Audio Pro

Currently on a world tour that has taken in Japan, Australia, the USA and Europe, Scottish songwriter and guitarist KT Tunstall recently toured the UK with a Funktion-One Resolution 5 point-source loudspeaker system supplied by Stef Imhof’s Audio Plus, a Colchester-based audio firm which acted as sole sound supplier for the British leg which took in various indoor clubs and venues.

The Resolution 5 Touring enclosure is one of the latest products to come out of the UK loudspeaker firm and, according to the company, represents a significant development of the previous work by Tony Andrews and his team, and one which they believe to be the finest and smallest large-scale sound system available. And naturally, as with all things Funktion-One, this is not a line array.

With a highly controlled dispersion pattern of 25-degrees horizontal by 20-degrees vertical, ‘almost seamless array implementation’ is suggested by the company, which also cites its high frequency headroom as a key factor in facilitating long-range applications. Each enclosure is loaded with a single 12-inch LF driver, an eight-inch mid and dual one-inch HF drivers, which together offer a frequency response of 114Hz to 18kHz.

In these days of alleged line-array dominance, it’s actually quite healthy to see – and hear – a quality point-source system in operation. Certainly at London’s Hammersmith Apollo, the system, which for that night had been attended to by Funktion-One’s John Newsham, not only added a striking visual addition to the Apollo’s art déco styling, but also gave the audience value for money, with a quality, punchy and clear sound which complemented Tunstall’s vocal and tight band performance with ease.

The main PA system was based around the Resolution 5 enclosures, with ten flown each side of the stage and five Resolution 4D downfills underhung from the main array.

These hangs were augmented by three F221A subwoofers per side, while Resolution 2 boxes were placed left and right firing into the crowd for additional front-fill.

In addition to the main PA, Funktion-One also featured heavily on stage with several of the new RM18 monitors strung across the front and around the stage. Making their debut on the KT Tunstall tour, the RM18 is a tri-axial stage monitor which, according to the firm ‘is a radical departure from the standard 15-inch and compression-driver configuration’, and one which delivers ‘a significant performance advantage over conventional monitors’.

This all-new tri-axial arrangement comprises an ultra-fast 18-inch driver with 5-inch coil and neodymium magnet, plus a special 5-inch driver with a built-in HF compression driver passively crossed-over at 9kHz. The 700Hz crossover point and the natural materials used in the mid-device give ‘a previously unheard clarity and definition to the vocal range’. Conical dispersion is quoted at 70 degrees, and the bass response of the 18-inch driver also makes it suited as a drum monitor.

Apart from the powered subs, all amplification was provided via MC2 amplifiers with system control and setting via XTA processors. In addition, a Midas XL4 and Aphex outboard processing was installed FOH for sound engineer Oz Bagnall, while monitor engineer Tilde Bruynooghe worked with a Yamaha PM5D-RH on stage.

For Bagnall, Funktion-One loudspeaker systems are hardly new; indeed in a previous life he has used the company’s products when working as system tech with Jackson Browne on a UK tour some years ago. As such, he has plenty of enthusiasm for the product.

“I like the natural full sound”, states Bagnall. “There’s no corrective eq curves in the processing to make it work, so I don’t need computer prediction software to set it up.

Plus the sound goes only where I point a cabinet and when you mix a gig it sounds like a gig and not like some big hi fi system. Perhaps I am old fashioned, but I like all those mid-range frequencies, it’s amazing how much better a song sounds when you add these to the regular boom and tizz.”
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kttunstall.com