DAS Audio’s brand-new LARA line array system powered Cologne’s Lanxess Arena in Cologne, the Forum Barcelona and the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Spain.
The European debut took place on 30 April in front of more than 17,000 people at the Brings concert in the Lanxess Arena, a complex venue due to reflections and SPL limitation. TSL Production and FLUGE were in charge of installing the DAS Audio sound systems at the venue, with the support of Michael Häck, Technical Director of the Lanxess Arena.
For this show, held in a 84,000m2 venue with capacity for up to 20,000 spectators, TSL used 18 LARAs per side in L/R configuration, as well as 16 LARA-SUBs in L/R at 45° in relation to the LARAs. In addition, 15 additional LARA-SUB units were used in line configuration on the floor in front of the stage, forming an electronic arc of about 35°. The configuration was completed with 28 AERO-40A as Outfill 1 and 12 AERO-20A as Outfill 2 in L/R, which perfectly covered the upper side stands, using the new ALMA software for the control and monitoring of the systems.
Frank Schmitz, TSL Production CEO, was extremely satisfied and impressed with the power and great performance of the system. In this regard, he emphasized that “LARA perfectly meets the needs of a venue like the Lanxess Arena, with distances of up to 80 meters that can be covered without a delay line and a long reverberation time usual for this size. The cardioid concept paid off threefold: reflections and noise were greatly reduced and the sound was very clear and direct.”
The artists also complimented the clarity of the sound on stage, which they had never achieved before. “The dynamics and headroom of the system were also very impressive, and even in the critical VIP box area, some 70-80 meters from the stage. The sound was extremely direct and clear,” TSL Production’s CEO added. “Without a doubt, LARA takes audio to the next level, and I’m excited to see how it evolves.”
The official premiere of LARA in Spain took place last May in front of an audience of 30,000 people at the Estopa show in Forum Barcelona and 8,000 at the Izal show held at the City of Arts and Sciences.
At Forum Barcelona, LARA and LARA-SUB were used as main PA systems for the initial 70-80m, in addition to Aero-40 and Aero-20 systems to reinforce the coverage of 120 meters of the audience zone.
For the Estopa show, the sound system consisted of 18LARA per side to provide excellent vertical coverage. Combined with 18 flown LARA-SUBs in L/R configuration to obtain good SPL control throughout the audience area. In addition, 6 LARA-SUB and 10 Aero-20 were used as frontfill, 8 Aero-40 as side reinforcement (Outfill) and 24 Aero-40 as delay.
The configuration for the Izal show at the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia was also similar. FOH engineers highlighted the simplicity of the setup of LARA systems and their efficiency, which provided “an impressive and clear sound, with a great punch”.
In this event, to cover an area of 90m, 16 LARA and LARA-SUB were used per side, Aero-40 systems were used as downfill and 8 Aero-20 systems as front fill, achieving uniform coverage and frequency response thanks to DASaim FIR optimisation.
