Sound for this event (and for Europride the following day) was provided by Britannia Row and included a Turbosound Aspect loudspeaker system with XTA processing and MC2 Audio amplification. Nine Aspect TA-890H cabinets were hung three-deep per side with an additional TA-500 Aspect Wide per side directed outwards to ensure complete coverage.
"Aspect is a very powerful little box," says Brit Row crew chief in the Square, Nick Maddren. "It's the first time I've used it in a space this size and I wondered whether I had enough when we put it up, but it's covering the square perfectly at the level we want and I've had a number of compliments from the audience and band managements about the sound quality."
TA-890L double 15" subs were positioned under the tower. "These are quite powerful in themselves," adds Maddren. "And I have others in the centre to add weight to the system and bring the energy into the middle of the square. I'm running them from an auxiliary send just on kick drum and bass guitar to add a bit more weight on to the floor."
Three TQ-440s per side act as in-fill to cover the area immediately in front of the stage. "We've had to fly the main hangs out quite wide," continues Maddren. "It wasn't possible to get the towers on the ground close to the stage, so we've positioned the main stacks up on the same level as the National Gallery; and, because the stage roof overhangs the downstage edge, if we were too close we would have been firing the inside cabinets straight into it."
System control is via two XTA DP428s with a DP224 as a matrix control. "The main control is two DP428s, which I love," says system technician Aron Ross. "The Graphic EQs in them are really useable and they sound great. They're running the main left and right hang, mono sub and outfills. I'm using AudioCore 8.1, which I've used for a while - it works really well wirelessly, although I'm using cable here today. The 428s talk to each other quite nicely and with the free assign function it means that you can make any changes that engineers request really quickly without having to re-patch or re-wire. I've used XTA for quite a while with a lot of different systems and it works very well.
"I'm using the DP224 as a matrix out: it's set up as a one-in, four-out and I've got the infills running off that to give it delay and a bit of EQ. This means I can get to those functions without having to lean over the engineer and adjust something on the desk, and it's really useful for things like hearing aid loops.
"We're using Turbosound MC2 amps -T-25s for the high end and mids, with T-45s running everything else and they're really good. There are five amps in each rack and because they're lightweight they're still moveable, which is important."
Both Maddren and Ross are very pleased with the way the system performs. "I'm enjoying the system and it sounds nice," states Maddren. "I'd like to do a tour with it. Aspect certainly covers all the frequencies nicely. It's got a solid low end with the double 18s, it's got musical bass with the double 15s, the high end is clean and the mids have usual Turbosound clarity and smoothness.
He adds: "The XTA's are great - very smooth, user friendly and they have a very warm sound to them. I'm always very happy to see them on a show."
