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New Gear
Karl Kussmaul with the Sony ECM-322 Headset mic.
AES also had the usual complement of mic announcements,
too.
Sony Electronics announced the expansion of the
frequency availability for many of its WL-800 Series
Wireless transmitter models with the introduction of
two new channel blocks 30/32 and 42/44. The new
channels were developed to aid end-users in configuring
Sony wireless systems with increased flexibility in
UHF-TV channel selection. That’s Karl Kussmaul holding
the ECM-322 headset microphone, with the 822B transmitter
in the background on the table.
We also got to talk to the good folks over at Audio-
Technica and ask them why they don’t include a spare
dual XLR adapter for their ATM250DE dual-action microphone.
Turns out they had considered it, but including an
extra adapter would up the price by an additional $50,
and they didn’t want to push the price point any higher.
We don’t know which is more disturbing: manufacturers
thinking like FOH, or FOH thinking like a manufacturer.
Lastly, DPA was showing off their SMK mic kit, a
5.4mm electret condenser capsule that they had mounted
to the inside of a piano. With the help of a pianist for
the San Francisco Opera and a little Mozart they showed
off the incredible sound from this tiny package.
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If you had any doubt about digital
migrating to the anklebiter level, all
it took was a quick stop at the Mackie
booth to put those doubts aside. Mackie
is shipping a couple of add-ons for its
very affordable TT24 digital mixer. One
is a processor card that gives you the
functionality of a Lake Mesa EQ, controllable
from the console and the other is a
— you guessed it — digital snake. Looks
like it might be time to consider buying
stock in companies that make good Cat5
cable.
Kevin Hill with the Variant 25A
From JBL’s very large we go to the very small,
as D.A.S. introduced their baby line array, the Variant
25A. It’s designed for use as a multi-box array
in small to mid-sized installations, but the ability to
pole-mount a couple of self-powered boxes with
an actual compression driver at a price point where
others are offering soft-dome tweeters means you
are going to see these used live along with the Variant
18A sub. A pair of 25As and a sub will set you
back about five grand a side. No wonder sales Jedi
Kevin Hill is grinning…
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18 November 2006 www.fohonline.com
Gil Perales with the Mackie TT24 and add-ons
That Lampy Show
Is it just me, or is it terribly annoying that
the only trade show where you can really
hear concert-scale systems in their natural
environment is a freaking LIGHTING show?
Anyway the shootout-that-isn’t-really-ashootout
of speaker systems made it worth
spending an entire day at LDI. (Yeah, they call
ET Live — whatever, it’s still a lighting show.)
So what was what? Harman did a live
surround demo featuring an interestingly
dressed club singer. EAW showed off the
greatly improved KF series line array. With
new Gunness Focusing and the ability to fly
the subs, it sounded like a whole new system.
Unfortunately, the reflection off of the apartment
building a block away made it hard to
really hear from more than about 60 feet
away. (And we’re sure the apartment residents
were thrilled…) Stage “D” featured a turnkey
d&b rig, and had other speaker makers singing
its praises. Expensive or not, this is a very
good sounding system — especially with the
advantage of Robert Scovill running a Digidesign
VENUE and using live Tom Petty tracks for
the demo.
Across the parking lot the Meyer system
sounded great — as expected — but the sur-
Jan-Al cases’ displays RockmountCity.com
Jan-Al Cases, purveyors of custom cases, announced
they will launch RackmountCity.com in the first quarter of
2007. This one-stop shop site will provide engineers and
rack-mounting professionals with a complete source for
specifications, reference information, and point of purchase
for racks, rack cases and rack accessories, whether
for the road or permanent installation. It will allow users
the ability to design racks by integrating product information
and electronics manufacturers specifications on a
searchable database. It will include extensive guidelines
and “how to’s,” glossaries and explanations meant to standardize
communications about rack mount products.
Jeff Cox on the EAW stage at ET Live
prises were A-Line, whose active system uses
the amp in one box to power a second box,
making it much more affordable. An unusual
hang (no curve) made it hard to really judge
on a sound level, but coverage was good,
and you should expect to see a lot of smaller
soundcos looking at this as their entrée into
the line array game.
The last system I heard was also greatly
improved over previous outings. The QSC
WideLine is true to its name with the widest
image among the bunch, and the retuned
boxes sounded very good. Like the EAW, the
unexpected was how different it sounded
from how we remembered it.
Now if they could only get this kind of
demo at an actual audio show we would
have something to cheer about.