Toploader's Joe Washbourne and EAW monitoring on stage.
Toploader, one of the UK's most successful live bands of the last two years, are currently touring the country with a flexible line array rig from EAW. The three-month tour takes in venues of all shapes and sizes - which meant that the choice of speaker system became even more sensitive than usual. "I loved the sound of the KF760 system when I heard it at Hammersmith Apollo," recalls FOH engineer Andrew Thornton, "but I admit I was concerned about the idea of bringing it into theatres and having to groundstack it for some show. In the end, though, it's proved to be much more flexible than a 'normal' system."

It has proved so flexible, in fact, that the tour's system technician Pete Hughes, who is responsible for the Canegreen-supplied system, opted to fit single wheelboards to the 16 KF760 and KF761 cabinets, in order to be able to split the arrays differently for each gig. Where flying points are available in the optimum positions, Hughes and Thornton hang up to six long-throw KF760 and two wide-coverage KF761 enclosures, while at smaller venues the system is split between groundstacks and flown arrays, and may even be entirely built on the floor if needed. 12 EAW SB1000 subwoofers ("still the best sounding sub in the business"' according to Thornton) provide ample low-end power.

"This way of dealing with the system means that we can cope with any room," enthuses Thornton, "with conventional narrow-horn boxes, we would still need a lot of them in a small venue, just to achieve the horizontal coverage." Thornton has been especially impressed by the KF760, designed for near-field use under the main system. "It sounds great close-up, and it doesn't interfere with the way the other boxes work, so it's ideal for covering the first few rows. In fact, with this EAW system, there isn't a single downside to taking it out on a tour like this."

(Lee Baldock)


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