Florida's Sound Media Expands Turbosound Inventory

Since Sound Media, a sound and lighting production company located in Hollywood, Florida, purchased the Turbosound Flex Array (TFA-600H) system a year ago, the company has experienced a growing presence in the south Florida market, necessitating further investment. According to the company, Flex Array combines elements of line array theory with proven virtual point source technology in a single product range for exceptional flexibility in application.

"Working directly with Turbosound and our area rep, Mainline Marketing, has been great. Both did a tremendous job in supporting our deployment of Turbosound products to our customers; this was a critical component of the success we have experienced." reports Lennox Foster, Sound Media's president and founder. "We bought 16 of the 75-degree boxes last year, and it took our business to another level. The TFA-600 is one of the best sounding boxes I've heard in a long time. Now we're expanding again, so it was natural to stay with the sound signature that has helped us get so many new and repeat customers. Now we have enough Flex Line Array for stadium shows of 15,000 or more."

To augment their existing systems, Sound Media purchased several additional Turbosound models, most notably expanding capabilities by adding eight TFA-600HW (100-degree dispersion) Flex Array elements. In addition, they bought eight NuQ-8DP and four Aspect TA-500 loudspeakers.

"One thing I love about the Turbosound system is the seamless integration and consistent audio characteristics between products," says Foster. "We do a diverse range of events, from large arena shows and casinos to outdoor festivals and corporate shows. With Turbosound, all I have to worry about is coverage and power, so I can mix and match the different loudspeakers to meet the needs of the venue."

Foster points to the Aspect 500 as an example of Turbosound flexibility. "It's an outstanding full-range box for point and shoot applications," he says. "It's actually bigger than the Flex Array, a three-way with a 15" woofer. We can use two of them per side at an outdoor show for 2,000 people, no problem. It's also a perfect sidefill to use with the Flex Array at bigger shows."

Similarly, the smaller NuQ-8DP finds utility in a range of applications. "We do a lot of smaller corporate shows, where sound quality is important, but the client does not want to see large black boxes," says Foster. "The NuQ is perfect for that, because it has high fidelity, is very compact, and still has plenty of output. Then, at our bigger events we can use it as a frontfill and as monitor wedges on stage for speeches. It's a very diverse box."

Interestingly, Sound Media opted for the unpowered versions of both the Flex Line Array and Aspect speakers. "Sometimes our speakers might be up for two or three days, and we get a lot of rain in Florida," explains Foster. "So for our needs, separate amplifiers are best. But for smaller speakers like NuQ, we bought the self-powered version, since they're usually indoors or down at stage level."

An electrical engineer by education, Foster has firm opinions on the design features that make Turbosound speakers so good. "There are a lot of very good speakers on the market today, but what's unique about Turbosound is the vocal presence," he explains. "The crossovers on the larger systems are designed so that the vocals are primarily all coming out of one speaker, which keeps it very cohesive and very intelligible. There is no smearing of the vocals with Turbosound systems, and that is very important to us, and to our customers."

As Sound Media continues to grow, Foster is looking forward to expanding his stock of Turbosound loudspeakers even further. "With the growth we've been experiencing, it's great to know that all our Turbosound systems are compatible with each other," he says. "That allows me to create system designs for virtually any size and shape of venue, line array or point source, and still have confidence that it will sound incredible."