Creative Technology's new PLM amplifiers have been loaded into 10 amplifier racks that each handle eight bi-amp or 16 full-range mixes. "We first used the new PLM-equipped racks in late June with Herbalife [nutrition and weight-management company]," Nealie continues. "For an event within a 16,000-seat venue in Rio De Janeiro.
"We sent three racks for the event. Normally, we would need to send six four-mix racks to cover this type of event; typically, Lab.gruppen FP+ 10000s with separate Dolby Lake processing. However, having both high-quality amplification and programmable processing within a single PLM unit was just what we needed to dramatically simplify our amp rack systems. As a result we were able to reduce shipping costs by a considerable margin which represented a major saving for our client."
Nealie is equally pleased with the improvements in sound quality. "We arranged an A/B comparison between the new Lab.gruppen PLM amp/processors and our previous duo combination of Dolby Lake processors and FP+ 10000 amplifiers," he explains. "The new PLMs sounded much better. Why? We attributed the major differences to a lack of additional A-to-D and D-to-A stages between the Dolby Lakes and the analog-only FP+ amplifiers. We could hear an enhanced bandwidth in the low and high frequencies; the bottom-end sounded fuller and rounder while the high-end was more transparent, with better stereo imaging."
Nealie reports that developing crossover profiles for the PLM's built-in Dolby Lake processor section to match Creative Technology's vintage loudspeakers was a simple process. "We used the [SIA] Smaart [dual-channel FFT] software and a calibrated microphone to measure the frequency response of each cabinet and then prepared custom crossover setting for each of our EAW and Apogee systems."
(Jim Evans)
