Carefully selected equipment inventory resulting from extensive listening tests between the latest the industry has to offer, and planned to work together in a variety of configurations for nearly any audio reinforcement application with one key common goal: more from less.

Every so often, an individual has an idea that changes things in a fundamental way. Tom Danley’s Synergy Horn™ is one of those ideas. The Synergy Horn™ makes it possible to build loudspeakers that perform the way loudspeakers should perform. In the past, horns have fallen out of favor, not because horns are inherently bad sounding, but because no one could figure out how to build a practical full range horn. The Synergy Horn ™ allows Danley Sound Labs to build full range, point source loudspeakers which are phase accurate, and consistent in response over the entire coverage angle. With the directional pattern control offered by a full-face horn, acoustic energy is kept off the walls and ceiling, reducing reverberant energy for increased clarity and intelligibility. With a design approach focused on maximum fidelity, pattern control, and efficiency, and designed and built in the USA, Danley Sound Labs is causing the first big shift in the audio industry since L-Acoustics launched the V-DOSC Line Array in 1992.

The SM80 is considered by many sound engineers around the world to be the most powerful, pole-mounted portable PA ever created. With fidelity rivalling studio monitors, and enough output to project sound across a football stadium, it’s also small enough to be deployed with only one technician, saving labour costs during set-up and tear-down at your event. Put this loudspeaker up against almost any 3-4 box “line-array” that uses interference patterns and complex DSP to create their pattern control, and you will be blown away by the accuracy and detail, and your audience can enjoy the reduction in speaker system footprint and reduced overhead costs. Built-in handles, recessed locking cable connector, and trapezoidal shape all lead to a clean looking speaker cabinet suitable for premium audiences. The SM80 may not have much bass extension, as it is designed to be used with subwoofers. This design-trade-off allows it to handle the mids and highs with power and authority beyond anything else it’s size. From small high-fidelity listening parties to outdoor festivals, this is one extremely flexible performer.

JTR Speakers is a boutique manufacturer of pro audio and high-end home theatre speakers and subwoofers based in Wisconsin USA and owned by Jeff Permanian. Jeff’s no holds barred design philosophy incorporates technology from all facets of audio, and his experience designing speaker cabinets dates back to his time working at Eminence and Sound Physics Labs.

The Orbit Shifter Pro from JTR Speakers is a robust pro-audio subwoofer cabinet featuring heavily braced 15mm Baltic Birch construction, clever built-in handles with tilt-back casters, 16GA Grille, and a MASSIVE 18” long excursion driver (33mm xmax each way and motor strength of 256 bl^2/re) at the rear of a 9-foot long folded horn in a sealed cabinet to help control excursion. Each cabinet can handle up to 8,000 watts of peak power, and delivers a whopping 103dB of output with just ONE WATT of input power at 1-meter distance. Huge horn throat for minimal turbulence and compression, ensuring maximum fidelity unlike older horn-loaded designs by less-talented designers. Coupling multiple Orbit Shifters together increases efficiency and low-frequency extension as the overall mouth size increases. Just one subwoofer can cause structural damage to buildings. Independently tested and verified by popular subwoofer review website data-bass, where measurements confirmed repeatable performance of +148db average, 50-125hz, CEA-2010, 1/2 space, 1m, peak, and stunning depth to 40hz at 142db, CEA-2010, 1/2 space, 1m, peak.

To put those numbers in perspective, let’s compare the OS-Pro with the well-known JBL Subwoofer SRX828S double 18” ported bass-reflex design subwoofer, both products considered to be intended for the same types of applications and current models from each manufacturer. The two subwoofer cabinets are roughly the same dimensions and weight, but the JBL has a peak wattage rating of 4,800 watts, and an efficiency of 98dB/1w/1m, significantly lower on both counts than the OS-Pro.. Looking at the frequency response chart, it’s clear that the 98dB/1w/1m spec that JBL has published is derived from the peak found at approximately 50hz-70hz, falling off quickly above and below those ranges, down 3dB by the time it reaches 40hz. Comparatively, if we were to rate the Orbit Shifter Pro’s efficiency on the peak efficiency in the response, we could say that it is 108.5dB efficient (at 100hz). This is a trick used by many speaker manufacturers in order to boost their marketing documents. They’ll take the efficiency peak (not average throughout the operating range) and add the peak power handling capacity to come up with a “calculated” peak SPL figure to make it seem more favourable than their competition. In the real world, peaks in response are typically smoothed out with equalization to provide a more linear response, so those numbers should not be used to determine how it can be used in the field. The OS-Pro’s average efficiency from 35-120hz is 103dB/1w/1m, which puts it 5dB louder than the JBL 2x18” cabinet with the same amount of power applied, using the peak efficiency found in the JBL response curve and the average efficiency found in the JTR response curve.. Combine that increased acoustic efficiency with the higher power handling of the single 18” Orbit Shifter, and a difference in output of 8dB per cabinet. To put that in other terms, just one Orbit Shifter Pro can replace up to SIX JBL SRX828S cabinets, saving space, cost, and time. If we were to use the peak number from the JTR response curve, the difference would be even greater, but that would only be a “calculated” peak, and that’s not repeatable in the real world.

