"This has been a long time coming! It took us almost 20 years to come up with the successor of our LR14 ultra-compact line-array. In this technology-driven pro-audio business(-to-business), it's often forgotten that people need to earn a living with our developments. All too often, manufacturers bring out mediocre products, just to be succeeded already after a short number of years ("just because we can"), with significant cost of depreciation and a low return-on-investment. Not with Alcons Audio, as we focus on state-of-the-art technology and very high design-integrity. This brings the customer a maybe slightly higher-priced product, but definitely a much longer ROI. Then the unsurpassed sound quality comes as bonus!," declared Tom Back, Alcons managing director.
The heart of the LR15 system is the purpose-designed RBN502rs 5” pro-ribbon transducer, which Alcons implemented for the system's mid and high frequencies, delivering a very-fast impulse response and achieving significantly less distortion, enabling the new line array design to offer a linear response with improved intelligibility and non-compressed identical tonal balance at any SPL.
The consistent horizontal dispersion extends the imaging sweet-spot to a larger audience, while the vertical dispersion enables a perfect inter-cabinet coupling for ultimate HF throw and wind stability. According to Alcons the new RBN502rs pro-ribbon driver delivers a power handling of 1100W and RMS-to-peak power handling ratio of 1:15, from 1kHz to 20kHz, which contributes to the perceived intelligibility and dynamic headroom reserve in the system, even under the highest outputs.
The LF-section consists of two next-gen 6.5" transducers, featuring a 2" dual-coil motor structure with significantly-extended excursion. The woofers are loaded by new FlowVent ports, providing optimized flow with minimal port compression while extending the usable LF response down to 53Hz. The resulting low-mid and bass response with class-leading output under lowest distortion possible, is a perfect match with the pro-ribbon MHF section.
The LR15 line array is driven by Alcon's Sentinel amplified loudspeaker controller, optimizing the system's response with specific VHIR drive processing and feedback for each array configuration, including presets for phase-matched low-frequency extensions. The Signal Integrity Sensing pre-wiring ensures dynamic cable/connector compensation between the LR15 and ALC, improving results regardless of cable length and amplifier impedance load (system damping factor 10.000).
The LR15 is available with a 90° (LR15/90) or 120° (LR15/120) horizontal dispersion.
"We wanted to achieve the same horizontal dispersion control our LR18, LR24 and LR28 are known for; However, these systems are bi- or quad-amped three-way systems. So, it was not an easy task to obtain this horizontal control with a passive two way system, especially not in the 120-degree version. With the all-natural cylindrical wavefront of our pro-ribbon drivers, it was much easier to achieve the benchmark-setting side-lobe-free vertical projection," explains Phil de Haan, Alcons head of R&D.
The LR15 is only the third system in Alcons’ 20 years existence that succeeds a previous system, following the LR16, Alcons’ first line-array and the recently QB363 arrayable subwoofer.
"The LR15 will eventually replace the LR14 system, that was introduced already in 2004. The LR14 has been, and still is in production in the exact same form for almost 20 years and even today is still more than competitive to recent systems. We believe this very long product life-cycle is a real testimony to the excellent return-on-investment that Alcons systems offer," adds Phil de Haan.
www.alconsaudio.com
