CMI Launches Adamson S-Series in Australia

	David Dohrmann, Adamson's technical director, Asia Pacific

Adamson Systems Engineering announces the official launch of the S Series in Australia. Distributor CMI recently invited sound companies, consultants, sound technicians, and integrators from the live, corporate, venue, and house of worship markets to hear a live demonstration of the new line array at their headquarters in Melbourne.

David Dohrmann, Adamson's technical director, Asia Pacific, started off the demonstration with a presentation about Adamson's philosophy, design process, and products and provided an indoor demonstration of the Metrix line array system and Point Series loudspeakers.

Audio specialist Jason Allen from CX Magazine commented on the indoor demo, "In addition to sounding crisp, clear, and honest, all models are capable of frightening volume, but are so free of distortion that you don't realize how loud they actually are. It's a strange sensation; your body is telling you how much air is hitting you, but your ears aren't used to that kind of SPL not being full of square waves. The big star of the session was the small, humble Point 8. At just 45cm tall and 25cm wide, the single 8" ND8-LM Kevlar Neodymium Driver and 1" Exit HF driver put out enough level for a small band."

After lunch the demonstration moved outside where attendees experience an S10 line array made up of 12 enclosures along with six A218 subwoofers. The system was driven by Adamson's E-Rack loaded with three Lab.gruppen PLM 12K44 amplifiers, a Cisco switch for Dante connectivity and Adamson's global standard audio and AC panels for power and signal distribution.

One of the many attendees to the event was Graeme Whitehouse, general manager of NW Group, a supporter of Adamson for many years. Whitehouse adds, "As Australia's largest owner and user of Adamson products, we were very keen to hear the S10. Unsurprisingly, it's a phenomenal product; unbelievably powerful for a sub-compact system, coherent across the full frequency spectrum, and with the same musicality and trademark clarity we've become used to with Adamson systems. Well done, a great box."

"Adamson has clearly listened to operators and shines where many leave me wanting," explains Scott Mullane, owner Aisle 6 Productions, who also attended the demo. "The highlights for me were the clarity and focus of the mid-range. It was incredibly detailed and sounded extremely focused even when walking the line between the cabinets. It was also clear that there was an incredible SPL output although the feeling was never uncomfortable. I often find the lower mid/upper low frequencies to be less than punchy when compared to their point source brethren and again, this was not the case, tight, punchy clear and output for days. The S10 mid/high cabinets are certainly heralding a new benchmark for medium format line array PA's. As a touring engineer, I would be very happy to find myself mixing into the S10."

The S10 is a two-way, full range, sub-compact line array enclosure ideal for mid-size arenas, theaters, churches, and dance clubs, as well as outdoor festivals. It is loaded with two newly designed 10" ND10-LM Kevlar Neodymium low frequency drivers and an NH4TA2 1.5" exit high frequency compression driver mounted to a wave shaping sound chamber which produces a slightly curved wavefront with a nominal dispersion pattern of 110-degrees x 10-degrees (H x V). The compact solution -- 265/10.4 x 737/29 x 526/207 (mm/in) -- weighs in at a mere 27/60 (kg/lb). Due to extensive boundary element testing, the chamber exhibits increased vertical response with minimal sacrifice of high frequency energy in the far field. The S10 offers tremendous output (max peak SPL 141.3dB) for such a compact enclosure.

Peter Morris, owner of Adelaide Sound Hire, adds, "The first thing you notice about the S10 is its size; it's quite small and light for a dual 10" line-array, its form factor is almost like that of an 8" box, but the output is at the top of its class. I must say I was surprised by the sound quality Adamson had achieved with this two way design; it was smooth with a very detailed midrange. The top end was really nice, not like you would expect from such a large format compression driver. When pushed there was no harshness, it just got loud. It also sounded great on every type of music from opera to heavy rock and voiced beautifully with an open mic. This is a very impressive well-built mid-size line-array that should be on everyone's rider."

Shannon De Bie, owner or Pro Sound Productions, summed the event up quite nicely by concluding, "I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the two days. The S10 is insanely awesome and I am in love with the whole package."