JBL used for Australian equine event

Attracting a combination of Olympic gold medallists, world-renowned educators and Australian cowboys, the annual Equitana event includes a broad range of horse-related activities including the participation of 350 exhibitors. At the heart of the recent show was the Grand Pavilion, described as one of the largest tensile fabric membrane structures in the Southern Hemisphere. Within it a 4,800-strong audience watched show-horses perform disciplines including dressage, reining, cutting, jumping, and campdrafting.

The JBL enclosures – provided by Deluxe Audio, contracted underneath Audio Visual Dynamics, and originally purchased from Australian Harman distributor Jands – were used to provide reinforcement for the Pavilion, taking particular care not to frighten the many horses that were performing.

‘You had to deliver so that the audience could hear but there were no uneven sounds – you couldn’t have a horse come round the corner and freak out as it was too loud,’ commented Dave Rees, managing director of Deluxe Audio. ‘We had to do everything from musical acts through to demonstrations with people sitting on horses with belt packs.’

Adding a further challenge was the delicate nature of the venue itself. Flying the reinforcement system proved difficult as the only hanging points were from the main king poles, which were on hinges and moved around under the Pavilion’s billowing roof.

‘The PA swaying around certainly doesn’t help,’ added Mr Rees. ‘It’s a demanding space to work in. We decided to hang VerTec 4888 at one end while trying out the 4886 at the other end. We were interested to see if the VerTec 4886 were ‘voiced’ the same as the main PA. Often you’ll find that even if two PA’s from the same manufacturer are time-aligned, they can sound radically different and will never sit in together. However when we fired them up they were instantly seamless.’

www.deluxeaudio.com.au

www.jands.com.au