Chris Hooke's company has enjoyed a long relationship with the Students Union, providing hire systems for special events and carrying out general maintenance at their other bars and leisure facilities over a number of years.
The Uni was already a fan of JBL's PRX loudspeaker series as Hooke explained. "They have used our [active] PRX 612 enclosures for events in the past and absolutely love the sound. However, as we had only fitted Crown XTi 4000 amplifiers as part of a technical upgrade last year, we went the passive route and specified four of JBL's PRX 412M's."
The configuration needed to be switchable depending on whether Divas was hosting a band night (when a conventional stage PA would be required), or a DJ night, when the two at the rear kick in, to create an immersive dancefloor environment.
Supplied by Sound Technology Ltd, the UK & Eire Harman Professional distributors, and run in conjunction with a pair of passive, stage-mounted PRX 418S 18in subwoofers, the versatile two-way 12in speakers offer great value for money.
Appraises Chris Hooke, "We looked at the specs and were surprised just how nice the PRX412M sounded for a budget speaker; based on the size of the room, which holds around 350, these were perfect. The Uni hosts a lot of presentation work as well as Open Mic nights, Drama etc, so the system needed to be versatile. It certainly ticked the boxes from the point of view of quality and we receive excellent back up service from Sound Technology."
Divas is situated in the Student Union Building, with an annexed overflow bar. Having carried out a complete lighting revamp in 2012, and aware of the sound system shortcomings Hooke flew the four PRX412M 2.5 metres off the ground from Powerdrive brackets - with the two at the rear on a separate feed from the Crown XTi's, so they can be activated at will.
To eliminate any possible hotspots and maintain even distribution he then specified JBL AC18/26 275W 8" 2-way infill speaker cabinets, offering 120° by 60° dispersion; four of those are set in the raised seating area off the dancefloor - two left and two right.
The three XTi 4000s are respectively assigned to the main PRX rig, two per channel, the subs and the infills. And by using the DSP in the Crown amps to set the EQ curves via Harman's HiQnet System Architect the rig becomes truly multifunctional.
(Jim Evans)
