Story Sound Adds Crown I-Tech HD Series to Inventory

	Michael Story

Dutch sound rental company Story Sound has purchased a battery of over 70 Harman Crown I-Tech HD series amplifiers. The decision to move to I-Tech HD amplifiers was driven by many factors including the availability of the new Harman HiQnet Performance Manager software.

Earlier in the year, managing director Michael Story announced that his company would be touring the Royal Netherlands Air Force with its JBL VerTec system; at the same time, he took the opportunity to field test his first 12 I-Tech HD12000 amplifiers. Story says he was already running his JBL VerTec rig on standard I-Techs and he believed the HDs would offer the best of all worlds. He knew that I-Tech HD features a new user-inspired DSP engine co-developed with BSS and linear phase FIR filters . But the introduction of the new HiQnet Performance Manager software provided the deciding factor.

This user interface facilitates the design of venue sound reinforcement systems, specifically for touring and theatrical sound engineering. A development of HiQnet System Architect, it takes the work flow paradigm to a higher level of functionality and is fully integrated with JBL's Line Array Calculator II loudspeaker configuration and acoustic modeling software, providing automated design to optimize the JBL VerTec performance.

"It was this software, plus the sound quality of the amplifiers, which marks a major step forward and the wonderful stability of the Crown network persuaded us," says Story. "Network stability was certainly an issue with other amplifiers we reviewed. We tested the Crown I-Tech HD's for one and a half years without experiencing any failure."

"The advanced phase filtering provided the final piece of the puzzle. We will now simply attach all the linear phase settings we have to the HD series amps," adds Story.

Paul Bauman, senior manager - product deployment, tour sound at JBL Professional says, "Story Sound's I-Tech HD investment is an important step towards future-proofing their Vertec system and I look forward to collaborating with Michael on the upcoming VerTec V5 preset release. As a software plug-in upgrade, VerTec V5 will provide significant performance enhancements for the entire VerTec line including improved horizontal coverage and overall sound quality due to the detailed phase linearization made possible by OmniDrive HD processing."