AV Vegas Concert Sound and Lighting once again recently provided the sound reinforcement systems for the annual Las Vegas Rock n’ Roll Marathon Series, this year deploying Harman’s JBL Professional VTX line arrays and Crown Audio I-Tech HD amplifiers for the first time at the event.
The Rock n’ Roll Marathon draws more than 30,000 runners annually. For a few hours a year, Las Vegas Boulevard is closed to all traffic and becomes the best-lit running track in the world. Runners pass more than two dozen stages with live bands and DJs urging them on.
Specifically, AV Vegas deployed JBL VTX at the marathon’s start line truss structure, configured in two hangs of three V25 full-size line array loudspeakers, each accompanied by a single VTX S28 subwoofer. The crew also installed pairs of truss-mounted JBL VRX932LA Constant Curvature loudspeakers every 200 feet down the boulevard.
After closing the Boulevard at noon on the day of the race, there was a small window of time to assemble the truss structure in the street, hang the arrays and program the lighting that had been pre-installed the night before. “We took delivery on the VTX and two-channel Crown I-Tech HD amplifiers just a couple days before the marathon,” says John Hansen, CEO of AV Vegas. “We literally threw the amps into some road cases, set the presets with JBL HiQnet Performance Manager and onto the truck for the gig.”
In addition, this year marathon organizers wanted to arrange towers of loudspeakers along the run path to maximize the time when the runners would hear music. In the past, runners would run past live music stages and only be in the pattern of the stage loudspeakers for a short time.
Enter the “Mile of Music” concept: AV Vegas’ staging department built 4- x 8- x 7-foot decks and placed them 500 feet apart on the Las Vegas Strip. The audio department installed a pair of ground-stacked V25 loudspeakers facing north and another pair facing south on each tower. The audio signal was sent wirelessly with a selection of antennas.
“At one point, after the Strip was closed to general street traffic, I was able to drive my car past the Mile of Music with my windows open and sunroof open,” Hansen says. “The test track sounded great, but then the bass kicked in on the track. Suddenly, there was such incredible thump and we were not using subs. At a time in entertainment history where the demand for sub bass is growing, it is nice to know that the top boxes are up to the challenge too.
“The box had already won my heart with the clarity of the new D2 high-frequency driver, but after hearing them in this application, I am sure we made a good decision buying this box.”
AV Vegas Concert Sound and Lighting
JBL Professional
Crown Audio
Harman Professional