Harman Buyout Dead - FOH Online

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Over the last 10 years, we all have seen the market for self-powered speakers grow to the point where they are now at least as popular as nonpowered speakers. For someone like me, who has a small regional company and a relatively limited crew, using powered speakers makes my setup faster, easier and requires less thinking than a traditional passive speaker, amps and crossover system (the less-thinking part is very important for me and my crew). So, the next obvious question is: Why not use this self-powered speaker technology in a permanent house of worship installation? The simple answer is that you can permanently mount self-powered speakers in any location where you would install nonpowered speakers (given that you have available Edison plugs). But why would you? Early Experience SS When I first began my career as a sound system installer, self-powered speakers were more of a novelty than anything else. Installed sound systems were about matching the amp to the speaker’s resistance load and power-handling capabilities, making sure you set your crossovers properly and that you used good speaker wire. (Young sound guys, who have only ever used self-powered speakers, look at me like I am from another planet when I ask them about the ohm load of a cabinet.) The first time I installed powered speakers in a church was about eight years ago. The church already had a speaker cluster 48 Sound Sanctuary Powered or Not??? News Parnelli Voting Now Open continued from cover honoring both the individuals and companies. This year’s winners in such categories as FOH Mixer, Sound Company, Staging Company, and more, will be determined by online votes, so go online and let your voice be heard. The Parnelli program gives away more than awards, though. The inaugural Parnelli/PLSN/FOH scholarship at UNLV was recently awarded to Stephanie DeFraga in the UNLV Theatre program. This commitment to education is deeply rooted in the Parnelli ideal. Much more than being just about the person who gets the great gig and pulls it off flawlessly, a Parnelli award is also about moving our industry forward with the same qualities that defined the person after whom it is named. Named after Rick “Parnelli” O’Brien, an extraordinary production manager and human being, the award is given to those who, like O’Brien, exemplify the “four Hs”: Humanity, humility, honesty and humor. Part of the prestige of the Parnellis lays in its foundation as a peer-recognized award. To win a Parnelli, a person or firm is first nominated by their peers. Their peers then vote on these nominees, and a winner is declared at the Parnelli Awards ceremony. For more information, visit www.parnelliawards.com. hanging above the stage. I never have really liked this type of install, but it was a very popular way of hanging speakers, and I guess it still has some fans. At any rate, the cluster was blowing the sound right by the people in the front rows, so some additional boxes were needed to augment the system. I suggested mounting one full-range powered speaker box at either side of the stage, at about seven feet above the stage deck. These speakers could be directed at the front couple of rows of the church, and I used a separate send from the mixing board to drive them. This way, I could turn the powered speakers up, down or off, independent of the main speakers. I had a separate graphic EQ for the powered speakers, which allowed me to EQ them completely separate from the mains. Basically, the powered speakers acted as front fills for the main system. This worked very well and gave the church the flexibility necessary for the congregation’s listening needs. My next use of self-powered speakers was with a couple of powered wedges that I added to a monitor system. This house of worship had four monitors on its stage and needed some additional coverage. The monitor system was matched to the power amps, and adding new nonpowered speakers would upset the ohm (that word again) load. The stage also was prewired with speaker wires from an amp room a fair distance away. It was impractical to add another power amp and run the new speaker wires down the hall from the amp room to the worship stage. continued from cover The Financial Times was the most outspoken, saying: “It was only a matter of time before private equity had a MAC attack. It is fitting that KKR, the original barbarian, was the first to play hardball on a private equity transaction by claiming a material adverse change (MAC) in the target’s business. That gave it