MAINZ, Germany – Pro Musik provided sound reinforcement for the RPR1 Rheinland-Pfalz Open Air 2010 festival, which drew more than 50,000 with Robin Gibb of the Bee-Gees and Gabriella Cilmi headlining.
Trier, Germany-based Pro Musik has supported other recent festivals, including the Drachentöter in Loreley, the Rheinlandpfalztag in Neustadt and the Jazz and Blues Rally in Luxembourg.
For the Mainz festival, co-hosted by Radio RPR1, Pro Musik's system started with 23-box hangs of GEO T for its main stage PA, with GEO S12 for outhangs and delays.
In a new twist, Pro Musik's technical director, Elmar Hubert, used 24 NEXO RS18 subs in omni mode as a time vise spreaded horizontal array, with a pair of subs in each of 12 evenly-spaced positions at the front of the stage.
The subs were driven by 24 mono-bridged Camco Vortex 6 units, delivering 158.4 kW in output.
"We didn't need this amount of sub-bass for the gig in terms of level, but there were two reasons for designing and amping the system in this way," Hubert said. "Firstly, I wanted the horizontal dispersion over a very wide audience area, which was necessary in this venue. Secondly, it was a great chance to test what these new RS18 subs are able to handle, so that we are prepared for bigger applications that are coming up in the near future. I had the support of Reinhard Steger and Stuart Kerrison from NEXO so the quality of the system was assured."
Pro Musik technicians Roland Pfeiffers and Michael Wirth also played key roles. The festival's audio system was monitored and controlled via an EtherSound monitor network.
Reinhard Steger of Camco, NEXO's distributor in Germany, says the performance of the new subs in the Rheinland-Pfalz concert system "eclipses all the outstanding and satisfying characteristics I've heard from the RS18 since its launch. Nothing negative appeared, nothing positive was lost – they sounded really formidable."
Hubert and Pro Musik are familiar with NEXO systems; they've been deployed by Pro Musik for more than 10 years.
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