With the established IQ system, the PS-8810 has the ability to network with Crown amplifiers and other IQ-compliant devices. This means that systems with control and monitoring of amplifiers and signal processing can now be readily constructed, with centralized control from a PC running one control program.
Each of the 70 Crown Macro-Tech 5000/5002VZ house amplifiers on the tour is equipped with its own USP2/CN card, allowing digital audio signals, sent from the digital console through a CobraNet converter and BSS ProSys PS-8810C, to be fed directly into the amplifiers on Cat 5 Ethernet lines and switches. All of the processing for the production’s JBL VerTec line-array loudspeakers - including crossover, delay and EQ - is performed via the Crown modules.
Using a laptop, the PS-8810C DSP system is remotely called upon to compensate for differing room environments each night, leaving the Crown USP2/CN cards within the amplifiers to specifically address speaker processing. The ProSys unit further allows each of the JBL loudspeaker clusters to be grouped as single signals, and both the BSS and Crown products are controlled via Crown’s IQ for Windows software v5.0, which provides a unified interface whether adjusting an entire cluster or just one driver.
Diamond’s long-term sound designer and live sound engineer, Stanley R. Miller, was unstinting in his praise. "We have been using the PS-8810 and it is working great," he confirmed. "It has given us a control over the system never before attained.
"Because our sound system this time around is entirely digital, it’s dead quiet; the noise floor is extremely low. We’ve not had one single solitary problem with buzz or hum - something we used to spend an hour or two each day on previous tours trying to chase down. Overall, this rig sounds hands-down better than ever before, and there are a number of reasons for that, not the least of which would be the 8810s and Crown’s new CN cards."
MSI has been contracted to provide sound reinforcement using the current SR system on all of the overseas dates - including the UK in July.
(Lee Baldock)
