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 The official cheering club of South Korean soccer, "The Red Devils," named Seoul's COEX Mall as its official 2010 FIFA World Cup cheer venue. To accommodate the 100,000+ fans, Seoul officials closed off The COEX to automobile traffic and installed LED screens, stages and sound systems. Despite the inner-city venue's challenges, crowds enjoyed great sound, thanks to EAW®'s critically acclaimed KF740 and KF760 loudspeakers systems.
Elan Korea and TFOS Plus, two leading touring companies in Korea, called upon Chung-Bo Sound Inc., EAW's Korean distributor, to provide sound for the event. "EAW was used on two of the three stages. We needed to provide an incredibly high-output system that could intelligibly broadcast play-by-play action to the sea of red-faced fans," stated Hyungjoon Jee, General Manager for Chung-Bo Sound. "These EAW units delivered beautifully."
To meet the demands, TFOS Plus used EAW's new KF740, eight per side, all powered by EAW's UX8800 Digital Processor. Elan Korea, on another stage, deployed an EAW KF760 line array rig consisting of eight KF760's per side (left and right) and six EAW BH760 Bent Horn Subwoofers per side (left and right). They also used two EAW KF730's for center fill and 10 EAW SM84's as monitors, all powered by 12 Lab.gruppen FP1000Q's.
 "Everyone doesn't just watch the game on TV at home. They go out to the streets to support their teams as a family," remarked Jee. "The attendees deserve great sound, and we are happy to service them with great EAW loudspeakers. Both Elan Korea and TFOS Plus are great fans of EAW and agree that the equipment is very easy to set-up, especially the KF740."
Recently, we at EAW unveiled our new QX Series loudspeakers. Engineered and manufactured EAW's Whinisville, MA facility, the QX Series provides size-efficient yet very high output point-source clusters, based on some of the pioneering design strategies first introduced in our popular AX and MQ Series.
Click on the link below to read more...
PSN_SoundInnovations_QX.pdf
 The World Cup has put South Africa high on the world's must-watch list, and the capital city's nightclub scene is up to the task, thanks to the VDP Group's club designs and great sound from EAW®'s incredible Avalon Series. The newest jewel in VDP's global crown is Clapham Gold, which opened earlier this year in Johannesburg. The sound system, designed and installed by Johannesburg-based Surgesound, is the fourth of VDP's South African locations to use the same Avalon Series components in the same system configuration. Other VDP Clubs include the Manhattan Club in Johannesburg and the Clapham Grand in Durban.
The sound system consists of four EAW Avalon Series DCS2 Bent Horn Dance Subwoofers and four Avalon Series DC4 Medium-Format Dance Club Loudspeakers in the dance floor area, powered by Lab.gruppen C-Series and FP+ Series amplifiers with all processing handled by EAW's UX8800. Four CIS400 Ceiling Loudspeakers serve the club's reception area, and four Avalon Series SMS5 Surface Mount Loudspeakers provide sound for the outdoor bar are and are controlled by a EAW UX8800 Digital Signal Processor with proprietary EAW Focusing technology.
Andrew Rowan, Founder of Surgesound, says the EAW Avalon series components have provided consistently exceptional performance at all of the VDP venues. "We are happy with the way the system has performed in all the clubs," he states. "The system in this configuration, used in Clapham Gold, has become a standard in most VDP Group venues. The Clapham Gold is the fourth venue from the Group to employ this setup. It's a powerful, reliable and sophisticated system that delivers on its promise superbly."
Guy Baranyay of VDP noted, "The EAW system is performing magnificently. Within the club environment it is generally very difficult to attain the utopia of soul shaking power on the dance floor combined with quality/fidelity of sound in the more social areas of the club. It's incredible to see the EAW system meet this ideal. It's very pleasing to see customers talking to one another with ease around the bars and tables before shouting out the latest tunes on the dance floor moments later."
