UK - Cheltenham Ladies College has had its presentation infrastructure boosted with the installation of a new state-of-the-art projection system. Designed and installed by AVPS - who have serviced the college’s requirements in the past - the larger contract to fit out the multi-purpose assembly hall was put out to three companies. AVPS tendered successfully and their Christie-based proposal was accepted on the strength of the product specification, obviating the need for an on-site demonstration.
AVPS’ Jules Deakin believes that it was his preference for the Christie Roadrunner L6 LCD projector which won them the contract. He recommended the L6, offering 1024 x 768 true XGA resolution, as the best solution in view of its superior brightness and its dual lamp facility. "It allows the college to run both lamps to achieve 5200 ANSI lumens during the day when the ambient light is bright, and use the single lamp option during the evening," he says.
Deakin knew that installing a digital cabling infrastructure into a Grade II-listed building brings its own problems, but he was undeterred. He was also confronted with the dimensions of the auditorium, requiring a 90ft throw distance from the projection room to the pre-existing conventional 16ft x 20ft matte screen. Deakin therefore opted for Christie’s long-throw 4.6-6.0:1 zoom - one of nine lens attachments designed for the L6. But he knew that by using the Roadrunner he could apply the high degree of lens shift required to correct the 30° off-axis differential between the ceiling-mounted pro
USA - p-wave, the new decorative version of the award-winning ‘new wave’ truss series from Total Structures, has appeared on stage with Luther Vandross at Radio City Music Hall in New York. p-wave was chosen by lighting designer Warwick Price for their striking effects under various lighting conditions, as the edges of the plexi webs capture the light and the truss glows to form part of the light show itself. Large acrylic panels were set between the vertical array of trusses and water passed over the etched surfaces to reflect the light, with stunning results. The show also featured a number of aluminum ‘hexi-pods’ which were fabricated by Total Structures some time ago for Light & Sound Design. These house lighting fixtures and are supported from the main grid above the stage.
(Lee Baldock)
UK - Director Bob Carlton’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream completed its highly successful four-week run at the Queen’s Theatre in Hornchurch earlier this week. As the creator of the Olivier Award-winning show Return to the Forbidden Planet (based on The Tempest), Bob Carlton is no stranger to hit Shakespeare-inspired musicals, but this Queen's Theatre production has been hailed as a fresh new interpretation. The production featured a large cast from the theatre's resident company of actor-musicians which included the string quartet Bebeto as the fairies.
Stage Technologies provided the production with a single-axis performer flying system, using a BigTow winch for counter weight assist and a Juggler control console. In a play where nymphs, fairies, royalty and common folk all clash on stage in their frantic search for love, the production needed an automation solution that would allow the bower’ (a large upside-down umbrella) to fly with none, one or two cast members on board, a movement that needed to be subtle enough not to distract the audience from the storyline. The theatre’s production manager Brod Mason was delighted with the solution commenting that the effects created: "Looked like nothing because they worked so well! The production was not about special effects but rather a seamless magical flow, Stage Technologies performer flying solution proved perfect for this!"
Ted Moore, head of Stage Technologies Rental, commented: "We offer all of our clients, from multiple axis West end
UK - Robe UK Ltd - a direct sales operation of Czech Republic-based moving light manufacturer Robe Show Lighting - has been launched. The new company is set up to exclusively supply and market the rapidly expanding Robe brand in the UK and Republic of Ireland.
Robe UK is a joint venture between Robe Show Lighting and Ian Brown, formerly MD of Coe-tech, which went into administration last week. Coe-Tech appointed a liquidator after suffering a number of financial set-backs.
The new Robe venture will be based in Northampton and run by a management, sales and technical team assembled by Brown, and is the latest Robe Show Lighting subsidiary to be established, following Robe Italia Srl and Robe America.
Robe UK’s Ian Brown says: "It was a logical step forward to form the new company. The new business will allow us to focus tightly on our long-term business objectives for Robe."
(Ruth Rossington)
Russia - St Petersburg’s council chamber, situated within the city’s monumental Marrinsky Palace, has undergone a two-year renovation, including newly installed sound and video equipment. The ‘Grand Hall’, as the chamber is known, has the most problematic acoustics - a case in point being a reverberation time of around 3.5 seconds.
