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Corporate 15 Jan 2019

Wilding sound adds RCF HDL 6-A to rental fleet

London-based Wilding Sound has introduced RCF to its rental fleet for the first time. 

 
It has made an initial purchase of eight HDL 6-A composite line array enclosures, with four SUB 8004-AS single 18” subwoofers, along with flyware and pole mount accessories. They swiftly followed this up by adding a further four HDL 6-A.
 
At the same time Wilding Sound purchased flight cases to hold three HDL 6-A per case to allow ease of dry hire, with space for fly-ware in the back.
 
“This will give us many options and permutations,” said director, Matt Stolton. Among them is the ability to fly the HDL 6-As and deploy the subs in a mono centre spaced array with the aid of their winch stands and truss.
 
Although this is their first foray into RCF’s cutting-edge line array technology, Wilding Sound’s own history dates back to the 1970s, installing everything from bus station voice alarms to pubs — and retail. 
 
When they were ready to upgrade to a small format line array box they embarked on a journey that would lead them to RCF. “Our old FOH system just wasn’t cutting it,” said Stolton, “and was too small to cope with the larger events we were trying to run it on. Whatever we chose needed to offer flexibility and value for money and provide a solution for every job — from small festival stages, as much as corporate conference work and events catering for up to 500-600 people.” They saw the HDL 6-A at PLASA 2018 and were immediately impressed. “The more I looked at it, the more I realised it was a perfect fit,” he continued. “And once we had heard it, it was a done deal.

Aside from sonic superiority, Wilding’s criteria included the necessity for a well-known brand that would be acceptable on riders and a system that would deliver a good return on investment. “Pretty much everything we looked at was fantastic at what it was designed to do, but couldn’t do anything else, somewhat one trick ponies.”

 
They auditioned three premier systems but discounted many more “based on lack of features, which hindered flexibility, or after playing with EASE, which revealed some eccentricities. 
 
“Scalability was the key, and the HDL 6-A doesn’t suffer any of these compromises. If you want to hang a long true array of them, it does it. If you want to ground stack six on top of a stack of subs, it does it. If you want to deploy it as a point source box, it does it. And it does it all, at a fantastic price point, with affordable, elegant, hardware options. On top of that it also sounds good, with surprisingly good low mid for drivers of this size, and does go low enough without subs, so can be used as a stand-alone full range box.”
 
In summary, the Wilding Sound director says, “This line array will allow us great flexibility in covering all the venues we typically work in. At the same time it will meet client expectations better, both sonically and visually.” 
 
“Line array has become expected now, even on small jobs. The HDL 6-A gives you the flexibility to form long enough arrays to actually get line array performance, and at the angles you need to achieve coverage. Equally, at shorter lengths, it is very capable as an array of point sources. On top of it sounds great, and the flyware is comprehensive and very affordable, unlike many manufacturers — all of which helps them get out of the warehouse and earning money!”
this line array will allow us great flexibility in covering all the venues we typically work in. at the same time it will meet client expectations better, both sonically and visually