Manufacturer EM Acoustics and equipment supplier Sound by Design are among the finalists in the Permanent Installation of the Year category at the Pro Sound Awards 2014 for their system at London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall.
The installation comprises 88 HALO-C line array elements, one custom 4 x 18in flown cardioid subwoofer, two EMS-118 subwoofers plus one AD-9 amplifier, 14 AQ-10 amplifiers and four DSC48 loudspeaker management units. At the time of the installation, Andy Callin, founder and managing director of Sound By Design, commented that the principal reason for choosing HALO Compact for the venue was “its outstanding accuracy and coherency and an ability to maintain control of the dispersion over a distance of 50-plus metres. It isn’t very often that a new product really has a wow factor, but on hearing HALO Compact for the first time, I was absolutely convinced that this loudspeaker was quite unique.”
We recently caught up with EM Acoustics’ operations director, Mike Wheeler. “We were thrilled when we heard we were a finalist in the Pro Sound Awards – it’s a great honour,” he told us.
How did he think a new relative newcomer in the world of loudspeaker manufacturing managed to land such a prestigious contract? “A combination of the product itself, and our customer service I believe,” said Wheeler. “There really isn’t anything else on the market that can do what HALO Compact can do, and from a service point of view Ed Kinsella (EM co-founder and technical director) was heavily involved in both the system design and the pitch to the Royal Albert Hall with Sound by Design. I am sure the strength of that relationship also played a valuable part.”
The project has given EM Acoustics, a valuable boost, he continued: “The Royal Albert Hall install has very clearly opened people’s eyes as to what is possible with a ‘compact’ system – and particularly overseas; it adds huge credibility and kudos to both the product and the brand.”
The company remains busy, with “excellent” business this year: “EM Acoustics has grown enormously in the last 12 months, and it shows no signs of slowing down.” Wheeler is excited about the company’s new production facility, the first part of which came on stream last autumn, with new areas becoming operational over the next six months: “We have a suite of new products planned, and HALO Compact is a flag in the ground as the first of this new generation.”
The Pro Sound Awards – preceded this year by two hours of conversation and panel discussion, entitled The Pre-Roll – take place on Thursday 25 September at the Ministry of Sound nightclub in south-east London. Tickets are available on the event website; limited sponsorship opportunities are still available, contact [email protected] for more information.