Ruton S, the Russian Electro-Voice distributor, was the firm entrusted with the responsibility of bringing the venerable 19th century hall into line with the high standards of modern communication, and one of the first tasks was to install a conference and voting system - of which the sound reinforcement system was a major part. After conducting simulations (using EV’s EAMS software), Ruton S decided on a set-up which not only offered excellent sound quality as well as compact dimensions and an elegant appearance. The system utilized 16 Electro-Voice EVID 4.2T speakers, two Sx-300 front speakers and two Electro-Voice CPS-2T amplifiers.
For the city councillors, meeting for the first time in the newly-refurbished city hall, the new sound system was a revelation: in all areas of the chamber, they could hear loudly and clearly what was being said. As Ruton’s Gregory Ronin relates: "Our customers were full of enthusiasm and even somewhat surprised, having previously tried out several rival systems none of which even came close to EV’s in terms of sound quality."
(Lee Baldock)
Germany - Leading German PA rental company, Crystal Sound, has invested in a 40-channel ML4000 from Allen & Heath for their hire stock. Crystal Sound purchased the console through ProAudio Marketing, Allen & Heath's German distributor.
"Our agenda was simple - we were looking for a console with a lot to offer. The ML4000 has many auxes and is flexible enough for our clients to use either FOH or as a monitor console," said Hanns Hommen, Crystal Sound's MD. He added: "We were convinced by the ML4000's technical data, variety of features, EQs and of course, the price! Comparatively, there is no serious alternative to the ML Series on the mixer market."
(Lee Baldock)
UK - Blink TV launched a new theatre-sized visual package on the recent six-week Liberty X UK tour, along with the supply of video project management, specification and hardware. The package is a new, highly flexible Blink format designed to bring high production values to tours playing theatres, town halls and other smaller-sized venues.
Blink’s project manager for the Liberty X tour, Adam Walton, worked in close consultation with lighting designer Jvan Morandi. Morandi is extremely specific about the look and style of all the shows on which he works and used a High End Catalyst video system as an integral part of the show’s visual aspect. Morandi and Walton chose an innovative format for Blink TV, with two Fast-fold video screens onstage for the opening and support band slots, onto which the Blink programmes could also be projected. Aesthetically, this has resulted in the screens taking on a far more ‘involved’ and integrated role than if they had occupied the traditional side-stage positions.
Having the screens mid-stage has also enabled the Blink package to offer the four opening acts the facility of utilizing them for their own video material and logos during their performances. The main show sources are all stored in Morandi’s Mac G4 and projected via two Barco G5s onto three inflatable rear screens. The projections produce spectacular liquid effects, texturing and undulating colour swirls when combined with Morandi’s dynamic lighting cues.
All video equipment was supplied to Blink by rental house PSL. Blink’s tec
Japan - The 1,300-capacity Anzu Hall Cultural Centre in Koshoku City has undergone a dynamic sound system refurbishment based around a QSC network and monitoring system. The multi-purpose Anzu Hall - situated inside the City Hall complex - hosts a wide variety of cultural events. Ueda JRC carried out the installation, supported by ComodoMattina Inc, QSC’s Japanese distributor. The company’s Takafumi Asahina says: "Originally, the client didn’t have a clear idea of what they wanted, and so we recommended QSC’s QSControl (pronounced Q’s Control) network audio control solution as being the most progressive way forward."
The QSControl remote management system, a RAVE Ethernet-based signal transport design, and CX Series amplifiers form the hub of the project. With four of QSC’s new ISIS 102W loudspeakers also commissioned for the task of surround sound chores, the audio revamp has been dominated by the California company’s equipment.
QSC’s ISIS loudspeaker product line is a series of full-range, portable, multipurpose enclosures. The 102W features a 10" LF driver, a 1.4" exit, 3" titanium diaphragm compression driver, and a high-power ferrite woofer for maximum output. The 102W also features an advanced rotatable 150° x 50° waveguide to achieve the widest possible coverage area.
The control building blocks for ComodoMattina’s design comprised 21 CX702 and four CX302 two-channel amplifiers, as well as a CX404 four-channel amp - all incorporating QSC's PowerWave technology. The venue us
South Africa - South Africa’s Standard Bank Stars event on 29 March was an incentive awards evening held to honour employees throughout the country who are part of Standard Bank’s retail arm. Gearhouse South Africa was contracted by Jenny Lenahan Productions to provide the technical equipment and skills for the event, which took its theme from three decades of television and featured music, celebrities and television personalities from each of those eras.
