Hard Rock Live Orlando has upgraded its concert loudspeaker complement with a brand-new L-Acoustics KUDO line source array system.
After hearing KUDO demonstrated at ETS-LDI last November, Hard Rock Live Orlando technical director Brad Meszaros and front-of-house engineer Brian Robertson were convinced that it was the right system for their venue. Consequently, local systems integrator TechnoMedia Solutions (www.gotechnomedia.com) was brought in to install the rig for the 3,000-capacity venue, which now sports twin nine-box hangs of KUDO flanking the stage and four SB218 subwoofers flown directly behind each KUDO array, providing a single point source for the entire bandwidth of sound.
Additionally, half a dozen MTD108a eight-inch, two-way coaxial speakers are set out on the lip of the stage as needed to provide front fill directly in front of the stage, while a total of four 115XT loudspeakers are installed to provide balcony and underbalcony fill at the rear of the room. The whole system is impressively powered by nearly 100,000 watts of amplification.
According to Robertson, who has served as the venue’s FOH engineer since it opened in early 1999, “I have heard literally every P.A. on the planet come through here and this is by far the best that this room has sounded in the seven years that I’ve been here. There are a lot of reflective surfaces in here, so the room is extremely live. But by setting up the new system with SOUNDVISION design software and appropriately adjusting the dispersion of each cabinet, the KUDO boxes very effectively minimized those reflections and ‘tamed’ the room. I’ve been bugging management to provide some acoustic treatment for the room for a while now, but with this new rig, I no longer need it.
“Our previous loudspeaker system always struggled with vocals, which were overly sibilant, harsh on the midrange and fairly hard to understand,” Robertson continues. “The KUDO systems are so clear, though. Everything sounds so unbelievably nice and the coverage is now extremely even from the front of the stage to the back of the balcony. There’s no longer a best spot to hear.”
In the short time since the new KUDO rig went in, it has already been used on an extremely diverse array of artists, including Sir Elton John, the Black Crowes, Tracy Byrd, Aimee Mann, Scott Stapp, Wu-Tang Clan, W.A.S.P., the Moody Blues, Willie Nelson and many others.
For more information on KUDO, visit www.l-acoustics.com. For more information on Hard Rock Live Orlando, visit www.hardrock.com/live2/live.asp.
