SHANGHAI — Earlier this year, K-Array (k-array.com) announced the first entries in its Firenze series — its new KH8 top and KS8 subwoofer touring loudspeakers. Referred to as “Slim Array Technology,” the KH8’s fit the name — each is built into a 46.4 x 19.7-inch (W x H) frame that’s that’s less than eight inches deep, yet contains eight 8-inch neodymium woofers, eight 4-inch cone MF drivers and four 1.4-inch exit HF compression drivers, offering 120° horizontal and DSP-controllable vertical dispersion.
The KH-8’s Powersoft internal triamplification with Mario Di Cola-designed onboard DSP allows not only fast, repeatable setups, but also adds a few tricks of its own, such as beam steering, via the eight onboard DSP channels providing FIR control and delay within each KH8.
Lab testing is one thing, but real-world, major event applications are the ultimate test. K-Array worked with Sennheiser China president Marc Vincent to arrange a scenario that would put the system through its paces: the 2014 JZ Festival in Shanghai, a two-day event in late-October, that featured a wide range of music styles including artists such as Pat Metheny, Bootsy Collins, Snarky Puppy and Marcus Miller. The event presented a number of unique sound design challenges, including controlling sound bleed from one stage to another, tailored spatial coverage and frequency control — for more than 30,000 fans attending the weekend event.
THE INSIDE VIEW
For an inside view, we spoke to noted FOH engineer Rick Camp, who has worked with J-Lo, Beyoncé and others. “Michael Apodaca from [Southern California-based soundco] Unisound was in Bejing, mixing some Larry Graham shows on the system and came back raving about it,” Camp recalls. “He introduced me to Marc Vincent and K-Array president Alessandro Tatani at InfoComm this year and they invited me to come and try it out in China.”
The venue was an open outdoor plaza outside Mercedes Benz arena in central Shanghai. “I mixed some of the acts, including a big band, The Soul Rebels and Cui Jian — the Chinese rock and roll pioneer who was playing rock there before it was even legal,” says Camp, who even before he heard it, was impressed by the system.
“It’s slickly put together, with three boxes on a frame on a dolly, with audio, control and power on LK25 and Socapex cables connecting internally,” Camp explains. “You then just roll up another three boxes on a frame, and connect those and fly it up. One person could fly an entire system in 20 minutes. It’s that easy. We were using 12 KH8’s per side with 18 double-21 subs. I haven’t felt sub like that in some time and the LF transient response wasn’t slow at all, especially for a 21-inch woofer.”
The venue was about 400 feet deep, with the house position 150 feet from the stage, yet no delays were required. “The throw is amazing,” Camp adds. “You can go out 300 or 400 feet before you hear any dropoff in the high-end. And the dispersion is equally amazing. I was about 15 feet in front of the boxes and could walk 50 or 60 feet off-axis before I could hear any HF rolloff. You won’t get that out a regular line array box.”
The show didn’t require much in the way of front fill, Camp explains, “because once you were more than five feet back from the stage, you were in the coverage field of the mains. I don’t know how they did it, combining a long throw in a non-horn loaded box, that also provided wide dispersion. And even with a lot of DSP and beam steering involved, you couldn’t hear any artifacts at all. It was all very transparent.”
Besides compactness, high power, DSP/steering control and fast setups, the Firenze series also offers high weather resistance — even to heavy downpours. But to Camp, the bottom line is the sound. “The vocals are amazing and cut right through. You never have to sacrifice music for vocals or vice versa. The intelligibility is crystal clear at all frequency ranges with no phase issues at all. This box has headroom for days. You could be hitting 120 dB and never even know it.”
Camp was not alone in his Firenze series enthusiasm. “Blake Smith, who engineers for Bootsy Collins also loved the system,” Camp says, adding that “Lou Mannarino of L&M Sound & Light [Staten Island, NY] recently bought a 12 box-system with another 12 coming in February.” So perhaps you may be hearing a K-Array KH8 rig in your future.
