Bauder Audio Takes New Turbo Aspect On The Road
Jun 22, 2006 12:14 PM
Bauder Audio Systems recently took delivery of a new 48-box Turbosound Aspect PA loudspeaker system from Sennheiser, just in time to use it at the Cape May Jazz Festival and then on to commencement ceremonies at Temple University in Philadelphia. The performance sound provider has been equipping a variety of venues with their new inventory of Turbosound equipment that can be scaled to suit any situation.
The 24 pairs of new Aspect TA-890H mid-high and TA-890L subwoofer speakers join Bauder Audio’s existing Turbosound Floodlight system. “We’re running Floodlight and Aspect systems concurrently,” says company owner Rick Bauder.
“We have 108 boxes between them. When we purchased the Aspect system we built all new amp racks, new flyware, everything. It’s a standalone system, which allows us to be more flexible.”
The ability to rotate the horns in the TA-890H boxes was an important factor in the purchase decision, according to Bauder. “If you buy the touring version, which we did, you can stand the box up or lay it down. If you stand the boxes vertically, they take up a very small footprint,” he explains.
Also critical were the tightly focused 25-degree dispersion characteristics of the box. “We felt that the point source system would cover more of the places that we work throughout the year than a line array. Aspect is like a laser beam; where you point it is where it goes,” explains Bauder. “You put in two or three of those per side and you’re getting 50- or 75-degree coverage—period.” Compare that to a traditional line array, he says: “A line array is 90 to 140 degrees wide, and you have no control. It’s going to be bouncing off the sidewalls and putting sound where nobody is sitting. It ruins the stereo imaging.”
Furthermore, says Bauder, “It’ll throw tremendous distances, which was important. Aspect is right where you want it even at 300 or 400 feet. That makes it more valuable. And we don’t have to fly delays or put up scaffolding, so the audience is not cheated towards the back of the facility.”
Bauder Audio services the Cape May Jazz Festival twice a year, in May and November. “We put eight systems and 14 technicians into eight venues for the three-day festival. The key is to have speaker systems that package into small nightclub environments. You pick what fits the venue. In the larger venues, like the convention hall, we would typically use Aspect.”
Bauder Audio has been using Turbosound for almost 20 years, reports Bauder, who established the company, near Philadelphia, in 1980. That first rig was purchased from Bauder’s longtime friend and Turbosound dealer, Carl Taylor, of Crystal Taylor Productions. The company has continued to acquire Turbosound equipment as it has become available, and now holds an extensive inventory of Floodlight, QLight, TXD and TMS systems that allows the company to handle venues from 1,200 seats to 12,000.
The upgrade to Turbosound’s next-generation Aspect virtual point source speakers came after extensive real-world trials, according to Bauder. “We made this purchase very slowly, over about six months. Sennheiser was nice enough to lend us a demo rig, which we were able to use in real life situations, not just play with it in the warehouse.”
“Turbosound sent us eight of the 880H and eight 880L boxes,” recalls Bauder Audio production manager Brian Naab, who initially flew to the NAMM Show to see the system. “We used those in a variety of applications over the course of two or three months. We did outdoor venues, where we supplemented those boxes with some of Turbosound 21-inch subs, and we did a lot of theater work. Everyone was impressed enough with it that Paul Giansante [Sennheiser’s Turbosound product manager] flew to Philly and put a nice package together for us. Aspect really has exceeded our expectations in every application so far.”
For more information, visit www.sennheiserusa.com.
