Powersoft Keeps BALS Premier Argentinian Rock Shows Ahead of the Game

	Paul McCartney performs with Powersoft supplied by BALS

Powersoft's penetration of the South American continent is showing no let up -- nowhere less so than in Argentina, where Equaphon continue to establish their products with most of the leading rental companies.

Established in 1973 by Carlos Maiocchi to develop and manufacture professional audio systems, the founder states that when Equaphon took on the Powersoft brand in 2003, there was no real market dedicated to the installation sector, and for this reason the rental sector provided the obvious market for the Italian company's technology.

Today Maiocchi quotes around 70 companies stocking their products -- and notable among these is Buenos Aires Live Show (BALS), Argentina's largest event sound and lighting company. They hold a massive stock, predominantly of Powersoft K10 amplifiers, which were supplied by Equaphon.

Set up in 1992, BALS first adopted Powersoft's large DIGAM 7000 once Equaphon had taken on the range. States Maiocchi, "It was an easy decision for them to move across to Powersoft technology -- especially once the K series had been launched. We helped to show them that this was the technology that would arguably change the market for professional amplification."

Today, the company says BALS has had no reason to doubt the wisdom of that decision. The company's inventory includes 52 K10 DSP, two K10, four K8 DSP, eight K8, two K6, two K3, four M50Q DSP+ETH, six DIGAM Q4002 -- with K8, K10, M50Q, and Q4002 used frequently in both front-of-house and monitor racks on major shows.

Recently these large capacity shows have included names such as Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, and Justin Bieber where they would typically use 24 K10 and eight K8 on their main JBL VerTec system, with 20 K10 on subs and a further four K10 (and a single K8) on sidefills.

At the large Cuidad del Rock (Rock City) in Buenos Aires they provided a further 22 K10s and two K8s to drive the VerTec system out with Blue -- with ten K2's again assigned to the main hangs for the Ringo Starr concert at Luna Park in the Argentinian capital. With efficiency to the fore, BALS' amp racks are plugged with three K10 and a K8 (main PA rack) and either four or six K10s for the sub rack. The monitor rack is loaded with three Q4002 and drum fill rack with two M50Q.

"With this configuration," says Diego Aballay of BALS, "we can substantially reduce the number of amplifiers, space, weight, and power consumption. And given the opportunity of using such a good tool as Powersoft's Armonía [Pro Audio Suite] we continue to use the [Lake] LM26 for loudspeaker system control."

In conclusion, Aballay said, "No one can challenge the sound quality of Powersoft or surpass their benefits, which include reliability, performance and versatility."

"And as for service, the support we receive from Equaphon in Argentina is excellent; they are there for us 24 hours 365 days a year."