cover to renege on April’s $8 billion buy-out, alongside Goldman Sachs, of audio equipment group Harman International. “It is a bizarre outcome. Before the credit markets blew up, Harman was so worried KKR might be getting too sweet a deal that it insisted on its shareholders retaining an equity stub in the company. Now, rather than thinking it has got a bargain, KKR is running for the hills.” Whatever the cause for the back out, it is almost certainly related to Harman’s automotive business, which accounts for a large majority of its overall trade. On the Monday after FFR/GS backed out of the deal, Harman announced much lower than expected profits, laying the blame at the feet of the automotive side and increased R&D costs related to that part of the business. As one source said, “They either can’t do the deal because they can’t get the OCTOBER 2007 www.fohonline.com So, I used an extra aux send from the board, which arrived at the stage via a hardwired snake. I just needed some Edison for my powered monitors, and I was set. These particular monitors had their own volume control, EQ and limiting, so nothing else was needed to get them up and running. Since then, I have added powered monitors to probably a dozen existing monitor systems. As a matter of fact, when I get a call to mix, I bring a couple of powered monitors with me in case I need some additional coverage. From the Sanctuary to the Street SS Harman Buyout Dead Of course, if you read my “Out Reach” article from last month’s FOH, you can see how easy it is to take a self-powered system and move it outdoors or to some other location. But to be fair, I am talking about permanently installed worship systems and the pros and cons of powered versus nonpowered. One of the potential cons related to self-powered systems is servicing. If your speaker box fails to operate, you’ve got to uninstall it to service it. With a nonpowered system, you can usually get to a power amp much more easily than getting to a speaker box. Of course, powered or nonpowered, speaker components usually fail before an amp fails. I am obviously talking in general, but the reality of planning a sound system is that you must plan for repair and replacement. You also have to be certain to plan out your Edison. Powered boxes need power. money, or the money would cost them so much that the deal is no longer as interesting for them. It will be interesting to see if it ends up in court or not. Sid is by no means a dumb guy and may, in fact, make Harman a ton of money for having them back out.” The MAC claim includes an attempt to keep from paying the contractually stipulated $225 million termination fee. AMS Picks Up Turbo continued from cover marketplace,” Blackwood says. “American Music & Sound is extremely well aligned to take Turbosound to the next level in the U.S. They have a number of complimentary product lines in their roster to leverage our brand and are in a perfect position to market our products through their existing channels.” Lynn Martin, president of American Music & Sound noted Turbosound’s reputation for innovative systems and comments, “We are honored to have them on board, and we look forward to spearheading Turbosound’s push into the American market.” By JamieRio As far as picking out your system component manufacturers, I believe just about every speaker manufacture builds powered and nonpowered boxes. Once you have decided what manufacturer you will be using, you can price out the difference between powered boxes versus nonpowered boxes, amps, crossovers, etc. I actually would be very interested in somebody putting together an entire system — one powered and one nonpowered — using the same manufacturer’s products. I think it would be very interesting to see where things add up as far as price goes. If anyone out there decides to do this type of research, please e-mail me with your results. I would be very curious to know. Anyway, back to my subject. I have been leaning toward using powered install boxes for my latest projects, except in the case of wall- or ceiling-mounted speaker installations where the project requires four, six, eight or more speakers in a particular room. Finding Edison for all those speakers could be difficult. Needless to say, anytime I put something into a wall or ceiling, I will continue to use a nonpowered speaker. I think the bottom line here is that one type of system probably doesn’t sound better than any other type, but it may be easier for a church volunteer to operate a powered system rather than a nonpowered system. The plug-and-play aspect of a good powered system can really shine when you have a non-pro operating it. Send a letter to Jamie at jrio@fohonline.com
