Lyd Partner already has experience of Nexo products, being a supplier of Geo S, Alpha E and Alpha systems. With confidence in the Nexo brand, it was natural that Marius Ryen and his colleagues would turn to Nexo to meet their requirement for a line array system, and their timing coincided with the launch of Nexo's Geo D cabinets. After demos of the loudspeakers at the Spring AES, the deal was sealed by an irresistible offer from PSS/FotoPhono, Nexo's Norwegian distibutors, to purchase a matching 24-box system for its own inventory, thereby increasing the possibilities for Lyd Partner to assemble larger rigs or several smaller ones.
Lyd Partner has taken delivery of 24 Geo D10 tangent-array cabinets, with 8 CD18 subbass cabinets, and four NX242 TDcontrollers. Camco is the amplifier of choice; Lyd Partner has ordered eight Vortex 6 units for the Geo D10s, and will be using four Vortex 200V models to power the CD18s. The use of NX-Cai cards enables all the amplifiers to be controlled remotely. The system also includes four Nexo PS8 compact speakers for use as front-fills.
Part of the rigging hardware for the Geo D system is the versatile new GeoDBumper, which allows up to 24 Geo Ds to be flown together, and also offers a stage-stackable option, giving users maximum rigging flexibility in all kinds of venues. The GeoDBumper is the key to Lyd Partner's system, which has been configured in a highly versatile format. The system can be split into two 6-a-side systems, each using two CD18 subbass units per side, and, when using the new GeoDBumper, three or four Geo D10 cabinets can be ground-stacked on top of the bass bins rather than flown.
"This invests maximum flexibility into the system," says Jon Petter Westerlund of PSS, distributor of the Nexo and Camco product lines for more than a decade. "For smaller events, the inventory can be broken up very easily, or it can be used in full for larger concerts, such as its debut show, with Deep Purple at Bodø."
Providing the Geo D rig, configured with 12 D10s a side with 8 CD18s, for Deep Purple at a mini-festival in Bodø gave the Norwegian team its first true audition of the new Nexo technology. "The clarity was astonishing," said Jon Petter, "it sounded just like a big hi-fi system. Brilliant, full-stop. Nexo has really capitalised on its experience with Geo S, Geo T, and the CD12 and CD18 bass bins; this is truly their third-generation array system and technically it is the most advanced. Practically it offers genuine innovations, such as the cardioid patterns for LF coverage which deliver near-silence on stage, and the GeoDBumper which provides ground-stacking capability, so valuable here in Norway where many venues cannot support flown systems."
Lyd Partner's opening order, which makes them the first rental company in Norway to stock the Geo D, has been matched by an identical purchase on the part of PSS/FotoPhono. "Our confidence in ordering Geo D has been rewarded by the reaction of leading engineers at its first outing," says Jon Petter. "Marius Ryen and the other engineers at Lyd Partners were very happy, and Doug Hall, Deep Purple's front-of-house engineer, told us he was thoroughly impressed with what he heard and saw."
(Chris Henry)
