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Nexo GEO D Array System Passes First Big Test in Switzerland
More than 200,000 people attend the Fête de la Musique, Geneva's main annual musical event. When it takes over the streets and squares of the city for three days every summer, across more than 40 indoor and outdoor stages, music is everywhere featuring musicians from all over the world - classical orchestras, electro jazz bands, rock, pop, world music, French music... the choice is immense and wide-ranging.
Geneva-based sound rental company ZAP Audio was, for the first time, using the new Nexo GEO D tangent-array loudspeakers, debuting them at the largest of the outdoor venues, a specially-constructed stage outside Geneva's Grand Theatre. For audiences of up to 6,000, this stage hosted performances from a wide variety of artists, from classical orchestras and ballet companies, to brass bands and salsa bands.
The GEO D cabinets are Nexo's third-generation tangent-array loudspeakers, sharing many patented features with GEO S and GEO T designs. With the latest software now available on the Nexo NX242 TDcontrollers, the GEO D can offer unrivalled pattern-control, as well as advanced EtherSound network potential.
Using a system design by ZAP's Frédéric Walder, prepared using GEOSoft proprietary software, the main stage PA system comprised 12 cabinets of GEO D10 3-way vertical array modules (six cabinets per side), together with two CD18 subbass cabinets, and four PS10 compact speakers for front fill.
The main system was controlled by NX242 TDcontrollers, fitted with NXtension-ES4 Expander Boards for improved processing capacities, additional Digital Inputs/Output and the remote control functions that are available using an EtherSound network. Extensive system control was available at front-of-house via the network, including monitoring of all the CAMCO Vortex amplifiers, the NX242 processors, and the audio return channels from the Yamaha PM5D front-of-house desk to the GEO D system. (The PM5D was equipped with an Auvitran AVY16-ES card.).
For monitoring, ZAP set up 16 PS15 cabinets, all powered by Camco Vortex, and mixed on another Yamaha PM5D digital console, with Auvitran AVY16-ES.
Frédéric Walder reported that the GEO D, on its first large-scale public outing in Switzerland, had created an excellent impression. "The sound quality was very good indeed; the system was powerful yet still musical and clear. GEO D compares very well with Nexo's other GEO systems, in my opinion the sound is more detailed and the stereo image is wider. On the Grand Theatre stage, where we designed the system using GEOSoft, we found the software predictions to be extremely accurate, and the sound coverage provided by the D10s was first-class.
"There was a great variety of music being played on the Grand Theatre stage, so these were ideal conditions for a full evaluation of GEO D's performance. We also had the opportunity to play our reference CDs, and I can say that the GEO D sounds as good as my studio reference monitors (PMC). In Switzerland, most of our shows use smaller array systems, typically 10 boxes a side, and poor dispersion of the mids and lo-mids is a common problem. GEO D gives us fantastic powerful coverage in the mid-range, especially the lo-mid. It's a delight to use."
ZAP Audio also equipped three more stages at the Fete de la Musique, using GEO S cabinets, CD12 subbass units and PS10/PS15 combinations for stage monitoring. On these three stages, all mixing was done on Yamaha digital consoles, all amplification was Camco Vortex.
14th July 2006
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