The KR200s may look like a rather hi tech portable PA – and in effect it is – but while its size might allow it to be squeezed through the back door of your local pub, its 4,000-Watt potential is possibly a little ‘overkill’ for the average karaoke evening.

What K-Array has done with the KR200s is take the kind of sound reinforcement needed to deliver respectable SPLs in a dedicated gig venue for several hundred people and squeeze it into a package of a similar size to that which Disco Dave loads into the boot of his car every Friday night.

The mysterious case of the invisible PA
I’m a tad shortsighted (in the literal sense) and when I arrived at the British Music Experience in London’s O2 last month for the final of Kerrang’s Battle of the Bands, I hadn’t bothered to bring my glasses. This proved to be an oversight (no pun intended), because when I met with the relevant folks at the back of the performance space during rehearsals, I had no choice but to feign comprehension and nod as the new system was pointed out to me. I didn’t want to look like an idiot, but, embarrassingly, I couldn’t see it.

After scouring the stage and its surroundings for several minutes, all I could make out were some meaty stacks of backline and a fairly attractive Slingerland drum kit – that’s right, I could read the brand name on the kick drum, but I couldn’t spot the PA.

I may not quite be the eagle-eyed youth I once was, but my neglecting to take glasses to a gig is nothing new and I’m fairly certain that this was the first time I’ve not been able to see the loudspeakers. I had to wait for a clandestine moment and go in for a closer look – a much closer look as it turned out, because by the time they came into view, I was well inside what would have been the dangerous area for non-metal fans had the gig been in full swing.
All this was little wonder since, although the KR200s’ HF unit – probably the more conspicuous element of the two-way system, if we’re splitting hairs – comprises a substantial number of drivers, each of which are just two inches in diameter and the cabinet that surrounds them is hardly any wider. The associated subwoofer features a 1,600-Watt, 18-inch drive unit and, again, fits in a box that is just about big enough to house it, despite that fact that it also carries the amps and DSP for the whole system, which, remarkably, can deliver a constant 127dB.

When the bands started playing, the experience was something like changing a baby’s nappy for the first time. Now, before K-Array’s distributor Sennheiser begins to wish it never invited me and picks up the phone in an uncontrollable rage, I think I’d better qualify this: it was comparable in the sense that, although I’d been told what to expect, I was still astonished that something so big could come out of something so small. I look after my ears and it was loud enough to make me reach for my earplugs – or toilet tissue, because I’d forgotten those, too – despite the fact that I was standing at the back of the room.

At this point, some of you will be thinking that I was probably listening to 120dB of distorted, eq-ridden, tinnitus-inducing noise and I’m sure we can all think of small and powerful PAs that sound big and awful. But this certainly wasn’t one of them. Acoustically, the room wasn’t ideal and one or two of the bands may have lacked a bit of experience in the stage sound department but, all things considered, it rocked. Moreover, as the night wore on, the sound got better and better.

The show was mixed by Gibson Guitars FOH engineer Pete Freeman on Soundcraft’s recently launched Si3 console. Gibson, Sennheiser’s fellow BME sponsor, offered the space to Kerrang for the show and between them the two companies provided all the equipment and crew for the show, including mics and monitors and, of course, the drum kit. The PA was specified by Freeman and Sennhesier’s UK artist relationship manager Phil Cummings, after proving itself at Gibson’s London HQ.

“We demonstrated it to Pete at Gibson’s live space,” recalls Cummings. “He was confident that despite its lack of physical size, it would handle the event, for which they were expecting 400 people. Once set up at the venue, it more than coped, sounding better and better as the evening progressed and the band’s performances improved. The last band of the night included Charlie Simpson, formerly of Busted, in his band Fightstar. They performed acoustically and sounded really good through the K-Array.”

Freeman adds: “I’ve been working with Phil and Sennheiser mics for years and he mentioned that they were looking for somewhere to demo the new K-Array. I had a listen to the system and I knew it could work for Battle of the Bands. I’m very happy with the result – the power and depth of sound quality from such a compact unit is absolutely amazing. I could fit the whole thing in my wife’s Mini. I’m definitely going to put it up for more shows. In fact, I plan to do an orchestral event with it next and I’m really looking forward to it. I think it will cope effortlessly and lend itself perfectly to the dynamics. I can’t wait to see what the KS4 and KH4 panel array units can do.”

“K-array produces truly innovative products that really need to be seen and heard to be believed,” concludes Cummings. “The kit is so light and easy to set up that the PA was up and working in ten minutes with the first band soundchecking through it. There aren’t many 18-inch subs you can lift with one hand, even without a built-in power amp. The satellite line arrays fold and can be carried under one arm, yet the system delivers 4,000W of power. Immense. K-Array also produces larger line arrays and we would be very interested in getting a hire company to trial them for us.”
www.k-array.com