Heading up the Gearhouse SA team was Ian Watts, who is operation’s manager of the Johannesburg branch’s audio-visual department. Ian was project manager of the Standard Bank Stars and comes with 15 years’ experience in the broadcast industry - at the SABC, and M-Net as well as Gearhouse Broadcast on an international basis. What made the Standard Bank Stars so unique was that the event took place simultaneously at 11 venues throughout South Africa, with its main ‘hub’ being the Pavilion at the Sandton Convention Centre (SCC) in Gauteng.
Activities at the SCC were broadcast live to other areas of South Africa (including Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth and another four venues in Johannesburg itself) while live audio feeds from each of the other 10 venues were broadcast back to the SCC. Gearhouse SA provided technical input for each venue, with the Pavilion at the SCC requiring a great deal more equipment and technicians including three large cube walls and a very big stage, which featured speeches, awards, live performances from the bands and backing dancers.
Structure
UK - Phil Anderson at Wave AV has put Wharfedale Force 1LT loudspeakers at the heart of a sound system blueprint for newly restored, authentic country-style pubs which are part of an expanding investment programme undertaken by Hall & Woodhouse.
These sites are located all along the South Coast/M4 corridor, from Somerset to Dorset and across to Sussex. All the pubs share the design concept, the same food and drink menus, and are equipped with identical entertainment systems, which only change in respect of the quantity of equipment used.
Wave AV's template for the sound uses typically a dozen Wharfedale Force 1LT wall-mounted cabinets in 100V line mode, controlled by a Cloud 46/50 integrated zone mixer/amplifer. Remote level control is accessible from the bar via Cloud RSL-6 plates. A Rolec PHD1 hard-disk music system is at the heart of the system as the musical source.
Wave AV has recently finished developing several sites, and is currently working on six more, with a view to full completion by mid-summer.
(Ruth Rossington)
UK - For the second year running, evoke productions were approached to creatively brand the BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music. Using a combination of custom lighting, projection and effects, evoke transformed the exterior and front of house areas of the Ocean venue in Hackney for this high profile event.
evoke used a mixture of moving and generic fixtures, fitted with custom multi-colour and high definition glass gobos manufactured by Rosco, to create an ever-changing environment. Control was provided by a Rosco Horizon system - a Windows-based PC lighting console.
According to Jon Stones, director of evoke, the Horizon was ideal for the project: "With the challenge of having fixtures spread over six levels, three rooms, and the also the exterior of the building, we required a system that would allow us the flexibility to move around the space easily while programming, and to operate each group of fixtures and areas as separate shows running simultaneously. Horizon allowed us to benefit from the convenience and compatibility of a PC-based control system, while still offering us all the features of high spec lighting board. The other advantage was that we no longer needed to find somewhere to hide a full size lighting board during the event."
To further avoid the restrictions imposed by a centralized distribution point, evoke supplied single channel Anytronics DMX dimmers at each location where tungsten projection was used. Other lighting effects provided included Sky Trackers and custom internally-illuminated globes.
(Ruth Rossington)
The Netherlands - ESS project manager Rob Smalldon and his team were presented with a unique challenge when they were asked to build a marque for telecommunications giant Orange, aboard a Dutch canal barge.
The unusual request came from Park Avenue Productions, who were organizing a launch event for the Orange brand in The Netherlands. Fortunately, ESS had developed technology for the ‘Orange Experience’ in Bucharest the previous year, and was able to reapply some of the equipment used then. "We modified the original system with new 200sq.m front and back sheets and designed a brand new base unit of steel beams," said Smalldon. "The base unit interacted between the barge and the other components ensuring stability of the tall, sail-like marque (which measured 15 x 15 x 3m), even in adverse wind conditions." The entire structure was built in Amsterdam in a mere five days. The barge was then sailed to Rotterdam, where at the end of the celebrations, ESS de-rigged the structure in two days.
(Ruth Rossington)
USA - In rock and roll, there is no substitute for reliability. After years of searching for dependable digital cable for its oceanic research, the US Government found the solution in TMB’s ProPlex, a unique product with its roots in concert touring.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) studies marine mammals worldwide using a custom towed hydrophone array spanning over three miles. Previously, expedition scientists could not find good data cable that was also rugged enough to withstand the constant use in rough seas and extreme temperatures. Chief scientist Jay Barlow explains: "We are using a new hydrophone array this year, made in our own lab using modified ProPlex CAT5 cable from TMB (thanks to TMB’s OEM sales department). We've towed this one for over 1,000 miles now, and results are excellent: flow noise is less than with arrays we have purchased in the past."
