The STM Series is Nexo’s latest touring and rental system.
Its scalable construction combines Nexo Alpha functionality with Nexo GEO waveguide designs to deliver a system that ipowerful, flexible and easy to use. Nexo’s Scale Through Modularity (STM) strapline describes the STM’s ability to scale up or down to suit audiences from 1,000 to 100,000.
Nexo claims to have ‘turned its back on the dominant line-array trends, taking modularity as the central design principle for its new flagship’. An STM system can be configured at will from four discrete loudspeaker elements – M46 main, B112 bass, S118 subbass and M28 ‘omni’ fill modules. System configurations might comprise arrays of main cabinets only, or main/bass, or bass/main/bass. Nexo asserts that the ability to add extra bass cabinets to the system in order to increase power and headroom makes it the first system to offer scalable LF. Using dedicated subbass cabinets in the arrays or as ground-stacks further increases the options, and omni fill speakers can complete a coverage pattern, whatever the scale of the system.
STM Series’ target market is ‘anyone who rents out a PA system, anyone who rents in a PA system, and venues with fixed installations for live performance’. It will also be of interest to tour and production managers, festival and other event organisers: ‘The modularity of STM makes it truly all-purpose,’ says Nexo Concert Sound Specialist, Stuart Kerrison.
‘A rental provider can scale up his system from just six cabinets a side for a small event, to whatever is needed to handle an arena or stadium application. Even large flown arrays of main/bass/sub are so low-profile that they comply with sightline restrictions for broadcast concerts and events.’
A first for Nexo, the main, bass and omni cabinets are injection-moulded for maximum durability and weather-resistance. ‘Our extremely powerful Bass cabinet has a frequency response which overlaps that of the sub and main modules, providing a valuable increase in LF headroom,’ Technical Director Francois Deffarges explains. ‘With the sub, we can achieve a similar SPL output to our CD18 unit, using just one 18-inch driver. And there are advantages in use; two subs can be used back-to-back in cardioid mode, or side-by-side in omnidirectional mode.’
The STM system has been designed for the warehouse, the truck, the roadie and the venue. Using a range of dolly and bumper accessories, the system can be prepped in the warehouse, loaded onto dollies for transport and wheeled into a venue. All aspects of a sound system’s use have been re-engineered, and its PistonRig and REDLock rigging technology will allow a single technician to fly a 72-cabinet arena system quite easily.
Another first, Nexo is supplying the system road-ready. The STM cabinets are paired with the Nexo Universal Amp Rack, or NUAR, which contains plug-and-play digital patches, real-time system monitoring and control network functionality in addition to two NXAmp4x4s, each of which can power up to 12 speakers, in groups of three. The NUAR is the first dual-voltage version of the NXAmp, designed for the international touring market, with a new Digital Meter Unit (DMU), intelligent input patch panel providing digital communication with the NXAmp: and a new Digital Patch Unit (DPU), an intelligent output patch panel.
For optional inclusion in the rack, Nexo has a choice of network card solutions. The NXES104 is Nexo’s established means of EtherSound network control. The new NXDT104 Dante audio plug-in card for the NXAmp offers an AVB-ready digital networking solution – it will distribute digital audio plus integrated control data, automatically configuring its network interface and finding other Dante devices on the network.
In a further enhancement of networking functionality, users will soon be able to download from iTunes the first release of NeMo, an app for the iPad and iPhone which provides remote control over a NXAam network from anywhere in the venue.
Specifications:
M46 Main Cabinet
Injection-moulded high-power cabinet with innovative components for enhanced performance. Flat-membrane drivers ensure completely even and full-range coverage over entire 90° horizontal dispersion. HF frequency range remains completely linear, using Kepton Polymer diaphragms that enhance tonal response and long throw.
B112 Bass Cabinet
Injection-moulded bass cabinet featuring a Neodymium high excursion 3000W 12’ bass driver with 4-inch voice coil. It has the same format – dimensions, weight, gravity centre – as the M46. The hybrid horn-loaded design maximizes the efficiency of the driver, delivering 6dB more than a standard front-loaded driver in this frequency range.
S118 Subbass Cabinet
Subbass cabinet featuring a Neodymium high excursion kW 18-inch driver. A bandpass load ensures SPL output equivalent to conventional dual 18-inch subbasses. Same width, double the height of M46 main cabinet, double height of main cabinet so the S118 can be flown in the array or ground-stacked in line. Can be run in omnidirectional or cardioid sub mode.
M28 Omni Cabinet
Injection-moulded all-purpose loudspeaker cabinet which fulfils the role of downfill, providing 120° of horizontal dispersion and 0° to 15° splaying angle between modules. Same width as M46, 2/3 height, the M28 can also be used independently from M46 or B112.
More: www.nexo.fr
