Now in its 126th year, The Kennel Club’s Crufts Dog Show is
world’s largest and most prestigious canine competition. Over its three-day
run, the event drew roughly 160,000 people and nearly 22,000 dogs to the
National Exhibition Centre (NEC) complex in Birmingham. For the main
competitions in NEC’s Genting Arena, it was critical that the sound system
deliver both clarity and fidelity without adding any visual distraction.
ARB Events was the primary AV provider, with project manager
Steve Boote working with sound system designer Neal Allen of Safe Hands Audio
on the audio for the arena. They chose the X2 line-array loudspeaker system
from the X-Line Advance family by Electro-Voice as the best and most suitable
system for the job.
“This was my fourth year working with ARB Events on the system
design for Crufts, and it was the best yet,” says Neal Allen. “They want
perfect clarity for all the speech, but there are also music-based
competitions, so the system needs to be punchy with great fidelity as well, to
get the right effect on the audience without scaring the dogs.
“We began using the Electro-Voice X2 system last year, and got
great results. This year, we added the 120-degree version of the X2-212 line
array to help extend the coverage, and the results were outstanding.”
The PA system consisted of six identical X2-212 line arrays,
each with three 90-degree dispersion speaker elements above three 120-degree
versions. Arranged in pairs, each set of arrays covered one of the three seated
sides of the arena. Low frequencies were handled by a block of four
Electro-Voice QRx 218 subwoofers located beneath the main stands.
Finally, Electro-Voice Xw15A monitor wedges were employed as
fill-speakers, with one pair providing dedicated audio for the VIP seating area
and two more covering the hard-to-reach corners of the grandstand.
All
speakers were powered by 16 Electro-Voice TG-7 amplifiers equipped with RCM-28
network and DSP modules, with two of the amp racks located up on the arena
catwalk, and the third beneath the stands.
With
IRIS-Net, each audio device on the network could be monitored and controlled
from a single computer running Dante Controller software.
