LAFAYETTE, La. —Louisiana-based Gulf Coast Sound (GCS) and consultants Acoustic Dimensions (Dallas) recently installed an Electro-Voice XLC sound system into the Cajundome in Lafayette, La. The 12,086-seat Cajundome is the Lafayette area’s premiere venue for regional and national concert tours, the Louisiana State Boys Basketball Tournament, and also serves as the home for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s men and women’s basketball teams.
Having provided temporary EV sound reinforcement for the Cajundome on numerous occasions, Gulf Coast Sound’s familiarity with the venue played a large role in securing the contract for their new permanent sound system. Last spring, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette approached GCS owner Larry Habetz to discuss sound for their three-day commencement ceremonies. GCS brought in an XLC 127DVX system with FIR-Drive to demonstrate the level of precise coverage and audio intelligibility available to the University.
“We used an XLC rig and six EV microphones to cover the orchestra for the commencement demo,” Habetz says, “and while we were still setting up, the orchestra began to warm up, so I pushed up the faders on our Midas Heritage mixing console, and my Front of House engineer turned to me and said, ‘where did you get that CD?’ I told him, ‘that’s the orchestra playing.’ The system sounded that good running flat!”
At the core of the Cajundome’s new system are six central XLC hangs. Four corner arrays each comprise six XLC 127DVX and six XLC 907DVX boxes (with 120- and 90-degree coverage patterns, respectively), each with two XLC215 subs on top. This installation marks the first time that 907DVX boxes have been used over 127DVX boxes; EV designed a special FIR preset for these four corner hangs. Both the east and west main hangs comprise 14 XLC 127DVX with two XLC215s; four FRX+940 loudspeakers are flown beneath the scoreboard, providing down-fill for court coverage.
Forty-eight P3000RL amplifiers power the system, and two NetMax N8000 system controllers handle all DSP, controlled via IRIS-Net software. A Midas Verona 240, a Klark Teknik Helix 9344E, and a Helix 9340E round-out a system that is 100-percent EV, Midas and KT.
“The intelligibility of the XLC boxes and their ease of application are what set them apart,” says Habetz. “Whenever we do a show and hang an XLC rig, it’s so dynamic and intelligible out of the box that there’s hardly any need for EQ’ing. It’s easy to get what we’re listening for. The XLC is hands-down the most articulate sound system I’ve ever heard. We’ve been using XLC since the first generation (2002), through the DVX woofer upgrade, and now with NetMax and FIR filters. This means our six-year-old XLC boxes are still cutting edge—a great investment.”
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