NYC-based Paramount Events handles both live sound production and installations at a high level – everything from corporate events to festivals and concerts. ‘We also do a lot of installations at churches, clubs and other venues,’ adds company CEO, Rafel Narine.

Staying abreast of technological developments, Narine made a commitment three years ago that allowed him to optimise his live and installed sound systems to a remarkable extent – he began investing in Powersoft.

Narine worked with Murvin Persaud of MD Audio in transitioning his live amp racks to Powersoft. For live sound applications where transportability and reliability are key: ‘The efficiency is a huge upsell for me,’ he says. ‘It always makes sense to use the least amount of cabling and trucking possible, and with Powersoft’s K10 amplifier I was able to cut down big time.’

For the recent ECLIPS Music Festival in Jamaica, Queens – one of New York City’s five boroughs – Narine brought along a full complement of EAW subwoofers, including 32 double 18-inch subs and 14 double 21-inch subs.

‘I ran the whole thing on 16 K10 amplifiers without a single issue during the whole festival. Each K10 amp is replacing a full 12-space rack on my old set-up, so it’s a big difference in trucking.’

For his next event, Narine wants to integrate Powersoft X series amplifiers to run his top loudspeakers for an all-Powersoft rig: ‘My festivals run 12-hours a day, non-stop, middle of summer in all kinds of weather conditions, and to run an amplifier through that and not have an issue – let’s just say before Powersoft that would have been unheard of,’ he says, noting that eight non-Powersoft amps died during ECLIPS. ‘Between the reliability and the efficiency, Powersoft is a no-brainer.’

In addition to K and X series amps for live applications, Paramount has worked with Persaud to avail itself of Powersoft’s Ottocanali amps for fixed installations. Many of these are in churches, which from Narine’s experience can be as demanding as live events.

‘Along with tours, churches keep equipment running the longest,’ he explains. ‘You’re looking at an average of 20 hours a week times 52 weeks for however many years.’ Given the workload, he has encountered reliability issues with past amplifiers before switching to Powersoft. ‘It’s no longer an issue.

‘I had a church contact me because nine amps died all at once,’ he continues. ‘It turns out that there were 130V in the building.’ His initial advice was to have an electrician rectify their voltage problems, but by replacing those amplifiers with Powersoft amps featuring Power Factor Correction allowed him to skirt the issue entirely.

‘The Powersoft amps can handle anything from 100-240V, and it doesn’t matter if it’s reversed, inverted, hot, neutral, the amps always sees the correct voltage,’ he says. He is now downsizing that nine-amp rack to two Ottocanali 4k4 amplifiers, boosting reliability while saving on space.’

Sound quality is also of the utmost importance in church installs, and Powersoft amplifiers have lifted the veil off of liturgical music recordings and other audio that has been in use for years at some locations. ‘After we upgrade to Powersoft, it’s like night and day. My clients are telling me they’re hearing things that they haven’t heard before,’ Narine says. ‘Same songs, same music, same speakers, different details.’

For another of Narine’s church installations, 22 amplifiers were replaced with three Powersoft Ottocanali 4k4 amplifiers. ‘What really boggled the client’s mind was that we went from need a 400A circuit to only needing three 20A circuits,’ Narine says. ‘It almost seems impossible to cut down on power draw that much, but Powersoft makes it possible.’ Aside from saving on electricity bills due to the amps’ current draw, additional savings come in the form of reducing the burden on climate control systems. ‘The amount of heat generated by three amps versus 22 – it’s a huge savings on air conditioning and space with Powersoft.’

Narine is also an avid user of the DSP tools offered on his K series and Ottocanali amps by way of Powersoft’s Armonía software. ‘I maximise the capabilities of the gear,’ he says. ‘Whatever options are in there, I use them. Armonía provides me with tuning, limiting, compression, crossovers, power/voltage limiting, input amperage, and I use it all.

‘My success rate in terms of client satisfaction is 100 per cent with Powersoft,’ he concludes. ‘The sound quality, it has to be up there, and they’re getting that, plus the efficiency and reliability. Some manufacturers are trying to release speakers that are only compatible with their own brand of amp, and that’s out of the question for me. If it doesn’t work with Powersoft I have to step away.’

More: www.powersoft-audio.com