According to TMB’s Colin Waters: "Entertainment touring is a good test of the true strength of people and products. That’s why governments and the corporate world increasingly raid our industry for personnel and technology. While we’re proud to be part of the production business, TMB is continually looking for new markets for our tried and tested touring technology."
(Ruth Rossington)
UK - The eighth annual HMV Football Extravaganza kicked off this year at the Marriott Grosvenor House Hotel, raising £339,000 for the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy charity. Canegreen Commercial was the sound consultant for the event, providing expertise and PA equipment for production company Zafer Associates.
The assembled 1,400-strong audience were there to raise money for the music industry’s favourite charity, the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy charity. In the process they honoured the career of Tony Adams MBE, and bid for a host of football memorabilia, hospitality and media packages. Canegreen Commercial’s Andrew Frengley designed the sound system and controlled proceedings as the stage manager for the event: "This is the fourth successive year we have worked with Zafer on this event. It is a relatively straightforward system for us to put in place now as we work in the venue frequently and know how to both augment and interface with the in-house PA system pretty seamlessly. Professionalism is key on an event such as this. The audience aren’t aware we are there, and Zafer feel secure that we are."
The Canegreen team installed Meyer UPMs, Meyer UPA-1Ps and Meyer USW-1P bass speakers, integrating the in-house system to achieve effective coverage of the audience. Damion Dyer was Canegreen’s front-of-house technician, operating a Midas XL200 with BSS Soundweb 9088 controllers maximizing system performance.
(Ruth Rossington)
Ireland - The selective heats for this year's competition to represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest were held in the style of 'Pop Idol' and 'Fame Academy' with contestants being gradually voted out of the competition by TV viewers across the country.
Mickey Joe Harte, who performed with an AKG WMS40 handheld radio microphone won the overall competition with a landslide victory of 1.3 million votes - and that from a population of just over 3 million! The WMS40 was provided by Declan Reynolds of Reynolds of Raphoe in County Donegal who said: "We used the WMS40, even though we had many other far more expensive radio mic systems available to us. The WMS40 was not only the simplest system to set up, but also the performance totally belies the low price tag. This performs as well as most radio mic systems costing three times as much money, and was immaculate on the night."
And now, in an ever expanding range, the WMS40 is at last available with a diversity receiver. The new 'deluxe' SR40 Diversity is as reliable and easy to use as the proven SR40, and provides more features: additional metering, a high quality all-metal case with all new styling, and diversity technology designed for absolute reliability in the most difficult transmission situations.
(Lee Baldock)
UK - Reading-based Blinding Light supplied Studio Due Mini City colour changing luminaires to TV lighting director Bernie Davis for a special edition of the BBC’s ‘Songs of Praise’ called ‘The Big Sing’, staged at London’s prestigious Royal Albert Hall.
Their seminal role in the show was to light the acoustic ‘mushrooms’ in the Albert Hall’s roof, in a series of beguiling, rich saturated colours. The mushrooms - normally a dull off-white - are a vital ingredient of the Hall’s sound, but a constant source of aesthetic distraction to anyone working on visuals. By transforming them into a feature, the mushrooms become an integral part of the live experience of being ‘on location’ in one of the world’s most architecturally spectacular venues.
16 Mini City fixtures, complete with their optional wide-angle lenses (the latter purchased by Blinding Light from Coe-tech for the occasion), were rigged in the gallery arches around the RAH’s top tier, with the lighting control position also located up there for the show. The units are powerful enough to light the 60-odd mushrooms evenly, and are quick and easy to rig.
Bernie Davies is a regular LD for Songs of Praise, which is usually recorded in various churches around the country. A large generic and moving light rig for the RAH show was supplied by main lighting contractors ELP. Bernie controlled the conventionals from his Compulite Spark console, working closely with moving light operator Mark Ninnim, who also had the Mini Citys running
Spain - LA Audio has appointed a new distributor in Spain, Lexon SA, taking over the responsibilities of sales and marketing the LA Audio brand in this territory. Lexon was established in 1977 with offices in Sarriá, Barcelona, and Santibáñez de Béjar, Madrid. Its primary business is the import and distribution of professional audio and video products for fixed installations, rental companies, contractors, consultants and engineering companies. Lexon also supplies specific products to the broadcast sector, as well recording and post-production in studios. It operates in the whole of the Spanish territory, including the Canary and Balearic Islands, with over 1,300 regular customers. Other than LA Audio, Lexon distribute BSS, Cedar, Schoeps and many other recognized brand names.
