Positive Reinforcement: CTS Audio Adds More Than 100 HARMAN JBL VTX Series Line Array Loudspeakers to Its Tour Sound Inventory

FRANKLIN, Tennessee — Sound contractor CTS Audio was one of the first adopters of HARMAN JBL’s flagship VTX Series line arrays and it’s safe to say they’ve liked what they heard—the company just purchased more than 100 more of them. CTS Audio added a total of 108 V20 line array loudspeakers to its inventory, plus another eight V25 loudspeakers and a bevy of VTX F Series F12 loudspeakers.

While Franklin, Tennessee-based CTS Audio had used the V25 arrays at a number of high-profile events in the past year, the company put the V20 to the test for the first time at the recent 2014 K-Love Fan Awards, held at Nashville’s Opry Hotel and featuring the biggest names in Christian music including Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman, Amy Grant, Scott Stapp, Sidewalk Prophets and more than 40 other artists.

“Based on our experience with the VTX Series V25 and S28 subwoofers, we didn’t think we were going out on too much of a limb with the V20’s, which we were interested in for their smaller size and which would give us a more flexible loudspeaker inventory that would be adaptable to a wider variety of venues,” said Mike Taylor, Vice President at CTS Audio.

Nevertheless, it was definitely a case of “try before you buy”, and Taylor and his team flew out to the JBL headquarters in Northridge, California to give the V20 an audition. Taylor was hoping to hear big sound from a more compact loudspeaker–and was floored. “We listened to six of the boxes from 200 feet away and were amazed at how much clean, powerful sound the V20 put out.”

For the K-Love Fan Awards, CTS flew 10 deep V20 arrays over four S28 subwoofers on each side of the stage, complemented by two F12 speakers per side for outfill. The loudspeakers were driven by 24 Crown I-Tech 12000 HD amplifiers, and CTS used JBL HiQnet Performance Manager™ for system setup and control. “We’ve used the Crown amps with the V25 line arrays and Performance Manager on dozens of events, so the transition to the V20 was pretty close to effortless in terms of setup and calibration,” Taylor said.

“The sound we achieved was stunning, absolutely stunning,” Taylor added. “The headroom with the V20s is really impressive and a marked step up from other loudspeakers that we’ve used in the past.”

Taylor noted that in fact, they never came anywhere close to hitting the limiting for the system, and the V20 exceeded their expectations in its ability to fill the Opry with even coverage from the front to the back of the hall, with a smooth tonal balance and impressive dynamics and presence.

Taylor and his crew also appreciated the V20’s smaller size that makes it easier to fly, load in and load out. “It’s just a really well thought-out design,” he concluded.

For more information on CTS Audio, please visit www.ctsaudio.com

HARMAN designs, manufactures and markets premier audio, visual, infotainment and integrated control solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets. With 15 leading brands, including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson ®, the Company is admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a global workforce of 15,200 people and reported sales of $5.1 billion for the last 12 months ended March 31, 2014.

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CTS Audio Shows Faith in HARMAN’s JBL Professional VTX Line Arrays at National Catholic Youth Conference

NORTHRIDGE, California – Continuing a series of high-profile events using HARMAN’s JBL VTX line arrays and Crown I-Tech HD amplifiers, CTS Audio provided a HARMAN Professional audio system for the National Catholic Youth Conference at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Sponsored by the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry, the National Catholic Youth Conference featured a variety of spoken-word, live music and dramatic performances. Given the event’s diverse programming, CTS Audio—which has supplied the sound reinforcement for the bi-annual National Catholic Youth Conference for more than 15 years—needed an audio system that would accommodate this variety in a large stadium environment. Working with production company Declan Weir Productions, CTS Audio designed and deployed a HARMAN audio system featuring JBL Professional VTX line arrays powered by Crown I-Tech HD amplifiers.

The production was configured in the round, with the main PA system including a total of 90 JBL VTX V25 fullsize line array elements (in six columns of 15 each), with 24 S28 subwoofers flown in the center of the main PA loudspeakers in a cardioid setup. Eight VRX932 Constant Curvature loudspeakers provided additional fill. At each end of the stadium, 24 JBL VERTEC® VT4888 midsize line array elements served as delay loudspeakers. Crown I-Tech HD 12000 amplifiers powered the system.

