The order is a reflection of SSE's close involvement with the Nexo GEO Technology project, from the conceptualisation of the first tangent array devices, the GEO S Series launched in 2001, to the realisation of the GEO T Series and, in particular, its remarkable flying system, designed by Chris Beale, SSE's Group hire director. SSE has been field-testing GEO T full-range and sub-bass units since the summer of 2002, with the complete system fulfilling its potential most recently at the larger venues on Tori Amos' European tour. At Le Zenith in Paris, before a 7000-strong crowd, the SSE/Melpomen team flew single arrays of 17 T4805s on each side of the stage, with four CD18 sub-bass units. The system was entirely powered by Camco Vortex 6 digital amplifiers, with Nexo 241 digital processing.
SSE Audio Group has already deployed a 36-element GEO T system to Melpomen in France, to enable field evaluation to continue. In the UK, the first large-scale outing for the system will be for the rescheduled Oasis dates in early March. "The loudspeaker that has been planned and developed for so long has finally become a reality," Chris Beale of SSE told us. "In use, GEO T opens up new ways to address complex acoustic problems. Reverberant rooms can be tamed, environmental issues solved and new microphone techniques explored with results that were hitherto unobtainable.
In 2001, the question on everybody's lips was "does the world really need another large line array loudspeaker?" For a company like Nexo, there seemed little point in joining the crowd so Eric Vincenot and his team focused their development on a tiny, yet immensely capable, tangent array loudspeaker system, the GEO S Series. With this product, they were able to evaluate new patent-pending technologies such as the Hyperbolöid Wave Guide, Directivity Phase Device and Configurable Diffraction Slot, along with DSP-driven cardioid sub-bass loudspeakers.
Eric Vincenot, Nexo's technical director, explains that "the larger-scale T Series was in mind from the outset, but its specification grew from the success of GEO S, which demonstrated that incredible results were achievable, providing that the physical rules were strictly obeyed. The software modelling showed that the penalties for even small compromises in design would be enormous; however, the no-compromise solution demanded extreme accuracy in construction of the cabinet and particularly the rigging system." For the GEO T4805 Tangent Array Module, new materials and advanced loudspeaker devices were sourced and the R&D team was expanded to apply expertise in the GEO-critical areas of cardioid technology, software, signal management programming and rigging system development.
Each T4805 loudspeaker element is constructed of part birch ply, aluminium and moulded composites and weighs only 50kg (inclusive of its flying hardware). It has fully controlled directivity from 60Hz to 16kHz by virtue of its advanced acoustic profile, cardioid mid-bass loudspeaker configuration and its extended hyperbolöid wave-guide. In order to achieve low weight with high performance, new developments in very high power cone loudspeakers were needed. The large 15" and 18" loudspeakers in conventional line arrays were replaced with small, efficient cardioid devices that were able to produce equivalent mid-bass output and vertical pattern control with more consistent horizontal directivity. Because the largest transducer in GEO T Series Tangent Array Modules is an 8-inch cone, the height of each element can be minimized.
Such a device puts unprecedented demands on the flying hardware, and SSE's Chris Beale has devoted hundreds of man-hours into developing an accurate rigging system that is easy to install and remove. "It's a preci
