The audience spread out in casual picnic fashion, making the coverage area immense: 300 meters deep and nearly 250 meters wide. In addition, because of the eclectic combination of pop/rock and classical fare, the system must project delicate transients as well as handling a wide dynamic range. Beyond all that, everything is broadcast live on the BBC, so the system must tightly control bleed back to the stage.
The overall brief for system performance was set by Simon Biddulph of System Sound and Light. The specifics of the loudspeaker configuration were given to Chris Marsh of Major Tom, who worked with design consultant and Meyer Sound associate Dave Dennison to turn Biddulph's requirements into a system design using Meyer Sound's MAPP Online Pro acoustical prediction programme.
The design stipulated main left and right arrays of 14 MILO cabinets with two MILO 120 high-power expanded coverage loudspeakers underhung for frontfill. For deep bass, six 700-HP ultrahigh-power subwoofers were flown behind the main arrays, augmented by four more groundstacked on each side. A single hang of six MICA compact high-power curvilinear array cabinets covered one side of the asymmetrical front audience area. Biddulph laid out two delay rings with nine positions: eight positions with four MILO cabinets each and one position with six MICA units. "The most outstanding attribute of the system was the fact that it threw sound further than any other used in the event's 10-year history," remarks Biddulph. "In fact, during system set-up we were told that the delays were working very well even though, at that point, they had yet to be switched on."
(Jim Evans)