Participating Sponsors Below are the nominees for the 7th Annual Parnelli Awards. Cast your vote to honor those individuals and companies who have done outstanding work in the past year. Voting for the Parnelli Awards is limited to subscribers of Projection, Lights & Staging News and Front of House. To cast your vote, go to www.parnelliawards.com/vote Lighting Designer Abbey Holmes — Martina McBride Bob Dickenson — Super Bowl Halftime Show Butch Allen — Van Halen Patrick Woodroffe — Genesis Roy Bennett — Tim McGraw & Faith Hill Seth Jackson — Toby Keith Set/Scenic Designer Bruce Rodgers — Super Bowl Halftime Show Butch Allen — Christina Aguilera Jim Lenahan — John Mayer Mike Swinford — Kenny Chesney Seth Jackson — Toby Keith Roy Bennett — Tim McGraw & Faith Hill Lighting Company PRG — Justin Timberlake Bandit Lites — Toby Keith Ed & Ted’s Excellent Lighting — Beyoncé TMS Lighting — John Mayer Premier Global — Def Leppard Upstaging — Tim McGraw & Faith Hill Staging Company Brown United — Bonnaroo Mountain Productions — Crossroads Guitar Festival Stageco — Metallica G2 Structures — Kenny Chesney Kleege Industries — Bob Dylan Set Construction Company All Access Staging & Productions — Rascal Flatts Atomic Design — My Chemical Romance B&R Scenery — Super Bowl Halftime G&G Design Associates — BlizzCon 2007 Tait Towers — The Police PRG/Scenic Technologies — Wicked and the Parnelli goes to To ensure only one vote per person, you much input the subscription code from your address label. (See Web site for details.) 2007 Parnelli Ballot Be front and center as the industry salutes its finest companies and practitioners at the 7th Annual Parnelli Awards Bob Heil Audio Innovator Award www.parnelliawards.com/vote When: November 16, 2007 • 7pm Where: The Peabody Orlando Hotel • Orlando, FL SILVER SPONSORS Video Rental Company I-MAG Video — Rascal Flatts Screenworks/NEP — Kenny Chesney Nocturne — Tim McGraw & Faith Hill Moo TV — Martina McBride Pete’s Big TVs — Bruce Springsteen XL Touring Video — Roger Waters Rigging Company Five Points Rigging Atlanta Rigging Kish Rigging Ocean State Rigging Branam West Coast Stage Rigging Hometown Hero Lighting Company Northeast — Earl Girls, Egg Harbor City, NJ Southeast — Theatrical Lighting Services, Huntsville, AL Midwest — Koster Design, Hollister, MO Northwest — M&M Audio Labs, Coeur d’ Alene, ID Southwest — Precise Corporate Staging, Tempe, AZ. Canada — Christie Lites, Toronto, Ontario Pyro Company Advanced Entertainment Services — Various Shows Pyrotek Special Effects — My Chemical Romance Strictly FX — Toby Keith Zenith Pyro — WWE Wrestlemania 23 Pyro Spectacular — Super Bowl Halftime FOH Mixer Ken “Pooch” Van Druten — Linkin Park Dirk Durham — Toby Keith Chris Rabold — Widespread Panic Trip Khalaf — Roger Waters Robert Collins — Eric Clapton Tom Young — Tony Bennett HIGH-DEFINITION TELEVISION Video Director Andre Nolan — Martina McBride Bob Higgins — Santana Carol Dodds — Eagles Breck Haggerty — Tool Alastair MacDiarmid — Roger Waters Kevin Daniels — Toby Keith Monitor Mixer Bill Chrysler — Christina Aguilera Earl Neil — Toby Keith Kevin “Tater” McCarthy — Linkin Park Kevin Glendening — Justin Timberlake Stuart Delk — Rascal Flatts Mike Adams — John Mayer Sound Company Clair/Showco — Roger Waters Audio Analysts — Project Revolution Sound Image — Gwen Stefani Rat Sound — Red Hot Chili Peppers Eighth Day Sound — Arcade Fire Thunder Audio — Steely Dan Hometown Hero Sound Company Midwest — Great Lakes Sound, Toledo, OH Northeast — Firehouse Productions, New York, NY Northwest — Carlson Audio, Seattle, WA Southeast — Brantley Sound Associates, Nashville, TN Southwest — Big House Sound, Austin, TX Canada — Sound Art, Winnipeg, Manitoba Production Manager Bill Rahmy — Red Hot Chili Peppers Ed Wannabo — Kenny Chesney Scott Chase — Tim McGraw & Faith Hill Mike Weiss — Barbra Streisand Jake Berry — Walking With Dinosaurs Chris Adamson — John Mayer GOLD SPONSORS Tour Manager Jerome Crooks — Beastie Boys Fitzjoy Hellin — Gwen Stefani Kevin Lyman — Taste of Chaos David Milam — Toby Keith Marty Hom — Cirque du Soleil Amy Davidson — Arcade Fire Coach Company Hemphill Brothers Four Seasons Leasing Music City Coaches Senators Ziggy’s Custom Coaches Trucking Company Janco Stage Call Rock-it Cargo Road Show Ego Trips Upstaging Freight Forwarding Company Rock-it Cargo Fed EX Shockwave Show Freight Horizon EFM Gerry Stickells Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award
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