Harman's JBL Professional and Crown Uncork Extraordinary Sound at BottleRock Napa ValleyBilling itself as the Ultimate Celebration, the three-day BottleRock Napa Valley Festival offered the best in music, wine, beer, and gourmet food, accompanied by stellar sound courtesy of Harman Professional audio systems featuring JBL's VTX Series line array loudspeakers and Crown I-Tech HD Series amplifiers. The festival, which took place on three stages at the Napa Valley Expo, hosted an unusually diverse lineup including Outkast, Eric Church, The Cure, Weezer, Heart, The Fray, Barenaked Ladies, Thee Oh Sees, and more than 70 other acts. Camarillo, California-based full-service event production company Delicate Productions provided sound, light, and video for the event. It was the second year Delicate got the exclusive to handle all the A/V and lighting setup for all three stages -- and the first year the company used JBL VTX line arrays. BottleRock is held right in the actual heart of the city of Napa, which meant the stages were 200' from houses in every direction. On top of that, the sound system was not allowed to exceed an SPL of 105dB C-weighted, so Delicate needed loudspeakers that could meet these requirements yet deliver the high-impact, full-range sound that the artists and concertgoers expect at an outdoor festival. Delicate Productions' president Jason Alt and his crew had previously heard a VTX demo at JBL's Northridge, California headquarters, liked what they heard, and thought the VTX Series would be well suited for the requirements of the festival. "We had never used the VTX loudspeakers before, but we had complete confidence after hearing them for ourselves at Northridge," Alt said. For each of the three BottleRock stages, Delicate hung nine JBL VTX V20 line array elements and six S28 subwoofers on each side of the stage, along with 12 F12 loudspeakers for out fill and six F15 loudspeakers for down fill. Amplification was provided by two Crown I-Tech 12000 HD VRacks for the subwoofers, three I-Tech 4x3500 HD VRacks for monitor mixes, out fills and stage subs, and two I-Tech 4x3500 HD VRacks to power the V20 loudspeakers. The amps were linked to the VTX loudspeakers via JBL's HiQnet Performance Manager system setup, calibration, and control software. "The VTX line arrays, subwoofers, and loudspeakers proved to be exactly what was needed for the application," Alt noted. "The VTX's acoustic energy was focused in the right direction, with the correct directivity being delivered forward to the audience and with very little spill to the surrounding neighborhood." Alt was equally impressed by the VTX's sound quality, particularly the accuracy and resolution of the D2 dual-diaphragm high-frequency compression driver and the smoothness of the transition from the midrange to the upper-midrange and highs. "The V20 is really impressive and the fidelity is second to none, including any of the highest-end boxes that are out there," he said. "The way the V20 pairs with the subwoofer, it's all elegantly designed." Alt noted that he was "really blown away" by the entire Harman package for the way the synergy between the VTX loudspeakers, I-Tech HD Series amps and HiQnet Performance Manager software enabled the crew to set up the entire system faster and more accurately and optimize the performance of the loudspeakers and amps to a greater degree than in previous events. "Looking at the way JBL, Crown, and Performance Manager tied together, it's apparent that Harman has thought out the process very well." For more information on Delicate Productions, visit www.delicate.com. 
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