Low frequencies produced by pro audio subwoofers are largely omnidirectional. That is, they produce the same level of output in every direction, including behind the subwoofer. Horn-loaded subwoofers offer more directionality than direct-radiating designs like bass-reflex, but this can be even further enhanced through the use of bass-steering arrays including cardioid and end-fire arrangements. In these arrangements, multiple subwoofer cabinets are used along with physical spacing, orientation, and digital processing to create steerable sound of the bass energy. This technology allows the system engineer to minimize low-frequency energy in areas where it would be unwanted, such as on-stage, neighbouring businesses and residents, non-audience areas of an event space, and increases the ability of the sound engineer to shape the bass energy to the audience shape and orientation.

Also in Brown Bear Sound’s inventory are the JTR Captivator 212 Pro subwoofers. These compact 2 x 12” bass-reflex subwoofers include built-in amplifiers for maximum output in minimum space. Great for smaller event spaces where earth-shatter bass isn’t the primary purpose, the Captivator 212 Pro combines the extension of a bass-reflex design with a very large vent to minimize distortion and power compression, along with extremely high-efficiency proprietary 12” drivers to allow a shorter cabinet than most single-18” subwoofers on the market. These subwoofers also work very well on-stage to add some low-end to our stage monitors for drummers, bass players, keyboardists, and DJ’s alike.

Link to independent testing by Josh Ricci’s website Data-Bass:
Orbit Shifter Pro 18” Folded Horn
Captivator 212 Pro 2x12” Bass Reflex

Built in the USA, these high-power monitors feature 15” woofers for plenty of low-frequency support for bass and keyboard players, and the coveted DH2010A Titanium High Frequency drivers found in some of EV’s best boxes of the 90s and early 2000’s. With a built-in 45-degree monitor angle and a 55 degree horizontal pattern, individual mixes are better isolated on stage between performers. With tuning created from the ground-up by Brown Bear Sound for maximum gain before feedback with most vocal microphones on the market, hearing yourself over the crowd has never been easier. Brown Bear Sound’s inventory includes four SX250 (passive, amplifier separate) and four SXA250 (active, amplifier inside) cabinets for maximum flexibility in deployment, while using the exact same speaker components to ensure that the entire stage monitoring system has the same response and tonality. This is especially important for loud bands or performers who are actively moving around the stage, in and out of multiple monitor coverage areas, ensuring that the sound doesn’t change from one spot to the next.

These well-rounded performers also make great utility speakers. Whether they are pole-mounted for use as fills, delays, or even mains for a small PA system, the 15” woofer provides plenty of full-range output for a variety of applications, with or without subwoofers. The passive SX250’s are driven by a QSC Powerlight DSP Amplifier with a dedicated channel for each cabinet allowing independent mixes for each performer.

iLive is a uniquely flexible digital mixing system. By putting the DSP and audio in the MixRack (equipment rack-mounted input & output box) Allen & Heath have opened up a whole world of control and networking possibilities. Each MixRack in the iLive family, regardless of input/output configuration, includes a powerful digital mixing engine with 64 channels of input processing, 32 configurable busses, 8 stereo effects, and remote connectivity for control with a tablet or laptop. Each input can be routed to any number of DSP channels, busses can be configured from auxiliary sends to matrix sends to FX busses, and multiple devices can control the same MixRack at the same time. The mixing surface is optional, and can be connected to the MixRack with a single CAT5 network cable, allowing bi-directional audio and realtime control of the MixRack from the house. Each Surface includes a colour touchscreen interface, motorized faders with multiple freely configurable layers, colours scribble strips for channel identification, and large meters.

Brown Bear Sound’s inventory includes two complete iLive mixing systems. One iDR32 MixRack (32 digitally controlled preamps, 16 balanced outputs) and one iDR16 MixRack (16 digitally controlled preamps, 8 balanced outputs), each with a 48khz 64x64 Dante digital interface card for adding even further I/O and recording possibilities over one of the world’s fastest growing digital protocols. Each MixRack lives in a shock-mounted rack case along with powerful WiFi network access points, battery backup, and gigabit switches for Dante connectivity. Since the audio processing occurs inside the MixRack, technical issues related to the snake or the control surface will not stop the show.

