With its dramatic aerial acrobatics, wave-hopping stunts and adrenalized production, professional wakeboarding is a summertime extreme-sports tradition.
Since 2005, the King of Wake championship tournament has tied the sport’s most prestigious contests together into one ultimate tour to see who rules the wake.
But King of Wake isn’t just demanding on the athletes—it presents a demanding sound reinforcement environment for audio engineers, as well. With single events drawing up to 10,000 spectators, there is a high-power need over a large audience area, all under extreme heat and humid conditions.
The King of Wake tour has proven the perfect match for Peavey Electronics’ vast line of professional audio loudspeakers, processors and microphones, as well as control systems from Peavey Architectural Acoustics and power amplifiers and mixers from Crest Audio.
“King of Wake is a non-stop, high-energy professional wakeboarding competition tour,” said Chris Bischoff, King of Wake Competition Director. “We demand the highest performance in all areas of production to provide our fans with an unforgettable experience.”
“The addition of a professional sound system from Peavey Electronics keeps our athletes and fans amped with total audio clarity, full-range sound reproduction, and more power than we’ll ever need.”
The centerpiece of the King of Wake system is a stage where a DJ-and-drummer combo performs for the crowds, powered by seven Crest Audio Pro 7200 amplifiers and backed by four Peavey SP 4 loudspeakers and two Peavey SP 218 subwoofers through a Crest Audio X 20R rack-mount mixer.
A pair of Peavey Impulse 12D powered loudspeakers—featuring Peavey’s revolutionary IPR amplifier technology and true ribbon drivers—serve as monitors for the performers.
Announcements, event emcee and program music are handled through the stage P.A. and two flight lines consisting of six Peavey PR 15D powered loudspeakers each. A Peavey Architectural Acoustics Digitool processor provides loudspeaker management and control for the entire system, flanked by a Peavey CEL-2a compressor/limiter/expander, Peavey Dual DeltaFex multi-processor and Peavey QF215 and QF131 graphic equalizers.
In addition, the entire event operates on Peavey professional wired and wireless microphone systems, including the PVM 480 condenser and PVM 45ir dynamic mics, PVM DMS-5 drum mic system and Pro Comm U-1002 wireless systems.
The NBC Sports Group is televising the 2011 King of Wake series this summer on the VERSUS network to nearly 80 million homes. Remaining dates on the King of Wake tour include July 9 in Monroe, Wa.; July 27-31 in Minneapolis, Minn.; Aug. 18-21 in Indianapolis, Ind.; and Aug. 27-28 in Knoxville, Tenn.
