Hughie’s Event Production Services, a provider of lighting, audio, video, rigging, staging, custom set fabrication, and related services for the special events market, recently took delivery of a sizeable assortment Aero Series 2 and UX Series loudspeakers from D.A.S. Audio.
The purchase includes twenty-four Aero 20A compact, powered line arrays, eight UX-218 dual 18-inch transducer subwoofers, and twelve Aero 12 compact line array enclosures to augment their existing set of twelve cabinets.
Brian Lackritz, general manager of Hughie’s, oversees much of the company’s business operations for the home office in Cleveland and assists the two satellite branches in Columbus, OH and Pittsburg, PA.
Lackritz reports, “Previously, we owned twelve Aero 12 line arrays and several LX-218CA powered subwoofers plus a complete assortment of ground stacking trays, fly bars, and other hardware. This new purchase not only expands on our existing equipment arsenal, most importantly, it opens up opportunities for larger projects.”
“We plan on using our D.A.S. cabinets on most of our events—both indoor and, especially, outdoor,” Lackritz adds. “While the enclosures are not fully waterproof, these loudspeakers do offer a weather resistance option that our other systems do not. That’s particularly important in Northeast Ohio where we are routinely impacted by lake effect weather, given our proximity to Lake Erie.
“Our work involves providing sound reinforcement support for local, regional, and national acts, and this new equipment will be central to those efforts. With our Aero 12’s, for example, the versatility of hanging stacks of 2-3 cabinets in a large room for distributed sound is another crucial part of what we do.”
When queried about those aspects of the D.A.S. loudspeaker systems that are most important to the overall nature of the company’s business, Lackritz offers the following thoughts. “Sound quality is first and foremost,” he explains. “Sibilance is always an important consideration—particularly in many of the corporate events we supply. For corporate presentations, a high level of speech intelligibility is crucial if the message is to be understood by those in attendance. In this respect, the D.A.S. loudspeakers excel.
“Similarly, their music reproduction capabilities are excellent, which is important to the various production riders and musical acts we support. Equally important is the rigging hardware and dispersion characteristics. The ease of stacking enclosures and working with the fly bridges, along with the overall coverage these boxes provide are the primary reasons for making the additional investment with D.A.S.”
With spring being in full gear and the all-important summer season on the horizon, Lackritz envisions a busy schedule ahead for their new loudspeaker investment.
“Our D.A.S. cabinets will be used for their first outing at either a college commencement or for the Cleveland Marathon that starts on May 21st. For the Cleveland Marathon, we expect to accommodate 25,000-30,000 people at the start and/or finish lines.”
The size of the equipment purchase by Hughie’s Event Production Services is substantial. With investments like this, customer and technical support services are considered vital. When asked about his experience with D.A.S. Audio in this regard, Lackritz was very complimentary.
“D.A.S. has always been there for us,” he says. “We choose manufacturers that have a U.S. presence. Technical support and clear communication is vital, and for this we need a local, US-based presence to best ensure timely responses to our questions. D.A.S. Audio’s Miami-based training staff is knowledgeable and thorough. We recently invited the audio engineers from our Columbus and Pittsburgh offices here for product training on May 10th. The D.A.S. team did a great job.”
Before turning his attention back to his company’s business, Lackritz offers these final thoughts on D.A.S. Audio, “We made our recent purchase with D.A.S. based on the overall performance of the D.A.S. cabinets we already had. D.A.S. Audio’s sound quality, power, coverage, ease of programming, and overall performance fits both our business model and our client’s needs perfectly.
“Our new investment with the Aero 20A’s and UX-218 subs complements our existing inventory and enables us to support new and larger concerts and events. We routinely receive rave reviews from our clients and I have every confidence that our recent D.A.S. purchase will more than pay for itself.”
