3G Live Flies Kudo at MGM Grand

Shortly after acquiring its new 16-box L-ACOUSTICS KUDO system, sound reinforcement provider 3G Live flew the rig in mid-October at the MGM Grand Garden Arena for Pre-Paid Legal Services' (PPLS) 2005 Las Vegas Leadership Summit.

Attended by nearly 15,000 PPLS associates, the event utilized eight KUDOs per side as side hangs, plus twin house arrays each comprised of 12 V-DOSC mains and six dV-DOSC downfills. A total of eight SB218 subs provided the low-frequency reinforcement, with six racks of LA 48a amplifiers called upon to drive all of the enclosures.

"This event was one of our first big opportunities to use our new KUDO system, which we purchased in late-September, and they sounded phenomenal--every bit as fantastic as our Vs and dVs," says 3G Live audio engineer Curtis Zavodny. "And they require very little, if any, EQ to do so. For the Pre-Paid Legal show, we made one minor 1.5dB cut at 400Hz, but it was the fault of the room, not the loudspeakers. That particular frequency always rolls around in an arena. Other than that, the EQ was flat.

"One of the challenges of this particular event was that it had an enormous set, complete with front-projection video, so we were dealing with a much higher trim height than normal. However, we plotted out the system using L-ACOUSTICS' SOUNDVISION acoustics modeling software and, as predicted, the system's coverage pattern was ultra-precise, providing consistently even coverage throughout the entire seating area. There were no audio 'surprises'.

"We were really knocked out by the amount of level we were able to achieve considering the fact that most of the input signals were from wireless lavs and podium mics. With those types of mics and that much PA in the room, most people expect to wrestle with low-end rumble, feedback and other issues, but we experienced none of that," Zavodny notes.

The MGM Grand Las Vegas Hotel and Casino is no stranger to L-ACOUSTICS. Six years ago, the facility installed an ARCS/dV-DOSC system in its intimate Hollywood Theatre, and, for the past year, the in-house production team has been making nearly constant use of its own 16-box dV-DOSC system powered by LA Series amplifiers for conventions, ballroom shows and other events.