Pro Audio Centre of Leeds recently designed an Electro-Voice Expandable Vertical Array (EVA) sound reinforcement system at Queen Ethelburga’s College, an independent secondary school in North Yorkshire. The high-performance EVA installation inside the 5,000-seat convertible sports hall is used to support lectures and performances at the college, including live music and dance events.
Pro Audio Centre carried out extensive acoustic room simulations to find the ideal sound solution for the hall. Based on these, the best set-up proved to be a system consisting of two hangs of four EVA vertical line array elements (with a 90° x 20° dispersion angle) on each side of the stage. “The speakers from the EVA series are discreet, smart and offer a great full range sound with linear, front-to-back coverage,” commented Richard Leadbitter, manager of Pro Audio Centre. “Thanks to the large variety of dispersion angles available, we could tailor the system exactly to the needs on site. And thanks to the adjustable hang angle, we didn’t have problems with reverberation or feedback – even at high volumes.”
Leadbitter and his team added four compact Electro-Voice ZXA1 powered speakers as front fills, complemented by Dynacord AXM 12A powered stage monitors. Additionally, four QRx 218S subwoofers were installed: “The QRx 218S subs provide such a natural sound! Nothing’s artificial, bassy or boomy,” he said. “The sound is very pleasant to listen to and in combination with the EVA vertical line array, it doesn’t sound like two audio sources but a smooth, unified sound.” CP4000S amplifiers power all the system’s passive speakers.
The entire system is controlled by an Electro-Voice Dx46 FIR-Drive processor and an individual graphical user interface programmed by IRIS-Net supervision and control software. “The user interface is very intuitive,” commented Leadbitter. “The system can be run without using IRIS-Net but if one wants full remote supervision and control or only wants to tweak a certain detail, it’s fantastic to have.”