 Not surprisingly, the EAW Avalon Series has been a hit everywhere it's been implemented. Numerous groundbreaking EAW technologies form the core of the series, including advanced horn and phase-plug technologies found in the flagship KF700 Series line of concert loudspeakers. Another technique employed to great effect is Tuned Dipolar Array (TDA), which provides the most focus control of low-frequency energy devised to this point.
 EAW was recently selected as the loudspeaker of choice for Melbourne, Victoria, Australia's Moomba Festival. The Festival is the continent's largest and longest-running event of its type, held annually since 1954. While the Moomba Festival is not a music festival, in recent years, the show organizers have introduced a free music stage where popular Australian acts play for those attending the festival. This year, performers included popular recording artists Vanessa Amorosi and GRAMMY® winner Colin Hay. For event P.A., organizers selected several EAW models for their durability and sound quality. As it turned out, the 2010 Moomba Festival saw some particularly bad weather conditions, but EAW loudspeakers more than passed the test, keeping the music going after Melbourne's worst storm in half a century and performing flawlessly well after the weather had moved on.
The loudspeaker configuration included 16 EAW KF740 3-Way Full Range Line Array Modules, arranged eight per side, and eight EAW SB1002 Large Format Flyable Subwoofers, arranged four per side. The entire P.A. was powered by Powersoft K10 amplifiers. Ben Clarke, System & Projects Manager for Production Audio, EAW's Australian distributor, stated "We ran the KF740 system completely full range, and deployed the SB1002 array in a cardioid fashion on the deck. The system ran in true stereo, with no aux-fed subs or other enhancements. There was much concern and disbelief about our placement instructions, but when the system was phase aligned and balanced, which took less than 10 minutes, it resulted in unanimous jaw-dropping - a very effective festival configuration."
 Graeme Stevenson, Managing Director for Production Audio, stated, "During the festival, Melbourne had its worst 'superstorm' in 50-plus years. Hailstones up to four inches in diameter, flash flooding and up to three inches of rain fell within a few hours on Saturday. Still, the festival stage was a big success, despite the storm, and everyone was impressed and thrilled that the system performed so perfectly while being subjected to these conditions,"
Colin Hay's FOH Engineer Mike "Ace" Baker, who has also worked with Sammy Hagar, Aretha Franklin and Hay's former band Men at Work, was impressed with the durability of the system. He stated, "Wow. We had no sound check, it was pouring rain and it was the first day of our tour. But who cares?! The rig sounded amazing and seemed to chase the rain away. EAW once again retains its spot on the top of my riders."
As the popular saying goes, the show must go on. Stated Stevenson, "After the system was dried out from Saturday's storm, it performed flawlessly on Sunday and Monday, running for a good ten hours straight on both days."
New York's Major League Soccer team, the New York Red Bulls, finally have a place to call home. The new Red Bull Arena, in Harrison, New Jersey, was completed on March 20, 2010, and features outstanding sound, thanks to EAW®, a world leader in audio system solutions.
The arena features a European design, with a canopy that encircles the entire two-tiered seating area. The first row seats are approximately 21 feet from the touchlines, while the following rows are steeply raked, creating an intimate experience for fans that are closer to the playing field than in traditional U.S. soccer stadiums.
"This is the only soccer stadium of its kind in the United States," states Brian Elwell, Project Manager for Acoustic Dimensions. A catwalk that follows the path of the canopy made access to the hang points easier, but the proximity of the canopy to the seats created coverage challenges for the P.A. system design. The closer speakers were located to seating areas, the less dispersion that each speaker could deliver. At the same time, however, simply adding boxes to expand the density of coverage would not have been cost effective. The solution was a combination of boxes from EAW's AX and MK Series of products.
Utilizing the canopy, P.A. system designer Acoustic Dimensions specified a system of alternating hang points along the perimeter of the 1,400+-linear-foot-long canopy. Each main hang point features an EAW AX364-WP Arrayable Install Loudspeaker (aimed for long-throw use), an EAW MK2399-WP Two-Way Full Range Installation Loudspeaker (rear firing) and an EAW MK2394-WP Two-Way Full Range Installation Loudspeaker (down firing). These main clusters alternate with intermediate hangs consisting of an additional MK2399-WP (rear firing) and an MK2394-WP (down firing). EAW AX396-WP Arrayable Install Loudspeaker units were used along the 350 feet of canopy over the west press box side of the arena. A total of 24 AX Series speakers and 82 MK Series speakers were used.
