Tannoy's VQ In Glastonbury's Dance Tent

Tannoy's hottest new product, the VQ Series loudspeaker system, was deployed with stunning success in one of Glastonbury-s most innovative tents in the Dance Village - the Igloo.
A recent addition to the famous festival's Dance Village, the Igloo is the brainchild of cutting edge events company Igloo Vision, providing a unique immersive 360 degree projection environment designed to transport the 1400 capacity audience to an alternate world using live video mixing and audio. In the case of Glastonbury, the Igloo hosted some big name DJs including Ninja Tunes artists, The Quemists, and Dave Beer, and needed a capable sound system to meet their demands. That's where Tannoy's VQ came in.
With just a single stack per side, comprising a VQ NET 60 cabinet above an accompanying VS218 DR subwoofer, the aesthetic impact on the visual projection space of the Igloo interior was minimal. Thanks to the VQ's high sensitivity and incredible SPL though, the sound from just that pair of stacks was phenomenal.
Tannoy's Tim Gray commented: "I was worried that just 2 subs and 2 VQ NET 60 tops for 1,400 people would be cutting it fine, but it absolutely kicked arse - to a staggering degree! "The best thing about the system though, was getting more familiar with the subs. This new twin 18" design clearly sets a new performance standard for Tannoy subwoofers and it's just awesome for sub-bass... these things are monsters, and musical too. Because they are so deep and have such a large internal volume, they go really low, which is a given, but they've also got this mid-range "thwack thwack thwack" to them as well... it's actually a characteristic of the driver/enclosure combination and it sounds gorgeous. It lends quite an aggressive/attacking edge to the sub which is a really, really difficult thing to achieve.
"We were pushing into the 130dB plus level out front with ease, no red-lights, no hint of strain... just from a single pair! The other beauty of the setup was that, as it's not the usual cluster of different cabinets being arrayed, the stereo imaging is a dream. It's like the biggest, baddest pair of Hi-Fi speakers you ever heard!"
The new VQ series was designed for any application where precise directional control, outstanding sonic performance, and high SPL's are critical issues; and the Igloo dome demanded just that, as Igloo Vision's Colin Yellowley explained: "Due to the nature of Glastonbury's restrictions on what we could use for a sound system we found ourselves in a tough position. The old Igloo rig was a cumbersome 10K Das system which Glastonbury would not allow us to use based on the power consumption.
"Tannoy’s VQ system allowed us to provide amazing clarity of sound at a high impact level that left DJs clamouring to use the system. This combined with the 360 projections of the Igloo combined to create something that was considered to be the best offering in the dance village area. The physical size was also a great bonus for us. Due to the nature of our geodesic dome tent floor space is of a premium and the low footprint of the VQ system helped squeeze those extra punters in."
Utilising precision engineering and design, the VQ series can produce enough power and clarity to be used individually unlike traditional line array solutions, making them a potentially more convenient choice for touring/live applications. The VQ's high sensitivity ensures exceptional SPL levels can be achieved with a very modest amount of amplifier power. As an example, the VQ 60 will produce 115dB for 1 Watt; and 138dB (144dB peak) for only 200 Watts of amplifier power. Elsewhere the range has already enjoyed a high profile install at Ibiza’s premier dance club, Es Paradis, and recently impressed a typically demanding and hard-to-please American audience at the recent InfoComm show in Las Vegas.
Further information is available at: www.igloovision.com.
(KMcA/JM)