Eva Thullen, assistant manager of Lexon, says: "We are very happy about taking the LA Audio line on board as it will complete our portfolio of high end products. LA Audio is a fairly young company but with excellent products and is very sensitive to what the market trends are." Luke Baldry, director of sales and marketing for Audient and LA Audio says of the new appointment: "We are very pleased that Lexon are on board. This greatly improves the opportunities for expansion of the LA Audio range in Spain."
LA Audio and Audient PLC have recently announced the formation of a strategic alliance that will see the operations of the two companies merge in a new joint venture under the Audient plc umbrella. Key members of the team at Expotus, previous distributors for LA Aud
UK - Scream Studios, the rehearsal and recording facility group, is taking an all-EV approach for its prime showcase studios in south-east England. Scream, which began in 1991, expanded from its original site in Carshalton to a second operation in Croydon, and its latest location is in Brighton.
The recently-opened Brighton complex, which houses seven rehearsal rooms, also has a 100-capacity showcase room, linked to a recording studio and video editing suite. This has been equipped with an Electro-Voice RX sound reinforcement system "that can take the loudest of the loud" according to owner Aide Aires.
The new room has already been used by a wide variety of artists, from the 40-piece Carnival Collective, to Status Quo and Gary Moore. Apart from a highly individual design scheme, which features an 8ft tank with floating droids and cyborgs, the room uses two EV RX112/75 full-range enclosures flown above the stage, with two EV RX118S subs below, driven by a Dynacord PM2600 powered mixer. All the floor monitors are EV SX250, powered by Q66 amps.
Scream is currently expanding the Croydon site to include 14 rehearsal rooms, a live recording studio, MIDI studio, cafeteria, hire shop, repairs shop and another showcase room. These will also be equipped with EV sound systems. Specification of the systems has been carried out by engineers from Shuttlesound, which has supplied all the Electro-Voice and Dynacord equipment.
(Lee Baldock)
USA - Creative Studio Solutions Inc (CSS) of Denver, Colorado, has been chosen to design, build and install Entercom’s new suite of broadcast studios at its new facility at The Denver Technology Center. Entercom currently operates four broadcast radio stations in the Denver area. CSS will design and install a total of 12 new studios for Entercom - four on-air studios, four production studios, three news studios, and a live room.
CSS’s CEO and chief engineer Andrew Rosenberg says that this project is exciting for him and his staff. "There is nothing better than getting involved in the studio design process from the ground up. We are honored that an organization with Entercom’s reputation for excellence has chosen CSS to do this project."
CSS is primarily utilizing Wheatstone technology and its related products for this project. CSS will also be using Stardraw Radio documentation software for the design of the wiring infrastructure and project documentation. Rosenberg says: "We were very keen for Stardraw to develop a Radio product and consequently were quite involved in the whole process, especially when it came to advice on which manufacturers to approach. We’re delighted with the results and there’s no doubt that using Stardraw Radio played a significant part in helping us to win this contract."
CSS will design, build and document all 12 studios at its facility in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, before disassembly and final installation at Entercom’s new location in Denver. According to John Burrell, Entercom&rsqu
Sweden / Denmark - On 11 June in Stockholm, and 12 June in Copenhagen, Master of Light seminars is hosting a seminar with lighting and production designer Marc Brickman. Brickman's credits over his 25 year career include Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, the Barcelona and Nagano Olympic Games Ceremonies, Steven Spielberg's ‘AI’ and the new ‘Cat in the Hat’ movie. Current projects include the new touring production of the Blue Man Group and Matchbox 20.
Each day’s programme will consist of two half-day seminars: in Stockholm, these will take place at the premises of VLSC, and in Copenhagen at Seelite. Admission to each seminar costs 1950SEK in Stockholm and 1950Dkr in Copenhagen. A 5% discount is available for bookings of five or more people from the same organization, and a 10% discount for bookings of 10 or more people from the same organization.
(Lee Baldock)
Latvia - Latvian Television (LTV) is producing this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, which will take place in Riga on the 24 May, with an estimated worldwide television audience of 200 million. Swedish specialist company Spectra+ will be achieving its Eurovision hat-trick this year, with its third Eurovision project, and will be working alongside Latvia’s leading lighting company, Riga-based Company NA Ltd, a supplier of technical equipment and knowledge with a strong reputation throughout the Baltic.
