HARMAN’s JBL VTX Line Arrays Go Into “X Mode” for the 2014 Miss USA Interviews

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana – As 51 contestants competed in one of the country’s most widely viewed beauty contests, Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based Premier Sound Services (PSS) provided the sound reinforcement for the Miss USA Pageant. The event is part of Miss Universe, which is owned by Donald Trump and was televised nationally live on NBC. As always, PSS stuck with its inventory of HARMAN’s JBL VTX line arrays to generate the best coverage and superior sound quality.

The main PA system consisted of 13 JBL VTX V25 line array loudspeakers per side in long-throw “X Mode” (35Hz high pass filter) and were powered with 24 Crown I-Tech 12000 HD and two Crown I-Tech 4x3500 HD amplifiers. The system also featured 45-degree outfill arrays, which featured nine VTX V20 loudspeakers in long-throw 60Hz mode that were powered by six Crown I-Tech 4x3500 HD amplifiers. On the floor, 16 bi-amped JBL SRX712M stage monitors were used with five Crown I-Tech 4x3500 HD amplifiers.

Two JBL VTX V20 loudspeakers were provided for the judges, with an additional two V20 loudspeakers per side for front fill, powered by two Crown I-Tech 4x3500 HD amplifiers. The downstage side-fill hangs featured six JBL VERTEC® VT4886 subcompact line array loudspeakers per side, powered by a single Crown I-Tech 4x3500 HD amplifier. The upstage side fill hangs also featured six VT4886 loudspeakers per side, powered with one Crown I-Tech 4x3500 HD amplifier.

“Keeping the loudspeakers hidden from the camera angles as much as possible was the main challenge of this event,” said Brian Gordon, Co-Owner and Head Audio Engineer of PSS. “Originally, we wanted to hang 14 units per side for the main PA, but thanks to the sheer power of the VTX Series we got the output we needed with fewer units, and we never hit the limit on any of the amplifiers.”

When asked why no subwoofers were used, Gordon replied, “We didn’t need any subwoofers for this show, because intelligibility and sound cohesiveness were the key objectives, and the VTX Series loudspeakers are superior in those areas over everything else. There was no interference and everything came out exactly as it should. I was especially impressed by the smoothness of the off-axis dispersion of the V20’s, which was just amazing.”

For more information on Premier Sound Services, please visit www.psssound.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.