"In terms of the amount of output versus the cost per box, EAW was by far the best choice," says Elwell. "Their coverage pattern met all of our needs and from a cost point of view they are the most efficient available. We've been extremely pleased with the overall coverage we've gotten with this P.A. system - it gives us great sound at every single seat."
Casey Sherred, consultant with Acoustic Dimensions on the project, cites the AX Series cabinets' full-range design as another crucial reason for their choice. "We didn't have to do a crossover in DSP because the cabinet sounds great on its own," he explains. "Then you add the EAW Focusing alignment and driver processing via the EAW UX8800 dual-mode digital processor, which further enhances the performance of the cabinet, and that makes the system really shine," he adds. "We get great performance out of a very cost-effective solution without having to spend additional money on DSP crossover amplification. That's really incredible."
Perhaps incidentally, the Red Bulls won their very first exhibition game in their new home, and won their first regular-season game with a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Fire on March 27. The sound certainly didn't hurt.
Soccer fans at four official FIFA Fan Fest™ venues in South Africa followed the games taking place at the main stadiums in the World Cup competition via EAW® speaker systems provided by Surgesound, EAW's South African distributor. The systems consisted of 48 KF760 and 12 KF761 line array modules, including a complement of 48 SB1000z subs, with 48 KF730 compact line array modules and 48 SB730 subs providing in-fill. Monitoring was performed with EAW SM12 units, and 24 UX8800 Digital Signal Processor units provided processing. Surgesound recently delivered a large complement of EAW speakers to Johannesburg-based The Sound Corporation, one of the biggest professional audio production houses in South Africa, in time for installation at the fan parks.
The Sound Corporation installed EAW speaker systems at Soweto (Johannesburg), Rustenburg, Bloemfontein and Nelspruit. It was the only production company to be awarded more than two official FIFA Fan Fest sites out of the total of nine fan parks across South Africa.
For the thousands of eager football fans not lucky enough to get tickets for the big matches, FIFA Fan Fest areas provided the perfect alternative, allowing people to share in the football fever and take in the match on giant screens supported with world-class audio systems. According to official FIFA attendance figures, 300,000 fans gathered at the country's Fan Fest venues, including 75,000 just at the Soweto Johannesburg location, for the month-long competition's opening match between South Africa and Mexico.
Andrew Rowan, Founder of Surgesound, commented, "The Sound Corporation has been a great client for many years and currently has the biggest EAW system in Africa." The Sound Corporation recently welcomed the arrival of 60 EAW KF760 large-format line array speakers and 48 EAW SB1000z subwoofers.
Surgesound additionally supplied amplifiers from Lab.gruppen, with whom EAW recently announced a strategic partnership, to power the EAW speaker systems at the four fan zones. "We are extremely proud that a production house of The Sound Corporation's caliber can trust EAW and Lab.gruppen products with their high-profile gigs," said Rowan.
EAW is proud to welcome Baby Butler to the family! Principal Engineer Nathan Butler, and his wife, Maresa welcomed Logan to the world on June 19, 2010 at 7:10PM. He weighed in at 7lbs, 9oz and is a healthy and happy baby boy.
EAW®, a world leader in audio system solutions, had exactly the solution needed by Norwest Productions, Australia's largest audio services provider, for this year's Playground Weekender music festival. The renowned EAW KF740 line array was used for one of the festival's six main stages, hosting artists including Bjorn Again and Orbital, and was chosen for its combination of great sound, pinpoint accuracy and ease of rigging.
The Playground Weekender is a uniquely Australian music festival that has emerged as an eclectic gathering featuring a diverse mix of international and local artists, coupled with a relaxed outdoor atmosphere featuring multiple music stages, cabaret acts, a cocktail bar, a healing area, yoga and an array of international food and market stalls. The P.A. system had to cover a large area with great sound but also needed to be well integrated into the visual presentation, and to go up quickly. The KF740 fit all of these requirements.