Spectra+ and Company NA’s mission includes supplying lighting, video and rigging equipment for the event, including technical co-ordination and technical crew. Spectra+ and Company NA crew members will be working on site for approximately one month prior to the event.
Swedish television, SVT chose Spectra+ as the official lighting supplier and technical co-ordinator for Eurovision 2000 at the Stockholm Globe in Sweden, in an event which was critically acclaimed by the production industry. In 2002 Spectra+ was once again chosen from tough competition as the official lighting supplier for the massive event in Tallinn, Estonia. They will be looking to exceed expectations once again in Latvia.
Around 9,000 DMX channels will be used for this huge produciton. SVT lighting designer Per Sundin will once again design the lighting, which will be pre-programmed in Spectra+’s own WYSIWYG studio.
(Lee Baldock)
UK - Entec Sound installed a large d&b system - including the new long-throw C3 speakers - into London’s Royal Albert Hall for last week’s six-night Teenage Cancer Trust event. This was the first time the C3 has been used in this high profile venue. The TCT shows, featuring some of the UK’s top bands and performing artists, were organized by Harvey Goldsmith and a hand-picked production team. The aim was to raise funds and awareness for the charity, which is greatly supported by Roger Daltrey.
Entec’s innovative system design was a collaboration between their own Tristan Johnson and d&b’s Ralph Zuleeg. The pair designed and flew the PA and set up the system, before leaving the running and day-to-day tweaking to Entec’s crew chief Ritchie Gibson. Johnson explains that the RAH was the ideal venue to put the C3 through it’s paces in terms of throw distances, which can be deceptively large! Their goal was to reduce the centre cluster size and improve sightlines, whilst still getting a clear sound image everywhere in the glorious Victorian space. The result was a resounding success.
Bands ranged from Madness to Eric Clapton, Coldplay to Supergrass and The Doves to Richard Ashcroft - all of whom brought their own FOH engineers. So another key element to the audio set up was in ensuring total system flexibility and the ability to deal with a huge diversity of musical - and engineer’s mixing - styles. The main system was configured in two elegant left and right centre clusters, each a mixture of d&b C3s, C4 tops and subs -
UK - Large format projection specialists E//T//C UK were called in by the London Tourist Board to help launch their high-visibility ‘Totally Lond On’ advertising campaign. E//T//C’s Paul Highfield supplied a single 6kW PIGI projector, slide artwork and his technical expertise for the event, staged in the fabulous new glass roofed Great Court of the British Museum.
Keystone correction was by Wyatt Enever at DHA, and the projection was beamed onto the new limestone arch in the Great Court. It consisted of a simple slide, pastiched in the style of a London Street sign, emblazoned with the words ‘Totally LondON’ and ‘www.visitlondon.com’.
White Light supplied architectural lighting and LD Simon Jones for the event. Both E//T//C UK and White Light were approached for the project after their highly successful illumination of the Tower of London last year for the UK:OK campaign.
(Lee Baldock)
Germany - Andy Schindlbeck, the head of the Perkam-Radldorf-based events and entertainment company Schindlbeck Veranstaltungstechnik GmbH, has finalized the acquisition of three complete Dynacord Cobra-4 systems. He explains: "With this equipment, I can guarantee a completely balanced and homogeneous sound for virtually all sound reinforcement applications," adding: "the sound performance is powerful yet the handling is child’s-play."
Schindlbeck first encountered this system extension to the compact line array system at the Telex EVI Audio in-house exhibition (or ‘Hausmesse’) at the end of January 2003. Four weeks later he was the owner of the brand-new sound tool, and three weeks on from that he is able to tell us something of his first experiences with the new system: "I’ve used the system now around 20 times and each time I have been extremely satisfied with its performance. My core business is providing sound reinforcement for events with between 3,000 and 5,000 visitors. That’s my day-to-day norm and for this type of application the Cobra-4 is ideally suited." But that’s not the limit, as he explains: "I could comfortably provide sound reinforcement for 10,000 people with this system."
Another of the system’s trump cards is its versatility. "I’ve already used the system for a purely speech-based event in an 80m-long room. As a precaution, I set up a delay system but it turned out to be superfluous. The speech intelligibility even in the back row was absolutely first