The Palais 12 gig was the opening concert for Guetta's forthcoming world tour, so the technological wow-factor was set at the highest level. Setting up the sound systems for FOH engineer Hassane Es Siahi was Arto system tech Pierre-Laurent Babuine, who is a regular Guetta man.
For main PA, Babuine called on left and right arrays of 15 sets of Nexo STM, comprising 15x M46 Main and 15x B112 Bass Cabinets, together with 32x S118 subbass units. Flown in adjacent lines of main and bass modules, the arrays were completed by two diminuitive cabinets - these smaller fill speakers are the new M28s, which complete the four-piece suite of STM components. Although M28s have been sighted at festivals this summer, Guetta is the first headline artist to use the complete STM Series system on his own stage.
"Before the M28 arrived, we were using additional M46 cabinets in the line and extra infill modules to cover the front rows of the audience," explains Arto's Babuine. "With the M28, which offers a maximum splaying angle of 15° and 120° of coverage in the horizontal plane, we are able to deliver precisely targeted near-fill and minimise the need for additional onstage cabinets."
In the cavernous Palais 12, a large grandstand at the rear of the hall was built to provide hospitality space for the VIPs. A delay system comprising two arrays of 5x M46 main, 5x B112 subs and 4x S118 subs delivered to the rear of the audience area and to the grandstand, with a dedicated PA (this time Nexo Geo S12 and LS18 subs) actually in the hospitality area.
With Geo S12 cabinets on stage for side and front-fill, even Nexo's new GEO M6 compact speakers played their part in the Guetta spectacle - providing monitoring for the system techs working stageside. All cabinets were powered by Nexo NXAMP4x4 amplifier/processors.
The M28 is an injection-moulded all-purpose two-way loudspeaker cabinet, providing 90°/120° of horizontal dispersion and 0° to 15° splaying angle between modules. This double-8" cabinet is the same width and 2/3 the height of the STM M46 main cabinet. In a large-format STM system, it is arrayed in the same column with the M46. With a frequency response of 65Hz-19kHz and 143dB peak SPL, the M28 delivers impressively high output, superior horizontal control and stable dispersion.
"Because it was designed as an integral element of the STM family, there is true coherency between the voicing of M46 and M28 modules," confirms Nexo's Denis Baudier. "This ensures a very smooth transition between the main PA and the down-fill, with no difference in tonality for the first ten rows of the audience. This saves a lot of time for system techs and FOH engineers."
(Jim Evans)
