Specifications

www.crownaudio.com
64 •
IQ NETWORK
`I-TECH & IQ
G
RAMMY Award-winning recording artist
Nelly Furtado recently completed her two-
week “Come As You Are” Canadian tour in sup-
port of her second release entitled “Folklore.”
The first date of the tour was at the 12,000-seat
Molson Amphitheater in Toronto. The show fea-
tured a seven-piece band, supporting Nelly’s
intriguing blend of rock, acoustic and hip-hop
sounds with a Brazilian influence. The main tour-
ing system was augmented for the first show,
and then was paired down for the remainder of
the “soft-seater” dates in major market areas
throughout Canada. Crown recently caught up
with Mark Radu, Systems Engineer for PA+
Productions, a major touring company located in
Toronto who provided the system for the Nelly
tour. Mark discussed his experience with their
new I-Tech Series amplifiers.
“I hadn’t had much prior experience with the
Crown IQ Network but was familiar with other
digital based processors. I received a couple of
Crown I-Techs to demo and was immediately
impressed with the amplifier’s sonic perform-
ance. DSP engine aside, it was probably the best
amplifier I had heard. After putting the amplifier
through some rigorous testing I was continually
impressed with its construction and perform-
ance. After exploring the DSP aspect of the
amplifier, I was totally blown away with the capa-
bilities the I-Tech amplifiers possessed. The DSP
provided a limitless number of possibilities not
“A marriage made
in Audio Heaven”
I-Tech & IQ
only within the realm of speaker processing but
in overall system control as well.
“The House PA system was controlled by a single
notebook computer hardwired to the drive sys-
tem, amplifiers and JBL SMAART. A remote wire-
less display panel allowed me to walk the entire
venue with system control and SMAART at my
fingertips. The entire monitor system was also
programmed using Crown IQ. The system was
stand-alone plug and play: power the I-Techs on,
plug in a speaker and go. Out of 248 bands of
graphic EQ on the entire monitor rig, I counted a
total of 12 filters in use at tours end.
“Using an array of custom-built control pages
dedicated to the tour’s speaker compliment and
configuration I was able to have all the pertinent
parameters readily available and configured while
keeping all non-relevant control elements in the
background. The flexibility and sheer amount of
overall DSP horsepower within the IQwic pro-
gram is nothing short of mind-boggling. Having
control over and being able to matrix every single
component within the entire speaker system not
only allowed for a quick acoustic setup but
allowed me to finesse and massage the (JBL
Professional) VERTEC line array elements like
never before. Getting the rig to sound the same
each night in every venue was easier than ever.
Nelly’s music is very busy with a total of 54
Inputs from stage. Finding a spot for everything
in the mix turned out to be less of a challenge
than I thought it would be. Also, I cannot say
enough about the true voltage limiting on the I-
Tech amplifiers. Knowing your system is protect-
ed that well on tour is truly one less thing worry
about.
“In short, the Crown I-Tech is probably the best
amplifier I’ve heard. It has unmatched damping
in the low end, rich, full sounding mids and crys-
tal clear high-end definition. Couple this with the
sheer DSP horsepower and the flexibility of the
IQwic software and you have a marriage made in
Audio Heaven.”
Nelly Furtado tours with I-Tech.