For surfaces, Brown Bear Sound has two R72 controllers, and one T112 controller. The R72 is a compact (19” rack-mountable) control surface for venues where space is at a premium, but still allows the sound engineer complete access to all functions within the digital mixing system. With built-in talkback mix connectivity, 12 motorized faders in two banks with 8 layers, it makes a great monitor or FOH desk for live events or recording. The T112 is a full-sized desk with 28 motorized faders in three banks with 4 layers, and a one-knob-per-function channel strip encoder layout that is instantly familiar and comfortable for any engineer even coming from the analog world. The T112 is perfectly at home as a monitor or FOH desk. The mixing surfaces are kept safe in protective hard-shell cases so they arrive in site in perfect working condition.

When we made the change to the iLive platform, the sound quality improvement was eye opening. By today’s standards of digital technology, the now 7-year old iLive platform may not be the most coveted mixing system on the stadium circuit today, but it has been used for countless world tours by some of the biggest artists in the industry. Rock solid performance, incredible routing and workflow flexibility, and mix & match networked design make the Allen & Heath iLive a great solution for any size of production. The smaller MixRack can be used with the larger surface, and the larger MixRack can be used with the smaller surface, for maximum flexibility in deployment to suit your audio needs. The two standalone mixing systems can be used to provide sound at two separate stages, in separate rooms of an event space, or using the Dante networking cards they can be connected together to form a FOH/Monitor digital split for larger concerts and festivals where multiple sound engineers will be working at the same time, with a combined 128-channels & 64-busses of processing.

A class-D amplifier is an electronic amplifier in which the amplifying devices (transistors, usually MOSFETs) operate as electronic switches, and not as linear gain devices as in other amplifiers. They operate by rapidly switching back and forth between the supply rails, being fed by a modulator using pulse width, pulse density, or related techniques to encode the audio input into a pulse train. The audio escapes through a simple low-pass filter into the loudspeaker. The high-frequency pulses are blocked. Since the pairs of output transistors are never conducting at the same time, there is no other path for current flow apart from the low-pass filter/loudspeaker. For this reason, efficiency can exceed 90%.

The major advantage of a class-D amplifier is that it can be more efficient than a linear amplifier, with less power dissipated as heat in the active devices. Given that large heat sinks are not required, Class-D amplifiers are much lighter weight than class A, B, or AB amplifiers, an important consideration with portable sound reinforcement system equipment and bass amplifiers. Output stages such as those used in pulse generators are examples of class-D amplifiers. However, the term mostly applies to power amplifiers intended to reproduce audio signals with a bandwidth well below the switching frequency.

Theoretical power efficiency of class-D amplifiers is 100%. That is to say, all of the power supplied to it is delivered to the load, none is turned to heat. This is because an ideal switch in its on state would conduct all the current but have no voltage loss across it, hence no heat would be dissipated. And when it is off, it would have the full supply voltage across it but no leak current flowing through it, and again no heat would be dissipated. Real-world power MOSFETs are not ideal switches, but practical efficiencies well over 90% are common. By contrast, linear AB-class amplifiers are always operated with both current flowing through and voltage standing across the power devices. An ideal class-B amplifier has a theoretical maximum efficiency of 78%. Class A amplifiers (purely linear, with the devices always "on") have a theoretical maximum efficiency of 50% and some versions have efficiencies below 20%.

What does all that mean? It means we have crammed more watts into less cubic inches, freeing up your stage area while reducing labour costs associated with loading/set-up/transportation. These amplifiers are extremely efficient, allowing more headroom and punch from the audio reinforcement system than a Class A/B amplifier rack could draw from the same wall outlet. Maximizing the useful energy from an electrical grid with large storage capacitors to handle the impulse-driven nature of amplified music, connected to speaker cabinets designed to maximize output for each watt drawn from the wall, makes the Brown Bear Sound audio systems smaller and more powerful than nearly any of our competitors. Amplifiers in inventory include the Crest Pro-Lite series (unto 7,500 watts per amplifier) and the QSC PLD series with built-in DSP and remote management.

Microphone techniques (the selection and placement of microphones) have a major influence on the audio quality of a sound reinforcement system. For reinforcement of musical instruments, there are several main objectives of microphone techniques: to maximize pick-up of suitable sound from the desired instrument, to minimize pick-up of undesired sound from instruments or other sound sources (crowd, monitors), and to provide sufficient gain-before-feedback. Suitable sound from the desired instrument may mean either the natural sound of the instrument or some particular sound quality which is appropriate for the application. “Undesired” sound may mean the direct or ambient sound from other nearby instruments or just stage and background noise. “Sufficient” gain-before-feedback means that the desired instrument is reinforced at the required level without ringing or feedback in the sound system.

