NEXO’s long relationship with France’s famous Parc Astérix themed attraction has opened a new chapter, with the installation of the latest P+ Series point source systems at the very heart of the venue.
With more than two million visitors yearly, Parc Astérix is France’s second biggest theme park, famous for its large variety of rollercoasters. Situated approximately 35 km north of Paris, it is also a close neighbour to NEXO’s manufacturing base in Plailly.
Many of the major attractions at Parc Astérix are situated beside a lake, and the concourse area there is a central artery for the Parc’s special events and parade shows. This zone is approximately 140 metres long, and NEXO’s Engineering Support team was challenged to design a system that could handle not only the daily background music programme but also the high SPLs of the gala live events.
NEXO designer Christophe Girres explains the task thus. “For my brief, I had to take into account the high output level and full frequency response required to handle the dynamic live music of the parades, which meant we had to include subbass units in the system. We also had to consider the aesthetics of the installation: to keep a non-intrusive profile for the loudspeaker cabinets put some constraints on where we could site them, so we worked very closely with Nicolas Jeanne, the head sound engineer at Parc Astérix, to choose and validate the best positions.”
Christophe GIrres picked NEXO’s new P+ Series multi-purpose point source cabinets for the project, specifying 10 units of the P12 coaxial model with its 12” LF Neodymium driver and and 3” diaphragm HF driver. Girres added 7 units of the partner subbass enclosures. With a frequency range of 40Hz-120Hz, and 139dB Peak SPL, the L15 measures up as the most powerful in its category in the market.
“We chose P12 and L15 for their very compact and discreet profile, but also for their high output level, clarity and smooth response. All the P12 cabinets were fitted with an asymmetrical horn which allowed us to deliver a high SPL over quite long distances, while avoiding the problem of too much level for people standing just below the speaker positions.”
The cabinets have been installed mainly on the rooftops of the buildings which line the concourse area: two are mounted on poles, painted in RAL colours to match the Parc’s décor as far as possible.
All the cabinets are powered by three NXAMP4x2MK2 amplifiers, remotely controlled from the central parc’s control room by NEXO’s proprietary NEMO software, allowing zoning and the recall of scenes for different configurations (background music, events …). In a second phase, three NXDT104MK2 network cards will be fitted in the amplifiers to create a DANTE network for the installation.
