Maroon 5, one of the world’s most enduring pop rock artists is currently on tour promoting their new album “V” which debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top 200. Escondido-based Sound Image is providing a 54-module EAW Anya system complete with 24 SB2001 subwoofers and 8 KF364 point source systems as front fill in support of the tour.　　“The Anya PA is very exciting to mix on,” explains FOH engineer Jim Ebdon in describing Anya. “I’m amazed by the consistency of the coverage.”
　　Andrew Dowling, Sound Image system tech for the tour, adds, “When we compared Jim’s mix on Anya and competing systems in January the choice was obvious - the way the vocal came forward in Anya was amazing.”
　　EAW Anya, the flagship product in EAW’s Adaptive Systems product family, is a complete, self-contained, high-power sound reinforcement system that adapts all performance parameters electronically and requires no vertical curvature. As a result, Anya can bring outstanding output and fidelity to virtually any application, making it ideal for touring sound reinforcement as venues vary greatly from one location to another.
　　Engineers use EAW’s Resolution? software to tell the system about the venue they wish to cover and their sonic goals, and Resolution determines the optimal wave front shape and processing to achieve those goals while maximizing sound quality at all audience positions. This also allows them to dynamically vary that coverage to match a new set of requirements in minutes, using only a mouse.　　“All I want to do every day is sit down at a mixing console with a system that sounds the same venue to venue - then I can concentrate on what I’m being hired to do, which is mix an exciting, great sounding show,” Ebdon explains. “I can easily accomplish this with Anya.”
　　“The Maroon 5 show sounds absolutely incredible,” comments Sound Image President David Shadoan. “Jim Ebdon’s mix is spot on, and no system on the market could provide this level of performance and still fit into the incredibly small amount of real estate that M5’s set allows. The sight-lines are crucial. This is one more example of how Anya’s technology is the way of the future.”
　　Each Anya module includes 22 highly customized transducers: 14 HF compression drivers provide a continuous line of apertures on a horn that expands to fill the entire face of the enclosure, six 5-inch MF cone transducers combine with Radial Phase Plugs? and Concentric Summation Array? technology to sum coherently with the HF wavefront, and dual 15-inch LF cone transducers employ Offset Aperture? loading to extend horizontal pattern control well into the lower octaves. Each of the 22 transducers in an Anya module is powered and processed independently to provide extremely high resolution and control. Anya is designed from the ground up to direct outstanding and consistent audio precisely where the user needs it in all three dimensions - and nowhere else.　　“We are absolutely thrilled to have Maroon 5 out with Anya,” says Jeff Rocha, president of EAW. “Our partnership with the entire Sound Image team and the opportunity to collaborate directly with an amazing engineer like Jim has been fantastic. The feedback that we are receiving from the entire production - from promoters and designers to the crew on the road - is proof positive that Anya is changing the game of live sound reinforcement from every perspective.”