EAW's UX8800 Digital Signal Processor Is Employed at the Famed Governor's Ball Following the 2009 Academy Awards
(EAW | Posted 2009-03-15)
Whitinsville, MA, USA - March 12, 2009 - The broadcast of the 81st Academy Awards on February 22, 2009, saw OSCARŪs awarded for outstanding sound achievements in film, but there was one more outstanding audio accomplishment that evening: at the famous Governor's Ball after-party, where the EAW UX8800 Digital Signal Processor optimized the sound system in the Grand Ballroom on the top level of the Hollywood & Highland Center. The sound system was provided and operated by Goodman Audio Services of Santa Fe Springs, California, a leading sound reinforcement company specializing in complex corporate and event audio systems.
For the Governor's Ball, Goodman Audio positioned two UX8800s as system processors at the Front-of-House (FOH) position. Signal from the Yamaha PM5D FOH mixer fed the UX8800 processors in loudspeaker mode, paired with various speaker/amplifier rack locations such as catwalks and amp world near the stage. A typical amp rack will have one UX8800 and four QSC PL236 amplifiers, and these were configured as left and right, with additional channels for dance floor, front fill, under stage, balcony feeds, subs and seven zones of delay.
Thanks to the combination of the UX8800 and U-Net, all of the connections between the components are done via a single CAT-5e cable. "We couldn't live without the UX8800 on this event," commented Rob Smoot, Senior Account Executive with Goodman Audio Services. "Being able to control a web of speakers spread out over a venue with only CAT-5 is unbelievable. The U-Net has allowed us to replace a ton of other pieces of equipment, like 12- and 24-pair mults and snakes, and run all the signals over just one CAT-5 line for all audio tie lines, drive lines and mults."
Goodman Audio is using a wide array of EAW speakers on the project, including an EAW JF Series two-way full range system in a vented trapezoidal enclosure, an EAW JF two-way full range system with passive LF/HF crossover in a vented trapezoidal enclosure, and a SB528z 2x18-inch direct radiating, high output, large-format subwoofer system.
Smoot notes that the UX8800's GunnessTM Focusing technology can take even very good speakers from other manufacturers and make them sound absolutely phenomenal. "It can take any combination and make them into a perfectly matched system," he says, adding that the UX8800 has been the company's sole loudspeaker and system processor since they acquired their first units in 2006. They now have a dozen. Of those, seven are being used at the Ball. Trace Goodman, Owner and President of Goodman Audio Services, says the ability to route to and communicate with any of the UX8800s on the system takes the entire system performance to a higher level. "From the FOH position, or while using a wireless tablet from the floor, I can access any individual processor and fine-tune it to further optimize the system," he explains. "The precision control the UX8800 gives you really adds value to the sound system it's used with."
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