According to Mike Taylor, Vice President of CTS Audio, the main challenges of the event included proper time-alignment of the loudspeakers. “We were faced with a complex task of achieving direct sound rather than reflections in such a large stadium,” said Mike Taylor, Vice President of CTS Audio. “And with the design, coming up with a subwoofer arrangement that was even across the room was also a challenge.”

In addition, CTS Audio configured and monitored the audio system with JBL HiQnet Performance Manager™.

“[JBL’s Associate Director, Tour Sound] Paul Bauman and [HARMAN Professional’s Application Engineer, Live Sound and Rental for North America] Raul Gonzalez helped us develop a solution utilizing Performance Manager,” Taylor noted. “This enabled us to model and program every loudspeaker in the system before even hanging a single box.”

Although CTS Audio has used VTX frequently since adding the loudspeakers to its inventory, this was the first time CTS supplied VTX for the National Catholic Youth Conference. “The event was a huge success,” Taylor said. “Two years ago we used VERTEC and this was an improvement on an already good-sounding system. VTX is a whole different animal—the enclosures and the high-frequency range are amazing.”

HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets – supported by 15 leading brands, including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson®. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of 14,600 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.5 billion for the last twelve months ended September 30, 2013.

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CTS Audio Continues Tradition of Success With HARMAN’s JBL Professional VTX Line Arrays and Crown I-Tech HD Amplifiers

NORTHRIDGE, California – Longtime HARMAN Professional customer and prominent live sound company CTS Audio of Brentwood, Tennessee recently added JBL VTX line arrays and Crown I-Tech HD amplifiers to its inventory to accommodate the needs of recent large-scale events. CTS Audio recently put its new VTX/I-Tech HD system to the test at the Delta Country Jam in Tunica, Mississippi and the Dove Awards in Nashville, Tennessee.

CTS Audio has seen its business grow in recent years, both in the frequency of projects as well as size. Eventually, the scale of the projects necessitated an addition to CTS’ inventory of audio equipment. “We started working enough large-scale events where it made sense to buy a large system instead of continuing to rent them,” said Mike Taylor, Vice President of CTS Audio.

So when the time came to add large-scale components, CTS Audio stuck with its winning formula. “We’re very committed to HARMAN,” Taylor said. “We’re deep into their line of products and are very happy with every HARMAN product we own, plus their customer service is second to none.”

CTS Audio first put its new products to the test at the 2-day Delta Country Jam, which took place outside the Hollywood Casino in Tunica and drew 15-20,000 fans each day. Performers included Billy Currington, Thompson Square, Randy Houser, Tim McGraw, Brantley Gilbert and Kellie Pickler.

The system at the Delta Country Jam featured 24 JBL VTX V25 fullsize line array elements (12 per side), supplemented with 24 VTX S28 arrayable subwoofers with 12 VERTEC® VT4886 subcompact line array elements for front fills and 12 VT4888 midsize line array elements for out fills (six per side). Crown I-Tech HD 12000 amplifiers powered the system, which was managed with JBL HiQnet Performance Manager™ software.

“The HARMAN system performed extremely well at the Delta Country Jam,” Taylor noted. “We worked with Drew Dedo of Harbor Entertainment, who produced the Delta Country Jam, and the collaboration with Drew, plus the addition of the new HARMAN gear, made the event a tremendous success.”

A couple weeks later, CTS serviced the Dove Awards, which took place at Lipscomb University's Allen Arena in Nashville with hosts Amy Grant (who also performed) and Kirk Franklin, with performances by Bart Millard, Andy Mineo, For King and Country, Newsboys, Toby Mac, Michael W. Smith and more.

The system at the Dove Awards featured 18 V25 fullsize line array elements (nine per side) with 16 S28 subwoofers (eight per side), along with 20 VT4888 line array elements for side fill and six VT4886 line array elements as a flown center cluster for front fill. Crown I-Tech HD 12000 amplifiers powered the system, which was managed with JBL HiQnet Performance Manager™ software.

“The VTX system has been very well received,” Taylor said. “It’s the first time we’ve owned a loudspeaker of the V25’s size and although we were initially concerned with running out of headroom, that has not been a problem at all. We’re finding a very present sound at the 300-foot range.”

For more information on CTS Audio, please visit www.ctsaudio.com

HARMAN (www.HARMAN.com) designs, manufactures, and markets a wide range of infotainment and audio solutions for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. It is a recognized world leader across its customer segments with premium brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, and Mark Levinson® and leading-edge connectivity, safety and audio technologies. The company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 14,000 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia and reported sales of $4.3 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2013.

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