Alcons Pro-Ribbon System Turns On Poland's OFF Festival Founded in 2006, OFF prides itself as being Poland's most eclectic festival. Held in Katowice over three days during the summer, the 2022 event saw an Alcons system trusted with bringing a wide variety of music to the festival's T Tent for the third year. The event's audio contractor was Pro Sound Kaszynski, who asked Warsaw-based AudiofriQ to install and manage all the audio systems. At the T Tent, the front of house system had to cover an audience area within the tent of approximately 30m (98') deep, plus a further 20m (66') in the open air beyond it. Having performed flawlessly at the festival twice before, an Alcons pro-ribbon system was the natural choice. The chosen solution was an eight per-side flown system of LR18 three-way, twin 8" compact line array modules, with 12 ground-stacked BQ211, single 21" subwoofers in mono mode. Two QR24 two-way, twin 12" pro-ribbon line-source columns were used for front fill, with the system powered and controlled by 28 channels of Sentinel10 amplified loudspeaker controllers, running Alcons' proprietary ALControl remote-control software. AudiofriQ was supported by Radoslaw Strzezek from Aplauz Audio, Alcons Audio's Polish representative and distributor, who set up and supported the system throughout the festival. "With its simple, fast setup and tuning process, its exceptionally natural sound and long throw, the LR18 system was the perfect solution for the T Tent," says Strzezek. Grzegorz Fotek, Aplauz CEO, agrees, "It sounded fantastically natural. Even at 105dBA levels it didn't 'scream', the sound remained undistorted and pleasant at all times," he says. "The tuning also required minimal effort, because the factory presets are basically ready to play. "Importantly, there was no need to interfere with the 2-3kHz band, and if we did make any changes, they were only because the material needed it." The LR18 and QR24 are both available in two dispersion patterns -- wide dispersion (LR18/120 and QR24/110) and narrower dispersion with longer throw (LR18/90 and QR24/80). This makes them suitable for many different venue types and shapes, ensuring maximum return on investment for equipment rental companies. Critically, the inherently high quality, powerful sound of Alcons pro-ribbon technology is maximized by seamless audible transition between cabinets and a sharply-controlled vertical dispersion, which allows the sound to be very precisely aligned. This makes them the perfect solution for venues like the OFF Festival T Tent, where it's important that the sound doesn't spill into adjacent areas. Artists from Poland, the USA, UK, Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany performed on the T Tent stage and the Alcons pro-ribbon system made a great impression. "We had very positive feedback from the mix engineers for Q (USA), Altin Gün (Netherlands) and Amenra (Belgium). Their immediate reaction after the first sounds when soundchecking was a wide smile and questions about the name of the system," says Strzezek. Fotek adds, "We are proud that an Alcons pro-ribbon system was again used at the OFF festival. It is at the forefront of such events in Europe and we are very pleased that the artists and their engineers really appreciated the quality of the system." 
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