The Ushuaia Club on Ibiza, one of the Balearic islands in the Mediterranean Sea located between Spain’s coastline and the larger island of Majorca, recently installed a new Adamson sound reinforcement system. Ibiza has become famous for its nightlife and electronic music dance scene.
The Ushuaia Club, which draws tremendous crowds during the summer season, decided to upgrade the sound system for their outdoor pool area to ensure their guests have the best audio experience on the island.
The outdoor stage and pool area, approximately 90-metres by 50-metres, features a stage set back in a band shell at one end of the area with a large dance floor as well as assorted seating areas around the pool and three levels of hotel rooms that have balconies facing the pool. When filled to capacity the area can hold up to 10,000 guests. The resort owners were looking for a sound reinforcement system that would blanket the space with consistent, high quality sound. France-based sound integrators SLS designed and installed the new Adamson PA with support from Adamson’s European distributor, DV2.
The main line arrays are hung from the lip of the band shell to the left and right of the stage, providing maximum coverage of the audience area. Each array is made up of twelve Adamson E15 line array enclosures. Two more arrays, this time made up of four S10 line array enclosures, are hung under the main PA for outfill.
Two delays – each pair mounted on poles located to the left and right of the pool – provide fill further out from the stage to keep SPL uniform throughout. The first delays, made up of two arrays of four S10 enclosures, are located 50 meters from the stage. The second delay, located 74 metres from the stage, are each made up of four SpekTrix enclosures along with one SpekTrix Sub.
The VIP area, located far stage left is covered by a secondary array mounted to a pole 13 meters from the stage. This array is made up of three Adamson S10 line array enclosures.
“The S10 is a new product from Adamson that is very compact and lightweight. It works on active two-way mode, making it perfect for this type of application,” explained Julian Poirot, touring sound for DV2. “It uses the same HF driver as the E Series and has exceptional low behavior. It’s a perfect match on spectral response and dynamics.”
The S10 is a two-way, full range line array enclosure loaded with two newly designed 10-inch ND10-LM Kevlar Neodymium low frequency drivers and an NH4TA2 1.5-inch exit high frequency compression driver. A wave shaping sound chamber produces a slightly curved wavefront with a nominal dispersion pattern of 110° x 10° (H x V).
Due to extensive boundary element testing, the chamber exhibits increased vertical response with minimal sacrifice of high frequency energy in the far field. Patent-pending Controlled Summation Technology further eliminates low-mid lobing normally associated with two-way line source systems. The S10 offers a max peak SPL 141.3dB, which is notable for such a compact enclosure.
“After working in many club locations in the UK and on Ibiza I can say that Adamson is a perfect fit because it combines the best of both worlds,” explained Francois Guittiere, resident FOH engineer at Ushuaia. “It provides a dynamic and powerful sound like a Funktion One system with a super smooth performance on vocal tracks that I only knew from d&b systems before.”
Julian concluded: “The owners are really impressed with the end result and think the club is sounding better now with Adamson than it ever has before. We accomplished what they were looking for.”
