monday, May 5 at Bormann's offices in Hopkins, MN, outside of Minneapolis, then moves on to Country Inn/Suites in Brookfield, WI, outside of Milwaukee (May 7), and concludes at the Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago (May 8). Hours each day are
9 am - 4 pm, and lunch will be served.
 But wait... there's more! Smaart School sessions are also being held during the Minneapolis and Chicago dates as well. Advanced two-day Smaart classes will be conducted May 5-6 at the Bormann offices and May 8-9 at the Irish American Heritage Center. (Cost to attend the Smaart School sessions is $300.)
To register for Bormannia and Smaart School, print out the appropriate form below, fill it out, and fax it to Glenn at Bormann at 952-835-9268. Or, e-mail Glenn at glenn@bormann.com.
Click here for Minneapolis form (pdf)
Click here for Milwaukee/Chicago form (pdf)
 The beautiful new Club Hotel in Thessaloniki, Greece, features a dynamic sound system headlined by EAW Avalon Series club loudspeakers courtesy of Eurosound S.A., EAW's distributor serving Greece.
The 500-square-meter nightclub features a wide range of entertainment as the newest premier nightspot in Thessaloniki (Θεσσαλονίκη), the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of Macedonia, the nation's largest region.
 Already one of the most prestigious (and largest) venues in the city, Club Hotel features an all-EAW loudspeaker line-up to meet all sound reinforcement needs. The system is headlined by six Avalon DC2 larger-format full-range loudspeakers spaced throughout the club, joined by six more Avalon DC4 smaller-format full-range loudspeakers, with both models featuring cutaway upper-rear cabinet corners that allow them to tuck up next to the ceiling while being angled downward to provide optimum coverage.
 Dual Avalon DCT1 supertweeter arrays (4 x 1.33-inch-exit tweeters) with an inverted pyramid configuration delivering optimized 360-degree horizontal high-frequency dispersion from centrally mounted locations. Low-frequency energy to fill out the sonic spectrum are supplied by six EAW SB1000zR dual-18-inch-loaded subwoofers. All loudspeakers are driven by Lab.gruppen amplifiers.
"The management of the club had first heard the EAW components in another club, and as a result of that dynamic demonstration of EAW quality, selected them for their own venue," notes Apostolos Kanakaris. (Our thanks to Eurosound for the excellent photos as well as the details in this report.)
 A recent evaluation process highlights the dramatic performance gains that can be realized by utilizing recent EAW technologies to enhance an existing sound reinforcement system.
The evaluation took place at Crossway Baptist Church in Victoria, Australia, which hosts worship services and other activities in an 1,110-seat, fan-shaped auditorium. The current house sound reinforcement system, installed in 1995 and still going strong, features a pair of EAW KF650E three-way full-range loudspeakers installed per side above the edge of the front platform, with a single EAW SB1000E subwoofer per side on the floor.
 Four EAW JFX200 compact loudspeakers along the front of the stage offer fill when needed, and they can also be utilized as spare stage monitor wedges (other monitoring is supplied by IEM systems). Additional front fill comes via four two-way loudspeakers mounted directly beneath the KF650E mains.
The system is under the direction of Media Pastor Peter MacLean, who is heading the evaluation process for possible upgrade of select components. Working closely with Production Audio Services Pty. Ltd., EAW’s distributor for the Australian pro audio marketplace, and also based in Victoria, a new EAW UX8800 digital processor was first implemented, in place of the system’s current digital processor. (Peter is shown at right in the above photo, with Graeme Stevenson and Ben Clarke of Production Audio Services.)
“We were very keen to see what differences the UX8800 and its Gunness Focusing technology would make with our older KF650E’s,” explains MacLean. “In short, we love the sound, but more specifically, the technology removes a ‘boxy sound’ from the horns, making it smooth and more natural right across the frequency range.
“Further, sound no longer appears to come direct from the loudspeaker box, but rather from its natural source – in front of the listener,” he continues. “The whole sound is richer, clearer, and the tops have more sparkle.”
 Subsequently, Production Audio Services arranged for a new EAW UMX.96 digital console to be implemented within the system as well. The demonstration was done live, in the form of mixing six worship services over the course of two weeks, plus three special Easter services featuring 35-piece choir, four backing singers, eight-piece band, 14-piece orchestra plus vocal soloists, and several spoken word contributors.
