dBS Solutions Extend Wavefront Precision Box Count To 136

In anticipation of a busy summer festival season, Martin Audio partners dBS Solutions have invested further in the Wavefront Precision line array series with the largest format speaker—the WPL—taking their total WP box count to an impressive 136.

The company had already increased their stock of Martin Audio's compatible iK42 multichannel DSP amplifiers, enabling them to reconfigure larger racks for greater efficiency and faster load-ins—all in preparation for a busy outdoor schedule.

Explaining the underlying reason for the step up, managing director Chris Bogg, said that having enjoyed two successful seasons with WPC, this year it was pre-booked on a summer tour. "This left us with a bit of a shortfall, so it was a question of whether we invested further in WPC, or look at the larger box and prepare ourselves for our future."

They had experienced excellent results with WPC at events up to 65 metre throw distance before delays were required, he rationalised. "But there were a couple of jobs last year where we sub-hired MLA or WPL to achieve a greater distance without delays—so we're familiar with what the larger box could do for us." Thus the decision became self-evident.

He also emphasised that for a number of events they have run WPC in 1-box resolution to mitigate offsite noise and help improve the evenness of coverage. However they had started investing further in iKON amps even before the WPL arrived.

dBS Solutions' operations manager, James Roberts, explained: "Previously all our racks were configured the same way with three iK42. But now, with the bigger systems expected to go out regularly on festivals and arenas, we've built up some six-way racks that are pre-configured, and allow us to easily roll in a package for the greater efficiency at bigger festivals and arena shows."

They note that some arenas are notoriously poorly designed acoustically "and so being able to hard avoid the ceilings makes all the difference." AO Arena, to which dBS are contracted, is one venue that WPL will be regularly visiting this year.

All of which will give the company enormous flexibility over the summer. Says Chris Bogg, "Even in 2-box res the coverage is the smoothest I've heard. "Aside from WPL's sonic clarity he says dBS are fast building a reputation for taking on tricky sites where noise propagation is an issue. He cites the following example:

"Last year we did an event at Leazes Park in Newcastle where the offsite noise was a real issue—only 350 metres from the stage to the nearest residence. The guys doing the noise control did some calculations with another brand in Noise Calc and thought they might get 96-98dB max at FOH. But we did WPC in 1-box res and got 103dB at FOH … and it still measured less than 65dB at the nearest residence. When you put it in 1-box res and use all the tools available, it really is quite powerful."

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