New Adamson Systems Energia E15 line arrays were deployed by Energia beta partners MPM and Waveform Audio to provide main sound reinforcement at the Sonisphere festival site in Amneville, France, which featured artists such as Faith No More, Marilyn Manson, Wolfmother, Machine Head and others.
Chief audio designer Julien Poirot of Waveform notes, “The E15 is just a perfect PA. There is amazing headroom and precision in the low frequency with a very powerful and clean mid/high section. This is just the Adamson touch.”
Poirot’s design was executed with Adamson’s new software suite, Blueprint AV.
Machine Head front of house engineer Craig “Bozz” Porter comments, “I’m really interested in the E15 now, I love the Y18s with the T21s (subs), but the E15 with the T21s is the best Adamson rig I’ve heard.”
The main “Apollo” stage was set up inside an arena, with the B stage setup outside, surrounded by amenities and camping.
Apollo was outfitted with 12 E15s per side, joined by two Metrix 15-degree enclosures as down fill and 20 Y10 enclosures for each out fill array.
The stage measured 20 m (66 ft) wide by 19m (64ft) deep and utilized a stereo center fill, with two arrays of six 5-degree SpekTrix enclosures.
On the ground nine T21 subs were stacked per side in columns of three, with an additional two T21s placed in the center.
Between the center subs and side subs, four risers were erected with a single SpekTrix Sub and two SpekTrix 5-degree enclosures stacked for fill. Additional Metrix cabinets were also placed on the main T21 columns for fill.
On the stage, dual Adamson M15s with two stacked Metrix subs were used for line check, with 24 more M15s dedicated to stage monitoring. Two double-18 SpekTrix subwoofers bolstered drum fill, with stage fill supplied by four flown Y10s and two ground-stacked T21 subs per side.
The B stage was outfitted with eight E15s and six T21s per side, with four SX18 for front fill and two Metrix W for lip fill. The PA was set-up for an audience of 6,000, but on the second day of the festival, the organizer decided to move as many acts inside as possible due to inclement weather.
The event afforded Porter some time to evaluate and test the new e15s. “I got to feel it out and made some changes to see how it reacted, just basic stuff I normally do and specific things I do to specific PAs. I was very happy with the fidelity of the E15.”
