Powersoft Rocks Perry Stage At Lollapalooza

Lollapalooza celebrated its 20th anniversary this year in Chicago’s Grant Park, where the festival has called home for the last five years. Eight stages hosted live alternative music groups from 11am to 10pm with most stages providing non-stop music throughout the 3-day festival. More than 100 acts performed at Lollapalooza including Eminem, Foo Fighters, Cold Play and Fuse.

Technotrix, a nationwide provider of technical production and equipment for major music festivals, special events and touring productions, utilized six Powersoft K20 DSP+AESOP amplifiers to power the 48 Martin WSX subwoofers providing low-end bass at the Perry stage. The Perry stage was one of three stages where Technotrix provided sound systems and support. Perry stage headliners included Girl Talk, Pretty Lights, Modeselektor and The Glitch Mob.

“We have been trying out different subwoofer amplifiers over the past few years and have had marginal results,” explained Alex Sostarich, system tech for Technotrix. “We jumped at the opportunity to use Powersoft amplifiers at the event. The ability to run so efficiently down to two ohms was a huge plus.”

The K20 DSP+AESOP provides up to 18,000 W in a single rack space, making it the most powerful model within the K Series, the most advanced line of power amplifiers from Powersoft. Ideal for subwoofers requiring relatively high continuous power and ample headroom, the K20 is the unique result of smart design, attention to sound quality, and extremely high efficiency with reliability, portability, and adaptability in mind. At the Perry stage each K20 DSP+AESOP powered 8 Martin WSX subwoofers.

“We had what seemed like infinite amounts of headroom,” Sostarich added. “These amps are by far the most powerful we have ever used.”

The K20 DSP+AESOP units allowed Sostarich to utilize Powersoft’s Armonía Pro Audio SuiteTM. The software’s advanced grouping panel made it easy for him to manage the system while offering sophisticated input EQ for individual channels and groups with multiple layers and various filter types.

Sostarich also noted that the TruePowerTM Limiter function, designed to keep the amplifier’s output power at safe levels, was something new that he found extremely useful. Active DampingControlTM also played an essential role by providing compensation for speaker wire current losses, dramatically improving cone control with virtually negative output impedance, resulting in exceptional audio sound quality. He added that LiveImpedanceTM monitoring was also employed and vital to verifying system integrity in real time throughout the three-day event. 

On board DSP was utilised for crossover, parametric and delay control. With a pre-existing redundant Ethernet network already in place, the Powersoft amps easily tied into the same network.

“One of the challenging aspects of the festival was the almost nonexistent changeovers between acts,” Sostarich concluded. “Knowing we didn’t have to worry about the power on the subs helped relieve some of the production stress.”