The main system consisted of 24, high output, 3-way KF740 modules flown in two line arrays on either side of the stage using 12 KF740 modules each. These were augmented with eight EAW SB1002 Large Format dual-18 Subwoofers and 16 EAW SB1000z Large Format Subwoofers, as well as four EAW KF650z Compact Array Loudspeakers offering 60-degree horizontal dispersion used as front fills. Powersoft DIGAM K10 amplifiers powered the KF740s, and Lab.gruppen FP6400 amps were used to power the system's subs. The Norwest crew had the entire system flown in under and hour.
"One of the advantages of using this array is that it isn't as heavy as some other arrays, and still packs a lot of punch," observes Scott Harrison, Audio Systems Engineer at Norwest Productions. "As we were hanging [the system off] of the stage roof superstructure, weight was very important. Given the short time frame we had to get the P.A. in the air, the easy rigging was a great advantage. With input from EAW's Resolution software, we got a hang that looked like what the computer said it should, and covered all the area it needed to. From start to finish we had both of our 12-box hangs flown in under an hour." The KF740's highly efficient use of power also helped keep weight down. "We were also able to keep the rig down to one amp rack per side, plus a sub rack," says Harrison.
Every mixer and technician who worked that stage at Playground Weekender had nothing but positive comments about it. "All the engineers who came to mix were impressed with the sound of the P.A.," says Harrison. "In particular, I had comments about how even the sound was, in both planes - left to right, and the transitions between boxes front to back - how it had a great presence without being overpowering, and how well it carried right out past 250 feet from the stage." And the KF740 worked as hard and flawlessly as the performers themselves - Harrison notes that the rig operated at medium-to-high SPL during the weekend for an estimated crowd of approximately 10,000 people. "We never saw a sign of a clip light or any signs of speaker stress," he says, noting the diversity of artists using the system, ranging from 3-piece bands to 25-piece orchestras, as well a choir. "The tonal character of the system was considered excellent. I thought the SPL and clarity of the boxes was great, and when combined with the weight/size combo and the easy rigging, it goes up fast, and doesn't disappoint. I'd definitely use it again."
The Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival has become one of the world's largest and most comprehensive music festivals. The 2010 event, which took place March 5th through March 7th, saw over 100,000 music fans come to hear almost 200 performances by artists including John Legend, Bob James, Lee Ritenour, Toni Braxton, George Duke, Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds and more. Regardless of the genre of music, the EAW® stages sounded full and clear thanks to world-class sound from the renowned KF series of line arrays.
This year, the festival took place at the Jakarta International Expo Kemayoran (JIE), which presented an acoustical challenge. But those challenges were overcome by the exceptional sound offered by the KF Series speakers. "JIE is an exhibition venue," Andre Supryanata from Sumber Ria Sound, the pro audio rental company in charge, was quoted as saying. "But it fits perfectly to accommodate the festival's growing audience. What we have to do now is present the best audio system that can cover up the lacking acoustic treatment of the building."
In total, P.T. Kairos Multi Jaya, EAW's Indonesian distributor, working closely with Sumber Ria Rental Company, outfitted six of the event's eight stages with over 88 EAW KF760 Line Array Modules, which included the recently-unveiled KF740 3-Way Full Range Line Array Loudspeakers as delays at two of the stages. Halls D1 and D2 were the main stages of the event, using the KF760s configured in L-R clusters of 12 cabinets per side, and 20 EAW SB550L vented subwoofers provided massive amounts of clear and punchy bass. In Halls A2 and A3, Sumber Ria slightly altered that configuration, using 10 KF760s per side. Jonathan Steiner, the FOH mix engineer for the opening night at Hall D1, notes that, "The show went on brilliantly, possibly better than ever." Pratama Budiman, also with Sumber Ria, echoed that sentiment, adding, "The EAW KF Series simply sounds great. That's the way the FOH mixers and everyone else felt."
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