Solotech system for L-Acoustics’ first AVB tour
- Details
This is the first time the company has used an AVB system on tour. Supplied by L-Acoustics North American certified provider Solotech, with support from Germany’s Black Box Music, the system’s benefits include simple deployment with minimal network configuring, long-distance network communication, low latency, improved synchronisation and reliability.
The tour is carrying a total of 92 AVB-equipped L-Acoustics LA12X amplified controllers, 48 K1 and 80 K2 loudspeakers, 56 KS28 subs, eight ARCS Wide and eight X8 coaxials. Processing is being handled by a pair of redundant Meyer Sound Galaxy units, one driving analogue lines over copper for system fallback.
All equipment from L-Acoustics and Meyer Sound is certified through the Avnu Alliance and networked via the AVB/TSN protocol using Avnu-certified 11 Extreme Networks switches. The Avnu Alliance is a community creating an interoperable ecosystem of low-latency, time-synchronized, highly reliable networked devices using open standards.
“It is exciting to see the power of AVB bring together this magnitude of devices into one reliable, flexible, yet massive touring rig,” says Avnu Alliance Pro AV segment chair Patrick Prothe. “We’re thrilled to have members putting their certified products to work in the field. Having L-Acoustics and Meyer Sound equipment working together in the same setup via AVB is a testament to Avnu certification.”
According to David Brazeau, Solotech’s senior audio project manager, AVB brought “a sonic advantage”. He said: It brought better translation from analog to digital, so we wanted to offer that to our client.” Solotech worked closely with the L-Acoustics engineering team during pre-production to build the AVB network and ensure trouble-free operation on the road.
One of the many benefits of implementing an AVB network has been the reduction in the number of connections, reports Marc-Olivier Germain, owner of Méduse Audio Inc., the designer of the system and the audio system technician on the tour. “I used to drive the amps with AES, and would usually have a network just to do the remote control,” he recalls. “By using AVB, I eliminated one of the two XLR connections on the amplifiers, so there’s less patching and less material to carry around.”
The band’s FOH engineer, Jim Warren, who also works with Radiohead, has been using L-Acoustics products for many years, says Germain. “I’ve been working with him for three or four years and it’s always been our ‘go-to,’ and I was using L-Acoustics products before that. I always really enjoy the quality, the definition, the top end. Plus, having the opportunity to change the patterns with boxes like K2 makes it easy to adapt the coverage to different venues.”
Following shows in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Argentina through mid-December, the Infinite Content tour resumes in Europe in April 2018, with scheduled stops in Ireland, the U.K., Germany, Belgium, Spain and Portugal.
(Jim Evans)
