Powersoft K2 and K3 amplifiers powered 52 EAW KF740 modules at the annual EdgeFest one-day rock festival held at the 30,000-capacity FC Dallas Stadium in Frisco, TX in late April.
For the fifth straight year, Dallas-based Gemini Light Sound & Video supplied production for the event, which this year featured The Black Keys, Garbage, Cake, Cage the Elephant, Arctic Monkeys, Neon Trees, Civil Twilight, Switchfoot and Aranda.
The main stage loudspeaker rig included 18 flown per side in the main system plus eight per side for the extreme side hangs. Additional KF730 boxes provided front fill. Forty EAW 40 SB1000z subwoofers, ground stacked 20 per side, handled the low end.
“We used the Powersoft K2s and K3s on the tops, and we used the K3s on the SB1000s,” reports Chad Cain, system tech at Gemini. EAW UX8800 DSP units provided drive processing.
Gemini switched over to Powersoft during the past two years, according to Cain, who notes that the K2 and K3 amplifiers offer a number of advantages over the amps that the company was previously using. “One reason we went to Powersoft amps was the light weight and the size of them,” he says. “We can get a lot more power out of a lot more usable space, so our racks are smaller and lighter.”
Cain elaborates, “We went from using an amplifier that weighs 80 pounds, with four of them running eight boxes, to six Powersoft amps, weighing 26 pounds each, running 12 boxes. That has significantly cut down the weight of the racks.” The K2 and K3 amplifiers, at just 1RU in height, also take up less rack space than the previous models.
The main array represented the first U.S. use of EAW’s new Zero Degree Adapter accessory that allows sound system designers to “flat-front” the top modules in an array. Flat-fronting maximizes coupling of line array modules for increased output and longer throw. “Because we were in a soccer stadium and needed an especially long throw, the Zero Degree Adapter further enhanced the KF740’s capabilities,” states Tim Cain, owner and president of Gemini Sound. “We simply flattened out the top four modules on each side, and it gave us the additional coverage we were looking for. It’s a great solution that EAW came up with for this kind of application.”
In addition, he complimented what he called the “true-90-degree dispersion” of the KF740 enclosure, which further reduced the amount of side fill that had to be designed into the system. “The KF740 is one of the finest boxes that EAW has ever built, in my opinion,” says Cain. “It’s going to be the foundation for a lot of PA systems going forward.”
At EdgeFest, the entire P.A. system tends to be working flat-out all day in the blazing Texas sun, and for that reason Chad Cain is pleased that Gemini has standardized on Powersoft and EAW. “That those amps and those speakers can be beat down that hard for that long and come out without any failures, that’s a good deal,” he comments. “That’s what you look for, and that’s exactly what we got out of these amps and boxes.”
EdgeFest is promoted by Dallas-Fort Worth area radio station 102.1 FM the Edge (KDGE). This year’s festival was the twenty-second event in a series that began in 1992.
