Loudspeaker manufacturer Funktion-One has unveiled its latest technological development with the launch of Vero VX at Prolight+Sound 2019 in Frankfurt. Vero VX, which has been in development for the last three years, promises Vero sound for a wider range of venues and environments thanks to its more compact footprint.
Funktion-One founder Tony Andrews said: “We’re delighted to introduce Vero VX to the world. Since Vero’s launch in 2016 we’ve had a lot of interest in a smaller system that offers the same performance characteristics and ease of deployment. Through significant engineering innovation, we’ve managed to achieve that objective.”
The Vero VX system comprises VX90 full-range vertical array elements, V124 or V221 bass enclosures, amp racks, fly bars, transport dollies, ground stack hardware, cabling and Projection predictive software.
The VX90 is a 3-way vertical array element with four new Funktion-One designed Neodymium drivers in a horizontally symmetric configuration: two reflex loaded, high efficiency 12” mid bass drivers; one Axhead loaded wide bandwidth 8” cone midrange driver; and a single 1” compression driver on a proprietary isophase diffraction waveguide. The VX90 measures 1120mm wide and 340mm high, its usable bandwidth is 50Hz to 20kHz and horizontal dispersion is 90°.
The patented Lambda rigging system results from 40 years of development and refinement of Funktion-One rear tension rigging methods. This enables cabinets to be transported and flown as straight columns, then tensioned into pre-set angles once the complete array is suspended.
The Lambda system’s optimised rotation axis ensures perfect alignment at vertical angles between 0-12.5° for coherent summation. There is a choice of fixed or movable point flying beams. The movable point beam incorporates motorised adjustment, enabling the inclination and declination of the entire array to be remotely set while flown from a single motor.
Funktion-One’s unique driver and waveguide technology enable a single transducer to cover more than four octaves of the audio spectrum, from 300Hz – 5kHz. This approach ensures vocals and musical harmonics are coherent in both time and space, providing benefits in clarity, intelligibility and stereo imaging.
The high crossover point to the compression driver provides additional performance advantages including increased headroom and reduced harmonic and modulation distortion. Psychoacoustically informed use of FIR filters and microsecond time alignment provide wide, consistent horizontal coverage whilst preserving transient response.
The very high electroacoustic efficiency of the horn-loaded mid/high section is supplemented by a new bass driver technology, which significantly increases true power efficiency. Unlike a conventional line array element, the VX’s huge LF resource ensures spectral balance and dynamic impact whether used as a single box or in a 24-box array.
Vero VX’s extraordinary energy efficiency means up to eight cabinets can be powered from a single amplifier. A 32-box system plus additional subwoofers can be powered by just six amplifiers.
Andrews explained: “While Vero VX has been in development for around three years, we were building from the technological breakthroughs we made with Vero and the Evolution Series. That said, applying our acoustic principles to this footprint was challenging. It has pushed us to the next level and we’re extremely pleased with the result.”