Tribal Sound Deploys Europe's Largest X-Line Advance X2 System

Tribal Sound has delivered Europe's largest ever X-Line Advance X2 system for the 15th anniversary celebrations at Montpellier’s Sud de France Arena.

Designed using PREVIEW Loudspeaker Software, the massive Electro-Voice setup featured 60 tops and 24 subs, powered by 19 Dante-networked Dynacord TGX series amplifiers and managed via SONICUE sound system software, for a night of electronic music from an all-French line-up.

With a seating capacity of around 14,000, the arena required a PA system capable of delivering musicality and energy to every corner of the space. Tribal Sound’s team determined that only the continent’s largest X2 system could meet these demands.

"We built the system by using EV's PREVIEW software and saw that to cover the whole venue properly we would need to dry hire some more X2 and subs from another local rental company," explained Julien Garcia, CEO of Tribal Sound. "When we flew the system and tested it, the results were exactly as PREVIEW had predicted and we had the power to cover every area without pushing things too hard."

The main system comprised hangs of 24 X2-212 per side, with an additional six per side used for outfills, while six MFX-15 served as frontfills. Low end was delivered via eight sets of three X12-128 subs arranged in an end-fire array with a crossover at 70 Hz. MXF-15 coax wedges functioned as DJ monitors, complemented by a pair of PX2181 subs for the DJ booth.

Before the event, the arena team tested the system using a video of anniversary messages. "Even in the empty arena, there was extremely crisp and intelligible sound from the speakers," recalled Garcia.

The system's small footprint was another advantage. "The arena team didn't want the system to be visibly disturbing,” says Garcia. “The X2 is a small, discreet system with great sound quality. It provided the power of a big system but without taking up the space. The arena team were extremely impressed with the sound quality and coverage coming out of the small form factor of the X2."

Dynacord electronics powered the system, with ten TGX10 amplifiers driving the tops and nine TGX20s handling the subs, frontfills, and DJ booth. "For me, TGX is the best amplifier on the market," stated Garcia. "There is nothing that can break it and combined with SONICUE Sound System Software it gives me confidence that everything is working well. SONICUE really helps to simplify everything."

The importance of the electronics was highlighted during setup. "We plugged everything in and the combination of the TGX amps and SONICUE software detected a fault in the cabling," revealed Garcia. "We were able to solve that short circuit before any current was flowing to the speakers, so it was a protective measure that stopped us blowing any drivers."

Reflecting on the project, Garcia said the success of the combined Electro-Voice and Dynacord system has opened further opportunities for Tribal Sound. "This was a public tender and we were under pressure to prove that we could deliver superior results with these brands for this kind of venue. We were confident that our solution would work and, in the end, the coverage was exactly what as we predicted. The event went extremely well and we had a lot of compliments from all sorts of people."

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