Noted DJ David Guetta visits Brussels annually to play a large indoor concert, and for the second year running, he recently performed for a capacity crowd of 16,000 at the Palais 12 using leading Belgian rental company Arto S.A and its NEXO STM Series modular line array system—including for the first time—the new M28 down fill modules.
The Palais 12 gig was the opening concert for Guetta’s forthcoming world tour. Setting up the sound systems for front of house engineer Hassane Es Siahi was Arto system tech Pierre-Laurent Babuine, who regularly works with Guetta.
For main PA, Babuine called on left and right arrays of 15 sets of NEXO STM, comprising 15 x M46 main and 15 x B112 bass cabinets, together with 32 x S118 subbass units.
Flown in adjacent lines of main and bass modules, the arrays were completed by two diminuitive cabinets – these smaller fill loudspeakers are the new M28s, which complete the 4-piece suite of STM components. Although M28s have been sighted at festivals this summer, Guetta is the first headline artist to use the complete STM Series system on his own stage.
“Before the M28 arrived, we were using additional M46 cabinets in the line and extra infill modules to cover the front rows of the audience,” explains Babuine. “With the M28, which offers a maximum splaying angle of 15 degrees and 120 degrees of coverage in the horizontal plane, we are able to deliver precisely targeted nearfill and minimize the need for additional onstage cabinets.”
At Palais 12, a large grandstand at the rear of the hall was built to provide hospitality space for the VIPs. A delay system comprising two arrays of 5 x M46 main, 5 x B112 subs and 4 x S118 subs delivered to the rear of the audience area and to the grandstand, with a dedicated PA (this time NEXO GEO S12 and LS18 subs) actually in the hospitality area.
NEXO’s new GEO M6 compact loudspeakers also played a role in the production, providing monitoring for the system techs working stageside. All loudspeakers were powered by NEXO NXAMP4x4 amplifier/processors.
The 2-way M28 provides 90/120-degtree horizontal dispersion and 0- to 15-degree splaying angle between modules. Loaded with dual 8-inch cones, it’s the same width and two-thirds the height of the STM M46 main cabinet. In a large-format STM system, it is arrayed in the same column with the M46.
“Because it was designed as an integral element of the STM family, there is true coherency between the voicing of M46 and M28 modules,” states NEXO’s Denis Baudier. “This ensures a very smooth transition between the main PA and the downfill, with no difference in tonality for the first ten rows of the audience. This saves a lot of time for system techs and FOH engineers.”
