Medal Plaza, for instance, in Michael Ende Park, was the scene each evening not only for the presentation ceremonies but also for shows featuring top German and Austrian acts like Ich + Ich, Culcha Candela, Christina Stürmer and DJ Ötzi, each drawing audiences of up to 4,000 fans at a time.
As was the case at last year's finals of the skiing World Cup, not only the races but also the organisation and logistics of the event were subjected to the closest possible scrutiny, the reason being that Garmisch-Partenkirchen is currently bidding together with Munich to host the Winter Olympics in 2018.
Not only the athletes, therefore, but the entire organizational committee and all service providers were anxious to be seen in the best possible light. Prominent among the latter, naturally, was the team from TC Showtechnik of Weilheim, which was responsible for the lighting and sound reinforcement in a number of key event locations including Medal Plaza.
The centrepiece of the sound reinforcement design was the XLVC line array from Electro-Voice. "We used EV's LAPS line-array simulation software to ascertain the ideal set-up for the event," reports Martin Schulze, who manages the Bavarian rental company jointly with Stefan Rehtaler. "Even habitually critical FOH engineers working here with their bands expressed their extreme satisfaction with the system."
The main array in Medal Plaza consisted of 12 EV XLD281 cabinets per side complemented by flown XCS312 cardioid bass elements to enhance the lower midrange. To boost the very bottom end, 12 EV Xsubs were positioned beneath the stage. To provide homogeneous coverage for all 4,000 listeners, eight Electro-Voice XLE loudspeakers plied those at the very front of the audience as well as to the left and right of the stage with near-, in- and out-fill, as appropriate. The XLD hangs were driven by 16-channel amp racks made up of two Electro-Voice CPS 4.10 amps and one CPS 8.5 amp each.
"This allowed us to drive in each case three stacks actively in three-way mode, thereby achieving considerably greater acoustic differentiation," sayss Schulze. The subwoofers were driven by EV TG 7 power amplifiers, whilst foldback to the performers on stage was provided by side-fills comprising Electro-Voice's MT2 bass elements combined with PX1122 tops and PX1152 wedges, with the entire monitoring system powered by CP3000S amps.
Meanwhile two Electro-Voice NetMax N8000-1500 digital matrix controllers employing FIR-Drive technology made it possible for engineers - via Electro-Voice's IRIS-Net - to intervene promptly wherever necessary to adjust the output or frequency response of the system.
Two years ago, the team from TC Showtechnik installed a sound reinforcement system along the newly designed, three-kilometre Kandahar downhill. The solution here involved mounting some 34 CD850 loudspeakers from Electro-Voice on iron masts up to 14m high, lining the run. On the Kandahar run, the loudspeakers are driven by six channels of power emanating from CPS 4.5 amplifiers.
(Jim Evans)
