Even through a storm of historic proportions, EAW® KF740 and SB1002 Modules impress engineers and audience alike
Whitinsville, MA, USA, July 16, 2010 – EAW®, a world leader in audio system solutions, was recently selected as the loudspeaker of choice for Melbourne, Victoria, Australia’s Moomba Festival. The Festival is the continent’s largest and longest-running event of its type, held annually since 1954. While the Moomba Festival is not a music festival, in recent years, the show organizers have introduced a free music stage where popular Australian acts play for those attending the festival. This year, performers included popular recording artists Vanessa Amorosi and GRAMMY® winner Colin Hay. For event P.A., organizers selected several EAW models for their durability and sound quality.
As it turned out, the 2010 Moomba Festival saw some particularly bad weather conditions, but
EAW loudspeakers more than passed the test, keeping the music going after Melbourne’s worst storm in half a century and performing flawlessly well after the weather had moved on.
The loudspeaker configuration included 16 EAW KF740 3-Way Full Range Line Array Modules, arranged eight per side, and eight EAW SB1002 Large Format Flyable Subwoofers, arranged four per side. The entire P.A. was powered by Powersoft K10 amplifiers. Ben Clarke, System & Projects Manager for Production Audio, EAW’s Australian distributor, stated “We ran the KF740 system completely full range, and deployed the SB1002 array in a cardioid fashion on the deck. The system ran in true stereo, with no aux-fed subs or other enhancements. There was much concern and disbelief about our placement instructions, but when the system was phase aligned and balanced, which took less than 10 minutes, it resulted in unanimous jaw-dropping – a very effective festival configuration.�
Graeme Stevenson, Managing Director for Production Audio, stated, “During the festival, Melbourne had its worst ‘superstorm’ in 50-plus years. Hailstones up to four inches in diameter, flash flooding and up to three inches of rain fell within a few hours on Saturday. Still, the festival stage was a big success, despite the storm, and everyone was impressed and thrilled that the system performed so perfectly while being subjected to these conditions,�
Colin Hay’s FOH Engineer Mike “Ace� Baker, who has also worked with Sammy Hagar, Aretha Franklin and Hay’s former band Men at Work, was impressed with the durability of the system. He stated, “Wow. We had no sound check, it was pouring rain and it was the first day of our tour. But who cares?! The rig sounded amazing and seemed to chase the rain away. EAW once again retains its spot on the top of my riders.�
As the popular saying goes, the show must go on. Stated Stevenson, “After the system was dried out from Saturday’s storm, it performed flawlessly on Sunday and Monday, running for a good ten hours straight on both days.�
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