Watch Video about How APC460R performed at Chengdu LIVEHOUSE

User: Qin Yang (秦洋)

Title: Chief Tuner and mixer of VOX

Jul 13, 2018. Today was my last day in Chengdu. At 10:00 in the morning, I was at Zhenghuo LIVEHOUSE located in Chengdu Fanmu Air District, preparing for APC’s demo for Mr. Deng Chenglong, a famous tuner from Hangzhou.

Mr. Deng Chenglong (left) and Mr. Zhuang Qian (right) from Space Circle

Chengdu Zhenghuo LIVEHOUSE covers a construction area of around 1500 square meters, acoustically decorated in its interior space, where reverberation time generally less than 1 second (based on my subjective perception). High frequency attenuation could be perceived easily, while my general sound perception was a bit dim. At the back stage there was a 20-square-meter LED screen. I could perceive clearly the reflected sound at 800-3000Hz when I stood at the center of the field clapping my hands. In the field today there was D&B loudspeakers, two GL-212 line arrays, each assembled with 9 units respectively, and 4 sets of 218 subs. The internal area was divided by the main-floor and second-floor audience areas. I only took one APC460R processor with me, so I planned to mainly focus on the sound field correction for the main floor area.

To save the time, Mr. Deng agreed to spare about one hour for my demo at first. So apart from the first 15 minutes for preparation (5 mins for connection and configuration, 5 mins for position, and 5 mins for measurement and calibration), all the rest was spent on subjective evaluation. However when the evaluation completed, Mr. Deng insisted to keep the unit until the night show was over, and told me he would buy an APC product soon.

You may ask what exactly happened during my demo? This is how I felt then: once calibrated, everyone in the field was amazed by the astonishing performance of APC processor. It’s like we were greeted with a smooth, full bodied frequency respond without any uneven loudness caused by phase issues, and details spread evenly in a soundstage revealing vividly all traits of D&B. There was a general tightening in the bass which went deeper, a sense of less smearing in the mid-range with a surefooted determination, and a perception of stretched smooth in the treble. Based on its outstanding performance we were allowed find problem in a faster way and enhanced our work efficiency. Even Mr. Deng said this was the sound more usually heard in those high-end recording studios.

In the course of my demo, I particularly went to the audience area on the second floor. It showed that apart from the facts that full-range power was slightly weak all the other features of sound perceived upstairs were almost the same with those on the ground. One possible reason was that the rated power of full-range line array upstairs was lower than required. To solve this problem, my personal opinion is to join multiple APC processors in series. Here you may ask why not simply increase the amplifier? Ok, let’s assume that if it was truly an option, then  how much we shall increase the power amplifier? What criteria we shall base on? Is there any new issue brought up? Anyhow, to avoid all these concerns, it would be a wiser choice on APC series connection solution.

Last step, I increased +3dB Lowshelf at 500Hz using APC’s linear parameter EQ to reach the response curve of the field to the full extend, then my sub output increased by 5dB. The result spoke for its good quality. Gladly, Mr. Deng decided to run tonight’s show with my solution.

The show ended at 23:00. APC460R successfully completed all its tasks today after 12 hours of overload testing (tonight’s show to APC is kind of like critical testing to precise devices). Though its practice today has gone far beyond its demo requirements, APC still did a wonderful job and impressed everyone with its excellent performance. I hope SineMedia will keep moving on to produce more stunning products and never stop its innovative steps.

Qin Yang

Chief Tuner and mixer of VOX

Wrote on my way back to Wuhan 

Jul 14, 2018