From its garage-based beginnings in 1992 as a mobile DJ service, Technotrix Inc. has grown over the decades into one of Chicago’s premier event services providers, supplying audio, lighting and staging systems for everything from relatively modest productions to arena-sized concerts, large festivals and major corporate events. Technotrix has now taken another giant leap forward by becoming an L-Acoustics Certified Provider for the rental market (CPr) and expanding its equipment inventory with its first L-Acoustics purchase, a “K Standard” Kara package.
The company’s new gear complement is primarily comprised of two-dozen Kara enclosures paired with eight KS28 and eight SB18 subs. Four coaxial X8 enclosures flexibly serve both monitoring and short-throw PA applications, and a new P1 audio processor brings powerful processing and AVB compatibility to the full rig. Two LA-RAK II—each loaded with three LA12X amplified controllers—plus three standalone LA12X supply the requisite power.
“I first mixed on Kara as a freelancer working on a corporate gig at the Field Museum of Natural History years ago and was definitely impressed with its output and fidelity for such a small enclosure,” recalls Technotrix Audio department manager Brent Bernhardt, who has been with the company since 2012. “Since then, we’ve really seen an increase in artists and production managers specifying particular speaker brands, and L-Acoustics is always at the top of those lists. The time had come for us to expand our inventory, so we decided to diversify our offerings to meet what our clients were asking for, which was L-Acoustics.”
Since acquiring the new K Standard package, Technotrix has deployed it on a myriad of local productions, notably including the huge ACE Comic Con Midwest, as well as a private event for DEX Imaging featuring a concert by Pitbull on the MLB Cubs’ Wrigley Field. The Kara rig has also hit the road for corporate events throughout the Midwest, and gone all the way down to Orlando, Florida, where it was used at multiple hotel ballroom sites for biopharmaceutical manufacturer AbbVie’s national sales meetings.
“Our Comic Con client loved our Kara deployment and was familiar with the product before we began the job,” Bernhardt shares. “Wrigley Field’s production manager favorably commented on the cardioid setting on the subs; we were using the new X presets. And AbbVie’s FOH engineers were all very pleased and had great shows with numerous positive remarks.”
“Kara is such a versatile, fantastic-sounding box,” he continues. “Its size-to-weight ratio makes it useable in so many situations, and its output far exceeds its compact appearance. I also love the KS28 subs; they’re solid, smooth and deep, and we rarely need to deploy many to get a great outcome.”
Although Technotrix took delivery of its Kara system just a few months prior to the recent NAMM launch of the new L-Acoustics Kara II, Bernhardt is appreciative that the manufacturer will soon be making an upgrade kit available to its customers for a nominal fee, bringing his first-generation Kara systems up to the new spec, complete with Panflex technology.
“By offering us an upgrade kit, L-Acoustics has shown that they’re committed to helping us maintain the value and validity of our investments. We didn’t get left ‘high and dry’ after a sizable PO cleared their books, and that means a lot to us. L-Acoustics shows great attention to detail, both in terms of product design and commitment to supporting their customers. That’s just one of the many reasons that we’re proud to partner with them as a new Certified Provider, and we look forward to growing our K Series inventory in the near future.”
