Extending its Halo modular line array system, EM Acoustics has announced Halo Arena, (Halo-A) targeting medium- to large-format touring, fixed installation, houses of worship and large-format corporate A/V events.
Halo-A benefits from the same ‘maximum headroom’ design that served the smaller Halo-C, ensuring consistent performance across all SPLs. A single Halo-A cabinet exhibits a flat, free-field frequency response from 48-19kHz (±3dB) and a phase response of ±20° between 150Hz and 18kHz. Due to the unique loading technique applied to the low frequency drivers combined with the high frequency waveguide, the dispersion pattern control is maintained down to 250Hz.
The technology supporting Halo Arena differs from that of Halo-C due to the much higher SPLs required. Rather than an AMT plane-wave guide, EM Acoustics has used compression drivers with a specially developed patent-pending emulation manifold, which combines the energy of four 3.4-inch diaphragm, 1.4-inch exit compression drivers into a plane-wave array.
‘This assembly provides a very significant moving area for the HF section and twice the headroom of comparable systems. In real terms this means that Halo-A runs at 3dB less distortion than a competitor’s system at the same SPL due to the increased overall headroom,’ says EM Acoustics’ Ed Kinsella, who designed Halo Arena.
The low end is served by a pair of high power 3.5-inch voice coil 12-inch low-frequency transducers. Combined with tuned low turbulence porting and generous cabinet volume, Halo-A delivers a low frequency performance to match the stunning highs. ‘We decided to keep Halo-A as a two-way system as it reduces the off-axis parallax issues to a single crossover point,’ Kinsella explains. ‘In fact, I’m pleased to say that the many, many late nights at the drawing board and absolutely rigorous testing have paid off, because we’ve managed to almost completely eradicate this issue now, which of course pays dividends in terms of performance.’
Halo Arena is robustly built with a tough polyurethane coating designed for outdoor use and a full range of flying hardware is available that has been designed with touring flexibility, ease-of-use and reliability in mind.
More: www.emacoustics.co.uk
