CHICAGO – Since its debut in 1901, the Chicago Auto Show has emerged as North America's largest automobile exhibition. Now staged at McCormick Place, PRG supported Chrysler Group's audio needs with L-Acoustics gear.
This year, Chrysler Group's Dodge and RAM brands unveiled new versions of the Charger, Durango and 1500/3500 trucks, among other vehicles. For a Feb. 9 press event, PRG provided L-Acoustics loudspeakers and amplified controllers.
A1 Brian Bavido, A2 Jessica Kovach and PRG Orlando project manager and staff engineer Mark Boettcher supported the event, according to Melissa Powers, PRG Chicago national account executive.
Using L-Acoustics' Soundvision modeling software, Bavido and Boettcher specified that left and right arrays of six dV-DOSC elements paired with a nine-element dV-DOSC center array be flown over the 125-foot-wide stage for the press conference.
Low-end reinforcement was delivered via L-Acoustics' new SB18 subs flown four per side adjacent to the LR arrays.
For delay throughout the large booth area, PRG created five zones, each addressed by a compact array comprised of five KIVA elements paired with a single KILO low-frequency extension cabinet. L-Acoustics LA8 amplified controllers provided power and processing for the system.
Bavido noted that he was particularly impressed with the new SB18 subwoofers' performance.
"This was my first experience with those subs, and they were absolutely amazing," he said. "Their compact size and captive rigging made them extremely easy to fly, and the sound was fantastic. I had quite a number of engineers handling other press events tell me after the show how good they thought everything sounded, especially the nice, tight bass. It was really quite remarkable how well the SB18s managed low end in the space."
Although Bavido would have preferred to use PRG's new L-Acoustics KARA enclosures instead of dV-DOSC, he noted that KARA has been "so overwhelmingly popular that we just couldn't get our hands on them for this project. Thankfully, PRG has already ordered more and I'm hoping to use them at the New York Auto Show in April because they're at the top of my list.
"The thing that never fails to impress me about L-Acoustics is that no matter what systems are being used – from the tiny little 108P all the way up to large enclosures like V-DOSC – all elements sonically complement each other so well," Bavido added. "There are plenty of other loudspeaker companies whose various product lines sound completely different. But with L-Acoustics, thankfully, I find that I have to put very little effort into making the boxes ‘play nice' with each other in the same space."
For more information, please visit www.prg.com and www.l-acoustics.com.
