Carnival & Crest Share The High Seas

More than 140 Crest Audio CK Series amplifiers were recently installed aboard Carnival Cruise Lines two newest ships, Carnival Costa Atlantica and Carnival Spirit, both built at the Kvaerner Masa Yards, Inc. shipbuilding facility in Helsinki, Finland.

On each ship, over 70 Crest CK amplifiers were installed for similar applications, with 59 Crest CK Series CKS-800, CKS-1200 and CKS-1600 models powering the sound in each ship's huge main lounge. In addition, Crest's NexSys control and load monitoring systems were installed on each of the ships amplifier systems.

"Carnival expressed their desire that Crest amplifiers be used on both these installations, specifically because other ships in their fleet also use Crest amplifiers, and Carnival's experience with Crest has been nothing less then superb," noted Rusty Cadaret, President of TSG Design Solutions, Inc., of West Palm Beach, Florida, who designed the ships' sound systems. "The reason we were very happy to use the Crest CK Series amplifiers is that, because they are as flexible as they are reliable, we were able to use them throughout the entire ship in a variety of applications. That meant we could have a single common platform for amplification on the entire project, which simplifies things tremendously."

Michael Lacy, of MAVCO, the primary contractor and installer of the system, based in Miami, concurred, adding, "What the Crest CK Series offered us was utter reliability, which is critical in an installation like a cruise ship, where access to repair and replacement parts is not as simple as it is on land. With the Crest CKS amplifiers, we experienced complete reliability - zero faults in testing - not a single failure. That's pretty remarkable."

In addition, at least four more cruise ships for the Carnival fleet are under construction or on order from the Helsinki ship yards, and each of those will also be completely outfitted with Crest CK Series amplifiers. The Carnival Costa Atlantica was launched from Helsinki on July 4 of this year, and made its maiden voyage to Venice before returning to its new home port of Port Everglades; the Carnival Spirit was just launched and its maiden voyage and home port destinations have yet to be announced by the cruise line. However, says Rusty Caderet, "Wherever they go, you know they're going to sound good."