NEXO rental partner VDB-PA has deployed its STM system at the annual New Year’s party in Leuven, with a change in format for this year’s event.
Last year the DJ tower was located in the centre of the Oude Market, presenting two separate crowd areas of 30m wide by 60m deep. This year, the tower was located centrally along the long side of the space, making an audience area of 120m wide and just 30m deep.
“The challenge was to create a club vibe with a stereo sound stage for as many people as possible, regardless of where they were located” reported System Designer and Tech Lennert Van de Velde.
“We achieved this by flying left and right hags of six NEXO STM M48 main and B112 bass extension elements firing into the square at right angles to each other, with additional pairs of hangs of six STM M28 modules also at right angles at the far left and right of the square. One of these arrays was on a delay and the other fired the left and right signals back into the audience. It was important to find the optimal delay time to provide the best stereo image and time coherence for as much of the crowd as possible.”
The form-factor, high output and long throw of the two 8-inch M28 proved to be a great advantage in designing a system for such a demanding event, Lennert noted. “Because the M28 is so light and compact, we were able to rig the arrays back-to-back on a single beam,” Lennert continued.
Coverage in the areas around the DJ tower was provided by NEXO P12 point-source speakers and VDB-PA’s NEXO Alpha E system, still doing the business 25 years after it was originally launched.
With space around the tower limited, 24 NEXO STM S118 subs were deployed side-by-side with three forward for every one back to achieve the optimal balance of power and dispersion control.
“The system sounded really good right across the square with plenty of headroom, and we got great feedback from the audience and the DJs. The NEXO STM system performed very well and I’m very grateful to VDB-PA for involving me in such a unique event,” Lennert concluded.
