Powersoft M-Force and Rat Sounds SuperSub Take Low Frequency to New Levels at Coachella 2018 posted: 08/05/2018 New Subwoofer Design, Powered by M-Force, Leads to Promising New Era of Festival Sound Design
At Coachella 2018, the sheer engineering expertise of Powersoft Audio was manifest amidst an unprecedented display of super-low frequency soundwave propagation for thousands of excited music fans. In the Sahara Tent, perhaps the biggest stage in the world for EDM music once per year, festival organisers pushed the boundaries of what is possible in sound design with an array of Rat Sounds SuperSub cabinets - each driven by Powersofts groundbreaking M-Force moving magnet linear motor.
Coachella Valley, CA - 3rd May 2018 - At Coachella 2018, the sheer engineering expertise of Powersoft Audio was manifest amidst an unprecedented display of super-low frequency soundwave propagation for thousands of excited music fans. In the Sahara Tent, perhaps the biggest stage in the world for EDM music once per year, festival organisers pushed the boundaries of what is possible in sound design with an array of Rat Sounds SuperSub cabinets - each driven by Powersofts groundbreaking M-Force moving magnet linear motor.
We are thrilled that our M-Force technology is once again at the cutting edge of sound design at Coachella, this time playing an integral role in the way that tens of thousands of fans are able to engage and interact in a major festival sound experience, commented Francesco Fanicchi, Brand and Communication Director of Powersoft. It is especially validating to our engineering team to know that we are able to bring such a massive sound experience to new heights through our innovation and design.
Dave Rat of Rat Sound Systems Inc., who has played an integral role in Coachellas sound systems for 19 consecutive years, designed and deployed the SuperSub SDS30 subwoofers, which delivered massive and consistent low-end frequencies for the many thousands of music fans attending the Sahara Tent.
Festival in motion
As Coachella itself has grown and changed over nearly two decades, Rat has seen its sound needs evolve as well. Coachella has grown quite a bit over the years, and it's probably one of the more challenging events in the world from a sound perspective, he says. The challenge is the massive coverage areas, minimising offsite sound and the need for premium quality and consistency. These unparalleled demands have made it a proving ground for the boundary-pushing audio technologies. That inspired Rat to harness the power of Powersoft's M-Force via his SuperSub subwoofer, setting a new standard in low-end performance in the process.
Bring less, get louder
Rat put together systems for seven of Coachellas stages that utilised premium L-Acoustics loudspeakers including K1 and K2 mains and L-Acoustics KS28 subwoofers. The Sahara Stage alone featured a system totaling 252 speakers. He knew he needed an extra something in the aforementioned tent to give festival attendees a truly unique and memorable experience. I think for any live sound reinforcement venue or situation, low frequency is the key for connecting the artist with the audience physically, he says. For full emersion in music you have got to be able to feel the sound.
Enter the SuperSub SDS30. At 32 x 32 x 42 , the SuperSub is less than 25% percent larger than the popular world class double 18 , but provides significantly more output down to much lower frequencies. The SuperSub is as loud as two to three very high quality double 18 s but takes up nearly the same truck space as one, Rat says. This not only allows Rat to put out tremendous bass from a deceptively small package, but also save a significant amount on trucking. You multiple that power ratio out, and since they are self-powered including amp racks, we see about a 50 percent truck space savings. So, we're using less real estate under the stage and less in the truck, which is a tremendous advantage. Bring less-get louder!
Inspired design
My inspiration for designing the SuperSub came from seeing Powersoft's M-Force moving motor product, Rat recalls. M-Force, an innovative transducer based on a patented moving magnet linear motor structure that differs from a traditional moving coil, leverages its unique design to deliver remarkable power handling, electromagnetic conversion, reliability and maximum SPL. I had been working for quite some time with the use of metal tubes and wooden tubes in loudspeaker design, and seeing the M-Force product and some of the other enclosure designs that had been built out of that product, I felt that I could do something special with this.
Rat explains how his unique enclosure design also maximised the performance of the M-Force: If you look at a high pressure gas line or high pressure water line, they are all in tubes because a tube won't expand or contract. You can take rectangular enclosure constructed with 2 thick plywood, mount a powerful enough speaker in it, and the walls will flex and vibrate. But if you mount that same high power speaker in a metal tube, the amount of expansion and contraction of the tube will be fractions of a millimetre instead of half an inch or a centimetre. So by putting the M-Force motor in the tube and the tube in a square box, and making the ports the corners, I can get really long ports in a very rigid high Q enclosure. This rigidity, lack of box resonance, long port length and bandpass enclosure design, all combine to create an attractive subwoofer with amazing low frequency response, very high output and clear and defined output in the upper bandwidth.
Unforgettable and ultra-reliable low-end
With eighteen SuperSubs positioned front and centre and complementing the massive L-Acoustics system, Rat was able to deliver the a unique and powerful low-end r
