NORTHRIDGE, California – Billed as the largest scout and guide event ever held in Denmark, more than 37,000 gathered in a field just outside the city of Holstebro in northwest Jutland recently for the first-ever Jamboree Denmark 2012. Premier rental company Victory Tour Production took the opportunity to evaluate HARMAN'S newly-released JBL VTX line array system over the 8-day festival, which was organized by the five internationally-recognized guide and scout associations in Denmark. Looking to upgrade its inventory, Victory Tour Production hired a large system from AED Rent.
The company had first worked with VTX several months earlier at a 1-day festival called Herning Rocker at Teglparken Stadion, Herning. Victory's Jesper Sørensen confirmed that the company was eager to put it to the test again. “When it came to the Jamboree we wanted a system that could be used to cover the entire venue with the same boxes,” he said. “We wanted it to be easy to run over minimum distances of 100 meters with a single CAT5 cable to feed input and processing—and without needing to install subs at delay positions. That was the main challenge and the VTX was extremely good at that, providing nice low-end coverage across the entire coverage area.”
In total the company installed 84 V25 fullsize line array elements and 24 S28 arrayable subwoofers. The V25's were configured in two hangs of 12 per side, with 12 S28 subs per side configured as a cardioid array for improved rear rejection. In addition, there were six delay towers with 12 V25's per position for the first delay ring and a further three masts with eight V25 elements for the second delay ring.
According to Jakup Andrias Knudsen, LydRommet Denmark's Pro Audio Sales & Technical Support Specialist who provided system engineering support for the event, all delay towers were run with the X preset and the main system had a crossover at 80 Hz. “We tried different sub configurations until we found the one that worked best,” he said. “Since the opening and closing ceremonies were broadcast live, there was a major concern as to how much onstage spillage would occur and we found that the S28 works extremely well in cardioid mode, offering very good front-to-rear rejection.”
To get the best performance possible out of the VTX line arrays, the entire system was powered and processed using Crown I-Tech HD amps—with 42 I-Tech 4x3500HD amplifiers powering the V25's and 24 I-Tech 12000 HD amps running the subs. JBL HiQnet Performance Managerâ„¢ was used for system optimization and was highly effective in controlling the massive setup. “Thanks to Performance Manager I only needed to confirm the system response using Smaart V7,” Knudsen said. “After some sub alignment, delay time measurements and overall response testing, we were ready to run.”
Environmental impact on surrounding neighborhoods was also an important concern for the event, according to Knudsen. “We were not specifically asked to steer the sound away, since local residents had been warned of the event 18 months in advance. However, we made some last-minute changes to the outer delay hangs to minimize spillage and ended up with an 18dB drop in SPL at the perimeter, which kept everyone happy.”
The VTX system successfully demonstrated its versatility while handling many different types of program material over the eight days—with the opening and closing ceremony including speech, video feeds and live music, and daily performances from DJ's and live bands. Outstanding performance of the new D2 compression driver, in particular, showed just how revolutionary VTX is and Jesper Sørensen stated that the D2 technology had made quite an impact. “The D2 dual drivers are extremely powerful and provide a new means of listening to high frequencies. Some of the visiting engineers came with mixer setups and immediately noticed a difference in the high frequencies, discovering that they needed to mix in a new way to get the best out of VTX. All of them confirmed that the experience with the new JBL system was an excellent one.”
HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets – supported by 15 leading brands, including AKG, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon and Mark Levinson. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 20 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 13,400 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported sales of $4.4 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012.