JBL SRX: Making Waves

It’s the oldest sales trick in the book: leave the new PA in the hands of a would-be customer for a week and – a bit like a lost puppy following you home – the unwanted/unnecessary becomes an indispensable part of the family. But in this case, Andrew West wasn’t having a bar of it.

“CMI helped us out with a JBL SRX rig for the Lalala Stage at the Yours & Owls Festival last year but I was totally upfront with them – ‘I don’t need another system even if I could afford another system’… I just wasn’t in the market.”

You know what’s coming… After the weekend of the festival Andrew somewhat sheepishly rang back – “There’s been a change in the situation.”

Andrew, as owner of Signals Systems (a supplier of audio production to the Wollongong area since 1990), found SRX compelling: “I didn’t know anything about SRX until the Yours & Owls festival but the way it performed was amazing. We had 17 bands through each of the two days, with the Lalala Stage maxed out at around 3000 people and that PA (six mid/high SRX910LA boxes aside, two double-18 SRX928S subs aside and a ground-stacked centre cluster of four single-18 SRX918S subs) breezed through it. We were absolutely blown away.

“You would expect that from a Tier 1 PA but SRX isn’t a Tier 1 PA, it’s a mid-level, well priced system. So as an owner, that’s gold. I bought the PA because of that performance and affordability combination. More of our clients can now afford great sound.”

MAKING WAVES

Signals’ JBL SRX rig calls Waves home. Waves is a Wollongong live music institution and Signals has been looking after its production requirements for 34-odd years. Waves plays host to some big-time touring acts as they come through Wollongong. The capacity is around 1500 and is covered by either four or five of the JBL mid/high SRX910LA boxes aside, stacked on three of the SRX928S subs aside.

“I sometimes find I’m still pinching myself,” continues Andrew West. “When Amity Affliction came through, and I’m seeing just those five top boxes and three subs each side of stage, I kept asking myself ‘surely that’s not enough PA for this kind of band?’. Each SRX box packs a couple of 10-inch drivers; they’re only 27kg each with amps on board; and there wasn’t any backline on stage to help us along. But sure enough, the SRX rig took it all in its stride. It was a full house but it was the right amount of PA and everyone was delighted. I went home thinking ‘that PA is amazing!’.”