Firehouse Productions (Red Hook, NY) deployed Harman’s JBL Professional VTX line arrays and Crown Audio I-Tech HD amplifiers at the recent iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas, providing sound reinforcement for artists including Taylor Swift, Iggy Azalea, Nicki Minaj and One Direction.
The 4th annual two-day festival took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena with a capacity crowd of more than 16,000 on hand.
The system included 36 JBL VTX V25 full size array elements (18 per side) for the main PA, 28 JBL VerTec VT4889 full size line array elements (14 per side) for side hangs, and 16 VTX G28 subwoofers, with 16 VT 4886 subcompact line array elements providing front fill.
Powering the system were 106 Crown amplifiers, which included both I-Tech 12000HDs and I-Tech 4x3500HD models with proprietary DriveCore technology. System management and control were handled with JBL HiQnet Performance Manager software.
“The VTX line is great for this kind of show, which requires not only high SPL but also clarity and accuracy,” states Mark Dittmar, VP of design and engineering for Firehouse Productions. “The show definitely runs on the loud side because of the nature of the performers but we really like to have fun with it. We always know we have enough headroom no matter how hard the bands hit it.”
Dittmar also notes that the Crown amplifiers are the best match for the VTX rig for large-scale events such as this one. “The Crown amps continue to be rock solid and knowing they are optimized for the JBL loudspeakers we are confident they give us the best combination of control and performance,” he concludes. “We’ve definitely had great success with the system and the wide range of performers have been happy as well.”
Firehouse Productions
JBL Professional
Crown Audio
Harman Professional