EV XLD AND XLC COMBINATION ARRAYS IMPRESS AT THE GORGE AMPHITHEATRE, WASHINGTON STATE
As outdoor concert venues go, the Gorge Amphitheatre (near George in central Washington state) is among the most spectacular in the United States. As a House of Blues concert venue, the Gorge hosts shows by some of the biggest names in music, and relies upon the sound reinforcement services of Ford Audio Service to make sure things sound as impressive as the surrounding scenery looks. In keeping with House of Blues’ preference for EV sound at their venues around the U.S., Ford’s EV XLC rig is the house delay rig for shows at the Gorge. At a recent triple-header featuring 80s rock superstars Styx, REO Speedwagon and Foreigner, Ford's XLC rig was combined with additional XLC and XLD boxes rented from friends Horne Audio, of Portland, Oregon, for use as the main PA. For this show, Ford tried an experimental configuration that incorporated four XLD281 boxes (from EV’s new X-Line Very Compact line) at the bottom of each 12-box XLC line array. Gary Ford explained:
“The XLD boxes and grids came from fellow XLC users Horne Audio (Portland,
Oregon). We called Peter Horne to rent 16 more XLC boxes to use as the main
PA for the Styx/REO/Foreigner show, and he suggested we pull a couple of
the XLCs out of each main array and try four XLDs in their place. The idea
was to use the XLDs as near-field fills with a little more down angle --
and more drivers in the same amount of space -- to help maintain a more
even frequency response throughout the entire array. Horne Audio have successfully
beta tested this configuration throughout the summer, and we were eager
to give it a try -- we even invited EV Director of Special Projects Monte
Wise along to check it out and offer his expert opinion on the rig’s
performance. Like us, he was impressed. Also on hand was Systems Technician
David Caldwell from Horne Audio, who did a great job tweaking the rig.”
Ford continued: “The top of the hill that encloses the amphitheatre
is nearly 500-feet away. The delays pick up at 255-feet, carrying from 120Hz
on up. Using the XLDs was really an advantage because it freed up 8 of the
12 XLCs per side to throw long range. The other four XLC boxes in each array
could therefore be used to cover the midfield more effectively. This is
a broad, asymmetrical venue, and, in addition to the house delays, we usually
fly side arrays of five XLCs to cover the audience areas adjacent to the
stage. Most of the tours that come to the Gorge need these side hangs to
augment their touring rig. For this show, the wide dispersion of the XLC
and XLD combination made a stage right side array unnecessary. There was
no sacrifice in SPL, coverage or intelligibility, and the whole PA -- 32
subs and 38 mid/high boxes, consoles and monitor rig – packed into
the back of two 24-foot rental trucks. This really was a case of ‘less
is more’, and we look forward to working with this configuration again.”
from electrovoice.com