MacLean notes that his technical staff’s views regarding the tools for reinforcement of live music differs from that of other disciplines. Rather than an absolutely faithful reproduction of (largely pre-produced) input signal that is sought in, for example, the broadcast realm, the goal of the Crossway Baptist Church team is to find components that can enhance both the creative process and the overall sonic production. He notes that the new EAW console fits very well within those criteria.
“The sound of the UMX.96 can be encapsulated in a word: Wow!” says MacLean. “Everything is so smooth and rich sounding. Adding high-frequency equalization is smooth, rather than edgy or harsh. I’ve used Neve input, EQ and dynamics modules, and the UMX.96 sounds very Neve - the best I have ever used.
“Everything that goes through the UMX.96 comes out sweeter. The EQ is very musical and smooth, and the compressors are almost invisible to the ear while doing all they should be doing. This is achieved without the harshness or ‘clinical sound’ often associated with digital audio products.”
From the outset of the UMX.96 development process, EAW sought to provide mix engineers with a completely integrated live sound environment. At the same time, they were adamant that their digital console also retain the ergonomics and natural interface of the most comfortable analog boards.
As a result, the UMX.96 surface includes all 48 input channel faders (Penny + Giles) as well as a master section bringing together a sizeable 15-inch touch-sensitive color LCD with a dynamic rotary encoder (a.k.a. "Big Knob") that changes its "feel" depending on the parameter selected. A comprehensive feature set also includes a 3 x 12 system processor, a huge 16 x 8 matrix, and the first console integration of the industry standard EAW Smaart tuning/analysis platform.
“The UMX.96 is very, very simple to use and intuitive to operate. The P+G faders are a joy, the large screen is easy to read, and the encoder’s ‘Adaptive Feel’ is a master touch that sets a new standard for all others to follow,” MacLean states.
The church’s evaluation process encompassed a wide range of digital console options, and has furthered motivations to upgrade the sanctuary system. “I’ve worked with professional audio - live and studio - since the mid 1980’s, and it’s remarkable how much technology has progressed,” MacLean concludes. “We have a lot of great options available to us, and the EAW UMX.96 digital console and UX8800 rank up there with the best of them.”
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(Our thanks to Peter and Grame for providing the excellent photos accompanying this report.)
A new maintenance update of Smaart is now available for download here at EAW.com.
The maintenance update - Smaart 6.1 - offers a comprehensive list of user-visible (and some not-so-visible) changes, including:
- Named Pairs feature streamlines switching measurement inputs on multi-input devices, and provides a true Swap (invert) function for Frequency Response data
- Numerous user-driven usability tweaks to the legend dialog to make working with store traces faster/easier
- Horizontal Spectrograph option
- Continuous Impulse Response measurement
- ASCII-to-reference import feature
- Optimized painting and update scheduling for reduced CPU loading
- Improved compatibility with Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and Windows Vista
- Improved overall stability
- And much, much more!
Click here to access the download of Smaart 6.1. And as always, visit the EAW Smaart Forum here at EAW.com to get further information from the Smaart users community.
 The new EAW SB1002 is a large-format dual-18-inch-loaded subwoofer that can be groundstacked or easily flown via an integral rigging system, making it ideal for a wide range of high-output live and installed sound applications.
Following in the footsteps of the legendary EAW SB1000z subwoofer, the new SB1002 offers a direct radiating design, with driver mounting that maximizes cone area and minimizes frontal area. The result is acoustical performance and physical configuration well suited for creating large subwoofer arrays.
The two 18-inch drivers – designed specifically for the SB1002 - offer very large (4.5-inch) voice coils as well as powerful neodymium magnet structures that also reduce weight. The operating range of the SB1002 is 27 Hz – 161 Hz (+/-3 dB), while maximum sound pressure levels are 129 dB (average) and 135 dB (peak).
 The SB1002 rigging system, similar to that of EAW’s popular KF760 Series line arrays, features a fast, easy-to-use two-point approach that accommodates flown arrays of up to 12 SB1002 units. A handle on the rear upper corner of the SB1002 enclosure provides added guidance and convenient “push-pull” ability in the flying process.
Dual Neutrik Speakon NL4 connectors are positioned on a rear-mounted section of the cabinet that is angled inward at approximately 45 degrees, allowing the SB1002 to be positioned flush against walls in groundstack applications. The rugged grille protecting the drivers matches that of the KF760 Series, while the cabinet finish is a durable, scratch-resistant Chemline coating.
An optional caster pallet for easy transport of two SB1002 units at once is available from EAW, as is an SB1002 fly bar.
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