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ichilton

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Hi,

 

We had an externally organised and ran event in our auditorium last night and as it was a tour, they brought their own engineer and equipment.

 

It's a 1100 seater auditorium and we have a d&b Q-Series rig in there.

 

I popped in to see how it was going and was very surprised with the rig they were using - it looked like something not much bigger than you would have as a surround sound system in your living room!

 

They had 2x very thin but tall speakers and 2x subs per side - it looked very very strange (and compact) when I'm used to see people rolling in and using the likes of d&b C4 stacks!

 

They were labelled K array Redline and looked like this:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51961538@N02/5166554880/

 

Speaking to the engineer, he said it's line array technology but miniature.

 

Very odd!

 

Has anyone come across them?

 

Ian

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Yes, the one on the left in the picture is a KR200s and the one on the right looks like a KR100 (possibly standing in custom-made box?). We carry the KR200s in rental stock and have been thoroughly impressed with the sound they produce compared with their size. There are certain situations which I wouldn't recommend using them in, such as anything with lapels as they aren't particularly directional, but they work very well in many applications.
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K-Array are an Italian manufacturer and distributed in the UK by Sennheiser - as mentioned earlier.

 

Very innovative boxes with impressive power to size ratio. We ran a demo for a customer against some of the Fohhn linea systems. Personally I didn't like the subs - found that they lacked definition. The tops had the characteristic wide dispersion of line array with what I would call an 'airy' and light sound. They didn't quite have the crispness at the top end that I like but very pleasant to listen to none the less.

 

Some of their really clever stuff are the speakers designed for installs like this tiny little mite - Lyzard KZ10

 

Steve

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(possibly standing in custom-made box?)

They were both sat on different size subs.

 

He also had a small (10" I think he said) sub behind those pointing outwards which you can't see in the picture.

 

with what I would call an 'airy' and light sound.

Yes, that's probably how I would describe it too!

 

There was plenty of level, but they didn't seem to have the depth of a conventional system.

 

Ian

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Yes, the one on the left in the picture is a KR200s and the one on the right looks like a KR100 (possibly standing in custom-made box?). We carry the KR200s in rental stock and have been thoroughly impressed with the sound they produce compared with their size. There are certain situations which I wouldn't recommend using them in, such as anything with lapels as they aren't particularly directional, but they work very well in many applications.

 

In the photo supplied by the o.p. the 1 metre long KR100 'top' is sitting on/in the KR200 sub, and vice versa. In the Red Line series all the power amps and dsp are in the subs so it's one XLR and power to each side, job done. One person can easily lift the KR100, most people can lift the KR200, the limitation being more about arm length than weight. Put one person on either side of the box and it's a doddle and they each still have a hand free to carry something else :)

 

The 2 metre long KR200 'top' can 'bend' in the middle so you can tilt the top section up to fire at balconies. Or the bottom section can tilt down if the whole lot is above the audience, e.g. on a platform or stage, then the bend in the middle still allows you to tilt the top section back to the vertical. If putting the top on the sub makes it too tall overall then there is a bas plate available, or if you need to get the top higher up, e.g. so people can't stand in front of it there are extension poles too. Being a line array the great thing is that it's as loud at the front of the room as it is at the back (within reason, obviously).

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How did it sound compared to the Fohhn?

Can you suggest the price differential too

 

Andy

 

Personally, I found that the Fohhn had a better defined sound from the sub end and a crisper, more precise mid-high response. The K-array did seem to produce a wider dispersion in the room and sounded lovely with playback with but I felt that this might reduce its effectiveness in cutting a live vocal across.

 

Price-wise, on a like-for-like basis, the Fohhn kit is about £1k more expensive than the K-Array. However, when we did the head-to-head we found that you could put the 15" Fohhn subs up against the 18" K-Array subs. In this configuration the differential comes down to a couple of hundred quid.

 

Steve

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