- Yes, I said "Funky Application Audio" and its something I really wanted to talk about. I'm seeing a shift in live sound custom application sector where we're finally starting to see some products that are allowing you really get creative with your solutions for some of your more interesting products.
Yesterday I shared about the K-Array ANAKONDA from Sennheiser and how it's bringing a new shape to the loudspeaker market. Well today started out as a demo booth tour day and I managed to sneak into the Sennheiser room just as they were starting. Let me tell you, the K-Array line is a really flexible product line that is allowing much more interesting applications that are normally overlooked. There is nothing like a array speaker that is less then 2" wide and 1" thick that actually sounds like a speaker and not a tin can! It's a welcome change in the world of crazy big black boxes! Then the boys from Senn decided to kick of the demo of the ANAKONDA by displaying a daisy chain of ANAKONDA speakers over 30-feet long. They took this crazy speaker and coiled it up and twisted it around the presenter to show just how crazy you can get with this speaker.
I then made my way to look at the Meyer Sound CAL or Column Array Line and watched them demonstrate the ability to steer the beam on the this unit in a very aggressive manner. Now one of the first things I love about this unit is just how good it looks, in my opinion it is one of the best looking column speakers on the market, not to mention how great it sounds. So as we're sitting in this demo, they demonstrated how you can go steer the beam to pass completely over our heads and then move it to change direction and hit you square in the chest with a shift of about 30 degrees. This was quite a noticeable shift that opens up so many opportunities as a integrator.
My final stop on the funky audio application tour was to stop in and take a look at the CWT series of speakers from Harmon's JBL Professional division. This speaker utilizes a new Harmon technology called Crossfire Wave Technology that allows this speaker series to achieve a huge 180 degree coverage pattern. I know, I didn't believe it either until I heard it with my own ears and saw it with my own eyes! This speaker opens so many doors because of its wide coverage and classic JBL sound, that you should be just drooling over all the potential applications for these speakers.
