Some 20 years ago, Scott Sauer opened a retail music store in Aberdeen, South Dakota with a focus on musical instruments and live sound. Over the years, as the retail environment changed, so did the direction of his business. Sauer closed the retail store and began to focus strictly on installations and live sound with his company Pauer Sound.
As the business grew, with Pauer Sound located in eastern South Dakota, Sauer spearheaded an informal partnership with two companies in western Dakota to be able to provide sound reinforcement and production for practically any event being held in the state.
With that he teamed with Rapid City-based Powerhouse Productions and Spearfish-based Depot Music Productions with a coordinated effort for all involved to have similar equipment so they could easily partner on any size event. Concerts, fairs, festivals, weddings, DJ events, rodeos, local band productions, corporate presentations – they cover them all. One given week, Powerhouse is doing a Catholic Youth Rally while Pauer is doing the International Collegiate Programming Contest at the Rapid City Civic Center as well as the Thursday night Rapid City Summer Concert Series, and Depot looking to head to a gig in Wyoming.
In his extensive research, Sauer landed on the RCF HDL20-A line array system. “The regional rep asked me to try them out, and I immediately discovered, hands down the price and performance of RCF gave me a system that could effectively cover my work from clubs to concerts affordably.” Having the system for nearly two years now, Pauer tells RCF, “you have a fantastically happy client.”
Eric Ulmer of Depot Music concurred. “With the market we’re in, for the performance and price of RCF we found we could do larger events, provide more gear and give a better result.” Ulmer also cites how comfortable he has been using the boxes for outdoor events with the weather resistant nature of the cabinets, as well as easy of setup.
Between the three companies, they now have 32 HDL20-A active dual 10” line array cabinets with a dozen SUB8006-AS active dual 18” subwoofers, four HDL18-AS flyable 18” subwoofers, and an assortment of other RCF cabinets including HDL6-A active dual 6” line arrays, EVOX portable systems and more.
Speaking of the subwoofers, Sauer says, “I was really floored by the subs. I was really surprised by what they did. We were previously running eight double 18” subs and we would run out of low end. Now with three per side we have gobs of low end with plenty of headroom.” He adds, “what impressed me the most was when we set them up in a theater,” noting the linearity of output even at low volumes. “With most subs that size you have to give them some gas to perform. I didn’t need to do that with RCF.”
When it comes to actual marketing, the three companies don’t compete, they complement each other. Pauer Sound focuses on installations and production, Powerhouse puts more of a focus on rock-and-roll and DJ events, with Depot Music putting more of a spotlight on A/V production.
“The diversity is our strength,” says Powerhouse owner Jason Hoar. “We can function independently or merge the systems together for larger events.”
Hoar continues, “the system is so easy to use and sounds so great,” adding a big benefit is the support RCF has supplied. “RCF has been very helpful and informative, giving us complete confidence in using this system.”
