A long-standing destination for Brisbane’s sound, vision and lighting needs, Brisbane Sound Group (BSG) offers a host of hire, installation, sales and production services to the South-East Queensland region. From their humble beginnings as an equipment hire specialist, the company has grown to encompass a comprehensive catalogue of audio-visual solutions for events large and small. Anchored in Brisbane’s music scene for almost four decades and manned by a team with time-honored industry experience, the team at BSG have a solid history of working with top-tier professional technology. With the benchmark for audio hardware set high, the business turned to RCF’s ART 9 Series to provide reliable solutions across both dry hire and production scenarios.
With a career spanning Pro Audio, ICT and Technical Resources, BSG’s Rob Bird has amassed an intimate knowledge of both studio and live audio equipment. Drawing on both his and the team’s technical prowess, Rob expands on BSG’s choice to advance with ART 9’s industry-leading architecture:
“BSG has a wide range of production inventory: from a single portable speaker through to entire touring productions. Our dry hire department has always been a big part of the business, with many customers from Brisbane’s southeast renting gear for their events, or picking up extra gear to supplement their inventories. When it came time to refresh our powered speaker inventory, we started fresh, looked at options from all over, and settled on the RCF ART 9 Series- specifically the 932 and 910 to be paired with SUB-905 and SUB-8003. We really liked the simplicity of the ART 9 Series without any compromise to performance, along with the clean look making it suitable for any job. We’ve already used them on a variety of shows, everything from outdoor high-energy workout events, to kids shows, right through to more demanding applications. The 932 with the larger HF was appealing as the extra headroom would allow us to utilise the speakers in applications where our old inventory would have simply run out of steam.”
The latest evolution of the celebrated ART loudspeaker series, ART 9 presents a considerable leap forward in power and energy-efficiency. Featuring newly redesigned amplifier technology, RCF’s latest Class-D amplifier provides exemplary performance with minimal heat loss. Thanks to advanced custom transducers and RCF’s patented FiRPHASE 0° Phase Linearity technology, ART 9 systems are capable of ultra-fast attack times and a crisp transient response for clarity that stands a head above the rest.
Upon deploying the technology for the first time, Rob got more than he bargained for, with ART 9’s exceptional framework helping save the day:
“I took the ART 932 and SUB 905 system out for a run on a small carols gig to get a feel for how it would perform. It ended up almost being a baptism by fire! The event, which was used to a crowd of 300, unexpectedly surged to over 1000 attendees. The PA was asked a lot more of it than intended and held up to the task remarkably well! What was supposed to be an easy first outing ended up being an exploration of how hard we could push it. Even under trying circumstances, the system remained clean and sounded great.”
Whether for touring or fixed installations, RCF’s ART 9 presents a streamlined choice for professionals requiring solutions that excel ‘out of the box’. Continuing the manufacturer’s legacy of exceptional Italian engineering, ART 9 systems are built with reliability and performance in mind. With advanced DSP distilled into succinct presets, and features like Bass Motion Control taking care of woofer excursion management, the ART 9 Series offers a combination that is versatile yet straightforward. Employing a single TRS+XLR input, and housed within a robust yet lightweight composite cabinet, ART 9 is well-suited to dry hire scenarios, as Rob explains:
“The simplicity of the ART 9 series was a big draw for our rental department. While some active manufacturers have opted for multiple inputs and rudimentary mixers built in, the less-is-more approach really rings true for when we’re sending speakers out with non-technically minded customers. Plus, combining the speakers with the compact yet punchy 905 sub means you can fit a pretty rocking PA into a SUV for hire customers. That, along with the great sound and light weight, means the ART 9 Series ticks a lot of boxes for us!”
