The newly renovated Beacham Theater in the heart of downtown Orlando recently installed Powersoft amplifiers to drive its EAW KF740 house PA system.
The owners of the 1,250-capacity live music venue and nightclub retained local design and install firm Heavier Than Gravity to handle the transition. Jeff Kenney, owner and designer of Heaver Than Gravity, specified a complete EAW house system featuring KF740 line arrays. When looking at power amplifiers, he wanted to make sure he was powering the system with substantial and reliable amplifiers. Having been impressed with K Series amplifiers from Powersoft for years, he decided to take this opportunity to put them to work.
‘The rig needed substantial power and the amplifiers competing with Powersoft just didn’t make any sense,’ he explains. ‘While I’ll admit that it is nice that Powersoft amplifiers are only 1U-high and extremely efficient, performance is key – and that is what won the day. We have more than enough headroom and have never had to push the system. They are amazing amplifiers.’
Kenney specified nine Powersoft K Series amplifiers -- two K3, two K6, four K8 and one K10 -- to power the main PA. A Powersoft M14D powers the four loudspeakers that serve as lip fills on the stage while a Powersoft M30D powers the loudspeakers that cover the mezzanine/upper balcony. Kenney also used two Powersoft K3, four M30D and one M28Q (four-channel) to power stage monitors and stage monitor subwoofers.’
Known for their high efficiency and green design, the amplifiers appealed in other ways than performance: ‘The amps breathe in clean air venting out of the stage, keeping them away from audience air which can be less than ideal for amplifiers,’ notes Kenney. ‘I’m not concerned about cooling because we have never had to push the system hard enough to worry about heat.’
Powersoft K Series amplifiers share a common chassis offering worldwide power supply operating range, Power Factor Correction, and extra light-weight 17.6lbs. in one rack unit size with DSP, Ethernet and SmartCard options. All models offer over 90 per cent efficiency, deliver a damping factor of >5000 @ 20Hz-200Hz and can be equipped for control from Powersoft’s Armonía Pro Audio Suite software.
The M Series features Powersoft’s bridgeable, switch-mode, fixed-frequency class-D topology. The standard models are fitted with a suite of protection circuits along with Powersoft’s legendary output filter and ripple cancellation network.
‘At the end of the day, what really matters is if the system sounds good, and it sounds great,’ Kenney concludes. ‘When everyone is happy you know you put together the right system.’
More: www.powersoft-audio.com
