SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Audio engineer
Whitney Day is an independent audio professional who has worked with many of
the larger companies in Las Vegas, in venues such as the Smith Center for the
Performing Arts and for productions including The
Phantom of the Opera, Hairspray, The Lion King, Cirque du Soleil, Mannheim Steamroller and many others.
Production managers know they can rely on Day to deliver superb live sound with
exceptionally clear, detailed and well-balanced mixes and Day is always on the
lookout for tools to deliver better sound – like HARMAN’s dbx DriveRack PA2 Loudspeaker Management System.
The DriveRack PA2 enables a loudspeaker system to be quickly and accurately optimized
for the best-possible sound quality. The PA2 is ideal for bands, musicians and artists who carry their
own PA and for a wide range of installed sound applications. The DriveRack PA2 makes it easier than ever to set up a system and control it
on the fly via a mobile device or laptop.
“As a live audio mixing engineer, DSP and loudspeaker EQ are fundamentally
important tools for me and I’ve always been impressed with the digital signal
processing in HARMAN products,” Day stated. “I’m constantly looking for new
ways to achieve better sound and when the PA2 was introduced I felt
it was something that would help me do my job in smaller to medium-size shows.”
The dbx PA2 offers a host of loudspeaker tuning and system
optimization features, including a new Wizard setup utility, AutoEQ™ room EQ,
Advanced Feedback Suppresion (AFS™) and more. The PA2 provides dbx
compression, graphic and parametric EQ, speaker delay, dbx’s exclusive
Subharmonic Synthesis for enhanced low-frequency response, a built in
loudspeaker crossover (for full-range, 2-way and 3-way systems) and additional
features to get the most from any speaker system it’s used with, in any room.
“The PA2 is exactly what I was
looking for,” Day said. He found it simple to set up and use without reading
the manual. The PA2’s wireless control gives him the freedom to make
adjustments while walking around a venue and listening to the loudspeakers from
various locations, which Day finds a major advantage in making sure every
listener in every seat enjoys the best-possible sound.
Day is particularly impressed with the PA2’s natural, transparent
EQ. “Sometimes even on the best consoles when you engage the EQ you might
notice a change in the character of the sound but can’t really put your finger
on what it is. On the worst consoles it puts a mask over the sound. It’s like
covering the speakers with a bed sheet. When I take the EQ in and out on the PA2
it’s flawless – I don’t hear any change in sonic character.”
The PA2 does its sonic job with precision. On a lot of even highly
touted digital consoles, if Day thinks he needs a 2dB cut he’ll make a 5dB cut
and slide the fader back and forth until he hears what he wants. “With the PA2,
99 percent of the time the EQ adjustment is exactly what I think it should be.
If I want to make a 1dB cut, I hear a 1dB cut. For the PA2’s price
point I was amazed – that’s a very good EQ.”
He also feels that when it comes to EQ, the edict “first, do no harm” applies.
“People think about EQ in terms of improving the sound, but in order to do that
your EQ needs to sound fundamentally good to begin with. I find that with some
gear, applying EQ can be extremely destructive to the signal and really mess up
the phase relationships between frequencies. That’s simply not an issue with
the PA2. I’m really stunned at how good the unit is, and the fact
that it’s this good at its price point.”
“We designed
the unit with the goal of bringing the highest levels of audio quality and
control to smaller venues and live events and having an audio engineer of
Whitney’s caliber talk about the precision of the PA2 is the best compliment
we can receive,” stated Jason Kunz, Market Manager, Portable PA and Recording
& Broadcast for HARMAN Signal Processing.
HARMAN designs, manufactures, and markets a
wide range of infotainment and audio solutions for the automotive, consumer,
and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer
segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®,
Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson® and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio
technologies. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations
and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they
perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with
HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of 14,800 people
across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.7 billion for
the last twelve months ended December 31, 2013.
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