Brighton Centre, the largest conference and exhibition venue in southern England, is to install speakers from local manufacturer Flare Audio in its concert hall.
Kristin Hanson, CEO of Flare Audio, told Installation: “We approached Brighton Centre as we were looking for a local demonstration facility – and it ended up with them asking us to put in a system there.”
Flare is based in Lancing, a few miles along the coast from Brighton. “Brighton Centre is looking to bolster its green credentials,” she added, “so they’re very happy to be working with a local company, which assembles its enclosures in the UK.”
The system will consist of a total of 10 of the company’s X5 line array modules, which will be flown in four hangs. This will be the hall’s core system, said Hanson, which can be enhanced by touring systems or hidden in the rafters when not needed.
The X5 is a three-way design featuring one 15in, two 6.5in and two 1in drivers, and interchangeable HF plates. It features two patent-pending Flare Audio technologies designed to ensure that only the sound that is put into the speaker can emerge from it. ‘Space’ technology applies compressive forces to the speaker casing, to prevent it from acting as a source of sonic interference. ‘Vortex’ technology – whose visible sign is a port in the rear of the speaker – is said to adjust the air pressure inside the speaker so that the driver can move equally forwards and backwards.
Flare Audio hosted a demonstration of the X5 last week at the venue. Veteran producer and recording engineer Stephen Tayler commented: “I was astonished at how that enormous sound could be coming out of that modest looking sound system. I normally expect to hear low end and punch coming from a system such as this, but usually there is a compromise in the clarity of the higher frequencies. This system had everything: great high end detail, stereo imaging and dispersion.”
Phil Knox-Roberts, who has been retained by the Gibraltar Entertainment Network for forthcoming film studio, recording studio and stadium installation projects, was similarly impressed. “It was remarkable. I was shocked as to how clean-sounding it was. I’ve never heard anything as crystal in my life – ever,” he told us.
