Harman Professional Solutions once again was the audio solution of choice for Jimmy Kimmel Live’s annual week of remote shows, which were broadcast in October from the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Kimmel’s hometown of Brooklyn, New York.
Guests included Bill Murray, Michael J. Fox and Bradley Cooper, with performances by Misty Copeland, Esperanza Spalding and Public Enemy.
The lineup of Harman components was selected by Firehouse Productions, a Red Hook, New York based Pro AV company whose credits include the iHeartRadio Music Festival, the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame ceremony and Kimmel’s remote shows for the past decade. This year’s system featured JBL VTX V25-II loudspeakers and Crown I-Tech 4x3500HD HD amplifiers.
With the goal of providing maximum clarity and intelligibility for every seat in the house, the rig for the remote shows included two hangs of 12 JBL VTX V25-II loudspeakers on each side of the stage for the main PA and JBL Vertec VT4880A ground-stacked subwoofers. The system was powered by Crown I-Tech 4x3500HD amplifiers, and both the JBL loudspeakers and Crown amplifiers were managed by JBL HiQnet Performance Manager software.
Mark Dittmar, lead design and integration engineer for Firehouse Productions, said that the new VTX line arrays made a big impression on the Jimmy Kimmel Live staff.
“The engineer mixing front of house was worried about using lavalier microphones in such close proximity to the arrays,” said Dittmar. “But once he heard the new system, he was blown away by the excellent high frequency control under and around the arrays. There were zero feedback issues.”
The VTX 25-II features a new waveguide for improved long-throw performance, improved wavefront control and improved power matching with the Crown I-Tech 4x3500HD amplifier. Dittmar said that the decision to upgrade to the new VTX line arrays has paid off tremendously.
“The new VTX V25-II capabilities are a true game changer,” said Dittmar. “The increased high frequency output and projection coupled with the new phase alignment translates to an incredible level of clarity. It’s like the loudspeakers moved 50 percent closer to the audience.”
Dittmar said his company’s longstanding relationship with Jimmy Kimmel Live helped facilitate a smooth transition to a new system.
“The shows were a tremendous success and Jimmy’s staff could not stop talking about how great the sound was,” he said. “Since we’ve provided sound for these remote shows for a decade, we were able to keep things running in a smooth fashion while deploying an updated system. This is largely thanks to the straightforward integration of the JBL VTX V25-II with updated loudspeaker presets for our Crown I-Tech 4x3500HD amplifiers. Needless to say, the show’s staff was pretty happy with the new gear.”
