L-ACOUSTICS Earns Its Wings at Air Race World Series

High-end
aerobatic planes weren’t the only things that took to the skies at downtown
San Diego’s

Big

Bay for the second-to-last
stop of the 2007 Red Bull Air Race World Series. Numerous L-ACOUSTICS line
source array elements were also flying in precise formation at five different
locations along the north and south peninsulas of Embarcadero Marina Park
delivering highly intelligible audio reinforcement throughout the event.

For two
days in late September, 13 of the world’s best race pilots descended upon San
Diego to push themselves and their aircraft to the absolute limits by racing
through a slalom course just yards above the water at speeds of up to 250 mph.
Part of a worldwide, ten city exhibition, the Big Bay event also marked the
kick-off of ‘Fleet Week’, a celebration of the U.S. military, which further
helped draw massive crowds down to the city’s scenic waterfront for the
weekend.

Hayward,
California-based Sound On Stage was contracted as the exclusive sound
reinforcement provider for the race. According to General Manager George
Edwards, “The benefit of using L-ACOUSTICS line arrays and various boxes
in this particular application is two-fold. First is its proven ability to
cover wide and long distances, and second is the absolute clarity of the spoken
word. This is a unique event. There is no stage; it’s not about entertainment.
The whole thing is about taking the announcer’s voice from one microphone and
distributing it cleanly to a hundred thousand people or more.”

Getting
that single microphone’s message out loud and clear was a combined total of 16
L-ACOUSTICS ARCS, 28 dV-DOSC and six V-DOSC line source array elements, plus
four high-power dV-SUB and 14 SB218 subwoofers, all spread out between five SR
positions. When asked if he was pleased with the results, Edwards commented
simply, “At the end of the day, we wouldn’t use anything else.”

Sound On
Stage has previously deployed L-ACCOUSTICS loudspeakers for other Red Bull
events in the past, including the Red Bull Soap Box Race and human-powered
flying competition, Flugtag. Says Edwards, “We’re happy to be part of the
L-ACCOUSTICS family and look forward to every event we can be involved
with.”

The Red
Bull Air Race World Series next heads down to

Perth,
Australia,
for the final race of the season, which takes place on November 4.