For over a decade, L-ACOUSTICS Rental Network companies Loud & Clear, Inc. and Mid-America Sound Corporation have enjoyed a unique partnership.
Sharing a combined inventory of more than 400 L-ACOUSTICS-branded enclosures, the two Midwestern U.S. sound reinforcement providers have now embarked on their next step: jointly investing in a new K1 rig and becoming members of the system’s K1/KUDO Pilot Program.
Loud & Clear, under the direction of Bill Deavers, is located in Cincinnati, Ohio, while Mid-America Sound, headed up by Kerry Darrenkamp, is based in Indianapolis, Indiana, less than two hours away via highway 74.
Both companies have been part of the L-ACOUSTICS Rental Network since 1999 when, together, they made their sizable order of 140 pieces of gear.
This new purchase now brings the two companies’ tally of L-ACOUSTICS boxes up to well over 500 and, unsurprisingly, represents a notably larger investment than the typical K Standard purchase.
In particular, Darrenkamp and Deavers chose to add 48 SB28 subs as well as additional LA8 amplifier/processors.
“We are very proud to be a part of the K1/KUDO Pilot Program and feel tremendously blessed to be on an exclusive network here in North America with our friends at Rat Sound, Clearwing, Sound Image, Firehouse and Solotech, most of whom we’ve already had the pleasure of working with for many years,” said Darrenkamp.
“Bill and I have embraced the concepts of partnership and networking between our own companies since the ’90s, and to be able to deepen our relationships with L-ACOUSTICS and our fellow Pilot Program members is an honor and privilege.”
“Thanks to Dr. Christian Heil’s passion and dream, which we are now a part of with our K1 rig, a band can travel around the globe and have the same exact sound system, right down to the connectors, without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on sea containers,” said Deavers.
“So not only does this save time and money for our clients, it also guarantees the highest level of quality and most consistent concert experience possible from show to show. With K1, we’ve truly grabbed the brass ring of concert sound.”
Although Darrenkamp first heard K1 on the last Radiohead tour and Deavers initially experienced it in France, both agree that the experience was remarkable. “I fell in love with V-DOSC years ago because, for me, it was just like listening to my audiophile home stereo, but on a much larger scale,” said Darrenkamp.
“Hearing K1 for the first time at 125 feet out, I felt that it preserved all of the sonic qualities that I appreciated V-DOSC for. But what impressed me the most was that at 250 feet it still sounded like V-DOSC at 125 feet.”
“Even over much greater distances, the overall frequency response of the arrays remains the same with much less level loss than V-DOSC. So, with K1, I have that sound that I love further out than ever before.”
