Estonian festival powered by Lab.gruppen

Viljandimaa laulu- ja tantsupidu, a ‘song and dance festival’ in Estonia has seen native rental company Heliart supply the event with an array of audio and lighting equipment, including amplifiers from Lab.gruppen.

“Heliart OÜ was founded in 2007,” said Priit Kivimägi, owner and partner at Heliart. “We have a sound and lighting rental, sales and installation company, but we do not only rent equipment; we also provide a full service as well to serve our clients’ needs as good as we can.”

As the Estonian distributor for EAW, the festival in Viljandi provided the ideal demo event for its inventory, with every loudspeaker powered by Lab.gruppen amplifiers, with the exception of the NTL720.

The main system comprised 14 EAW NTL720 active line array main hangs supported by the stacks of two of the EAW SB1000 subs per side, which were powered by the two FP Lab.gruppen 14000 amplifiers. Four EAW JFL210 and two VFR129 were used for side and front fills, which were powered by two Lab.gruppen FP 10000Q’s.

Meanwhile, there were seven EAW Micro Wedge12 stage monitors in bi-amp configuration, while Lab.gruppen fP 3400’s, fP 2400Q and FP 10000Q were used for monitors. Both PA and monitors and were controlled by five EAW UX8800 four-in/eight-out DSP’s.

“We used the FP 14000 for subs, as these are the best sounding sub amplifiers I have ever used,” said Kivimägi. “They have plenty of headroom for regular setups and they work flawlessly under extreme conditions as well (for example 2Ohms load).”

With a total of 19 amplifiers in their inventory, and more to follow, there are more reasons why Heliart have invested their time and money in such a reliable collection of amplifiers.

Kivimägi continued: “The reason we use Lab.gruppen amplifiers is that they make no compromises in sound quality and due to the great power to size ratio, we are able to save truck space and labour. Also, the aesthetics of the amps are good because on this show, there was only one 11U amp rack per side that was barely noticeable.

“We can always rely on Lab.gruppen amplifiers even in extreme weather conditions – on this festival it was heavily raining during setup and rehearsals. Of course, the low weight of the Lab.gruppen amplifiers which was especially important for the event as some of the amp racks had to be carried up the stairs of the stage!”

The Heliart team also used a similar set up for other events, such as the Rabarock Festival and Rock Ramp Festival, utilising a selection of FP 14000, FP 10000Q, fP 2400Q and fP 3400 amplifiers to power subs, sidefills, frontfills and monitors.

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