LONDON and REDDITCH, U.K. — Britannia Row and SSE, both of which have taken delivery of 48 K1 line source cabinets, have joined L-Acoustics’ K1/KUDO Pilot Program. The line source cabinets will be used with K1-SUB and SB28 subwoofers, KUDO line source boxes and LA-RAK touring racks fitted with LA8 amplified controllers.
SSE and Britannia Row are now part of L-Acoustics’ new Rental Network, which replaces the V-DOSC Partnership.
In developing KUDO, and more recently K1, L-Acoustics has increased the bandwidth of the system, extending the low frequency response to increase LF throw and give better control of tonal balance over distance. This reduces the need for stacked subwoofers and produces a more coherent system.
The K1/KUDO system also features newly engineered presets with the same tonal characteristics, so KUDO can be seamlessly integrated with K1. The presets are developed so the system sounds right “out of the box” and can be easily fine-tuned.
Britannia Row has already used its system for arena tours with Bryan Adams and Lynyrd Skynyrd, in a marquee for the BBC’s One Big Weekend, and will soon debut it outdoors for Hyde Park concerts by The Killers, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Blur, Kanye West and Basement Jaxx.
“The system is stunningly coherent throughout the full frequency range,” said Britannia Row’s Mike Lowe. “The mid and high bass is full and has all the ‘weight’ that anyone would need while being very clean, tight and accurate. The introduction of the flown K1-SUB as well as the SB28 really works well. We thought on the Bryan Adams tour that its throw capability to the back of arenas was excellent.
“With K1, L-Acoustics have taken the best of what they had and made it sound even better, giving it higher output through component choice and configuration, enclosure design and excellent presets,” Lowe added. “They have also made a great job of the rigging. Apart from the flying grids and bumpers, all rigging parts are integral to the enclosure.”
“Speculation about the performance and format for the new large scale line source system from L-Acoustics has been rife for the past two years, and a major talking point with our clients,” said Spencer Beard, SSE operations director. “I visited the factory last autumn for a viewing and demonstration and was extremely impressed. Now that it’s here we believe it has fully lived up to expectations and we feel K1 is going to be a very popular system, indeed; it sounds great, is easy to deploy, and the new presets are well engineered.
“We invested in KUDO over a year ago; it’s a great mid-sized box and we knew that when K1 came out it would complement the new system as side-hangs, in-fills and delays, giving us flexibility and maximum utilization. L-Acoustics have really done their homework on the new rigging system; everything folds away inside the cabinet, and all the rigging components are tethered, so you can’t lose anything.”
“As we’re among the first to get the new system, it puts us in a leading position, giving us a whole range of commercial possibilities,” said SSE MD John Penn. “It’s already attracting lots of interest, and we intend to maximize this by putting the system out on some major festivals this summer, getting it in front of as many people as possible.”
For more information, please visit www.britanniarow.com, www.sseaudiogroup.com and www.l-acoustics.com.