Having a variety of microphone types available allows careful selection for each performer and sound source. Featuring Microphones from Shure, Sennheiser, AKG, Audio-Technica, Audix, and relative newcomer Heil Sound.

Just because a signal - vocal, guitar, drums et al - is loud it still has frequency range that needs to be reproduced accurately. Too often microphone designers roll off their frequency response as a compromise resulting in a muffled sound. Bob Heil's firm stance on designing only large diaphragm dynamic mics - no condensers! - ensures that the signal going in is reproduced faithfully even at high SPL.

When micing a stage with multiple microphones "bleed" is a major issue. Signals from the drum mics, for instance, will find their way into the vocals and the stage sound - as well as the sound out in the house - becomes an unmanageable mush. Bob took a page from his ham radio and antenna design days and created microphones that have a high -40dB of rear rejection.

With remote control apps for Audio Mixers and Lighting Controls, the technician is no longer “tied” to one location in the space, ensuring that you get consistent results throughout the listening area and making sound-checks and light focusing faster and easier than ever before. The digital age has blessed the live event production industry with the ability to use computers and tablets to remotely control lighting and audio like never before, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s simple. All too many young sound engineers struggle with connectivity and dropouts when they use consumer-grade network devices. That strategy might work fine for a rehearsal space, but when there is a paying audience in the room with smart phones in their pockets causing network congestion, absolute control at every moment is critical to a flawless show. Brown Bear Sound employs strategic networking redundancy, high-power antennas and commercial-grade switches to ensure that the sound and lighting control systems respond instantly to every touch of the screen.

With great power comes great responsibility. It’s true that lighting and audio can be controlled remotely with tablets. Brown Bear Sound has successfully mixed weddings, celebrations of life, concerts and festivals with nothing more than an iPad and a backup battery. However, as the complexity of the show increases, nothing can beat the power of a well-designed control surface like the Allen & Heath iLive surfaces in inventory. For long-duration events or events with multiple performers, Brown Bear Sound recommends the use of both a physical tactile control surface, and a wireless touchscreen tablet. This gives the engineer the best of both worlds: the ability to move around the space to see and hear from multiple perspectives including on-stage with the performers and to blend in with the crowd; as well as a fully-featured workstation allowing for fast changes and adaptations where the engineer can utilize both hands freely to control multiple parameters at once, which is pretty much exactly what they need to do in a live performance environment.

LED’s (Light Emitting Diodes) have been around for a long time, but early LED lighting fixtures had poor colour rendering capabilities. This was particularly apparent when trying to light the faces of performers, and many people struggled to get natural tones with the technology available. The main advantages of LED”s are their low power consumption, minimal heat energy in their illumination field, longer lifespans than conventional lamps, and colour-mixing without motorized colour wheels.

The latest LED technology incorporates higher output diodes than ever before, better colour mixing capabilities from an assortment of diode colours, and better optics for homogenized beams that avoid colour shadows found in multi-pixel fixtures. For example: The Elation Seven Par 7IP Fixtures in Brown Bear Sound’s inventory have a maximum power consumption of 185-watts, meanwhile they can outperform a 500-watt par can in brightness while still achieving incredible ranges of colours including deep blues, warm ambers, and natural tones mimicking daylight from morning to dusk. Furthermore, their IP65 rating means that they are water-tight and can be safely used even in a downpour of rain.

Don’t let your performers stand in the dark. Lighting is a powerful tool in any production. Whether you need some soft washes of light to bathe a fashion-show stage in with even coverage, a high energy light show to liven up a party, or you want to transform the colours of a room with themed architectural uplighting, Brown Bear Sound has the creative lighting tools for you.

LightShark Series is the first ever hardware lighting console range to offer a wireless, web-based control User Interface from any smart device like a smartphone, tablet or computer. All this is combined with physical faders, encoders and an independent DMX engine. With support for up to three connected devices simultaneously, LightShark sets a new standard for lighting control.

With a built-in Wi-Fi antenna, locking power cord, 2 direct DMX universes, Data and Networking Ports, this portable lighting control solution is capable of operating a large scale festival stage, while being intuitive enough for novice operators.  With only 4 tabs users can access to all functions, creating awesome looks in record time. 

The LS-1 brings together the best features from the world of the LightShark software engine and marries them to an intuitive, ergonomic hardware control surface. 4 encoders, 10 master playbacks and a color built-in display, combined with a complete set of RGB buttons, give the users a full console platform able to manage incredible shows in a very reduced size, which is compatible with airplane carry-on luggage.

The LS-1 includes a built-in stand to hold a device like a tablet on the back of the LS-1, and an extra dedicated USB charging socket on the rear panel to keep associated tablets or Smartphones charged at all times.