Organisers of this major corporate event were keen to provide a highly efficient, high-quality and yet discreet sound reinforcement system that would do justice to such a splendid occasion. The system had to meet a range of different demands, including the chairman's speech, a guest presenter and the Big Band and the Musical Show, as well as a Top 40 band and DJ. All signals had to be transmitted in the highest possible quality, and the client wanted a powerful dance-floor sound as well as even sound distribution throughout the entire hall, which was up to 90 metres long.
The job of drawing up the sound concept was given to Knut Winkler, one of the specialists at the Frankfurt branch of Ambion GmbH. His choice was the NEXO GEO T array system, and the system was put together by his colleague Michael Wengerter, from the company's Kassel branch.
On each side of the stage, a line array with 16x NEXO GEO T 4805s and two NEXO GEO T 2815s was flown, integrated into the stage design. For the bass, the system used six NEXO CD 18s on each side, with a NEXO Alpha E and a NEXO B 1/18 used as near-fills. These were all driven by 20x CAMCO Vortex V6s and six CAMCO Vortex 200Vs. The 20x NEXO PS 15 stage monitors were also driven by CAMCO Vortex V6s.
Signal management was carried out from the FOH position via EtherSound, controlled from the InnovaSon SY 80 digital mixing desk.
Speaking after the event, Ambion's Knut Winkler was more than satisfied with his choice. "The NEXO GEO T system provided everything this event needed and did its job perfectly. The system is very powerful and yet small in size. The hall depth of 90 metres posed no problem whatsoever for the line array and we were able to fly it outside the audience's line of vision. It blended into the stage setting very well.
"In our opinion, the CAMCO amplifiers are ideal for driving the NEXO Geo T system and meet the highest possible quality criteria.
"The PS 15 cabinet is a real all-round work horse. We use it as our standard monitor and have always achieved good results with it. Whenever we've used it in the past, the musicians have always been extremely satisfied, and we were told the same thing by all the artists at this event, too.
"Apart from all the praise and thanks from our clients here, who were very happy with the sound, I was personally very happy to be able to set up and hear the GEO T in the Festival Hall. Anyone who has experienced the hall as a venue for top international acts knows that many concerts have suffered from extremely bad sound. Only rarely do audiences leave the hall unanimous in their view that the sound was great. So that gives us all the more reason to be pleased about the excellent result we have achieved and about the fact that we definitely made the right choice."
(Chris Henry)
