Nexo Soundcheck hits Dubai
Published: MEA
UAE: Nexo recently held a Soundcheck demo at Dubai’s Festival City. Hosted by the manufacturer’s distributor in the UAE, VV & Sons, led by PV Davis and Joseph Ribero, Soundcheck parades the company’s latest sound reinforcement systems for a two-day presentation of ideas, philosophies and hardware. The roadshow took place at the Intercontinental Hotel, making good use of the gardens next to the waterside for its outdoor demo.
The first day’s activity was a specially-tailored one-day ETC training seminar, conducted by Nexo’s training manager and concert sound specialist Val Gilbert. ETC is the manufacturer’s Education, Training and Certification programme, and the ETC1 module covers the fundamentals of Nexo philosophy and technology, from the classic point-source Alpha Series systems to the present-day flagship STM Series of scalable line array elements. The course included an overview of Nexo’s proprietary processing and amplification, and NS-1 system modelling software.
The next day, Nexo and VV & Sons invited Dubai’s audio community to join them for a demonstration of the new compact line arrays, namely the Geo M6 and the STM M28.
‘We call them both compact,’ said Nexo marketing director, Ginny Goudy, ‘but there’s a sizeable difference between the petite M6, weighing less than 8kg a cabinet, and the rugged muscular M28, the newest module in the STM Series of scalable line array cabinets.’ Accordingly, Nexo chose to demo the M6 indoors, in one of the Intercontinental’s larger function rooms, and take the STM M28 outdoors.
‘Obviously a product like this has a massive range of potential applications but the production companies in our Dubai audience quickly focused on its suitability for corporate A/V clients, whose natural habitat is venues exactly like this,’ continued Ms Goudy. ‘On top of all this, the M6 concept is incredibly efficient in terms of amplifier power, with all 12 flown enclosures being powered from just one Nexo NXAMP powered controller. Another NXAMP provides power and processing for the subwoofers, if you need them, meaning that all the power and processing for this amazing little system occupies just six units of rackspace which is extremely space-effective - and in turn of course it’s also very cost-effective in terms of purchasing, transport and storage.’
Nexo’s guests then headed outdoors, where a sizeable configuration of STM M28 main modules had been set up on towers, with STM S118 subs ground-stacked below. One of the main reasons for choosing the gardens of the Intercontinental as a venue was the availability of the large open space, so that the PA system could be directed out over the water, well away from any population, and allowed to stretch its legs. The system comprised nine M28s per side (flown from portable towers with a lower trim height of approximately 4m) supplemented by 12 S118s arranged in two groups of six.
‘This compact S118/M28 system addresses the modern checklist of the production companies - when a PA of this power and flexibility, including amplification and FOH control gear, can be transported in a medium-sized truck and set up by a single crew member, it is a game-changer,’ noted Ms Goudy. ‘M28 has changed the game.’
Spotted in the audience were distinguished members of the Dubai production sound community, including representatives from PRG, Delta Sound, Eclipse, Media craft, Fonoon, and US creation, plus leading consultants from AVI-SPL, WADG and Auditoria, amongst others.