NEXO’s flagship modular line array system, the STM Series, with supplementary GEO S12, was used for a very large house-of-worship event in the impressive US BANK Stadium in Minneapolis, USA. 50,000 people attended the free Pulse – Twin Cities show, with Reach Communications providing the 360° NEXO PA system.

Multiple headliners played the concert, including LeCrae, Hillsong and Jaberwockies. The recently-built US BANK Stadium is already known for its challenging acoustics, but, as one of the largest venues in the region, it has played host to many world-class touring artists and their engineers. All eyes were on NEXO, to see how STM Series would perform!

System deployment was in a 360° arrangement, with STM as Main, Out, Side and Delays, S12 as Rear, and M10 for frontfills. Subs were a combination of flown and stacked STM S118, as well as cardio stacked NEXO RS18.

Dan Brown of Reach Communications, with on-site support from NEXO’s Engineering Support specialist Val Gilbert and Yamaha Commercial Audio’s Preston Gray, had to specify the STM system according to the load-bearing factors in the stadium. For main PA, the configuration use 15x STM M46/B112 main and bass sets per side, with side arrays of another 15x STM M46/B112. Each of the hangs carried 2x STM M28 downfills. 8x STM S118 subs were flown per side, and on the ground were 12x RS18s (running in cardioid mode) and 8x STM S118s (omni) per side.

2 hangs of 12 x GEO S12 cabinets were used for the rear of the stage, and the performance and coverage of these arrays was outstanding, leaving nothing to be desired in the overlap areas between these and the 270° hangs of 15x STM M28s per side.

The system was run entirely powered by 62 x NX4x4 amplifiers over Dante, with an analog backup. System control, EQ, and delays was matrixed from 1 x LAKE LM26 and 3 x LM44.

“The system by far outperformed our expectations,” commented NEXO’s Val Gilbert, “although the system was appraoching its limits, no-one felt it was running out of headroom, and the engineers were globally satisfied. SPL reached 120dBA peak at FOH. Considering the extremely challenging acoustics of the venue, the overall sound was very good.”

Preston Gray from YCA admits to being “pleasantly surprised by the consistency in coverage we could achieve with a relatively small number of cabinets for one of the largest NFL stadiums in the USA. This is a testament to the power and off-axis response of the STM Series, which hit 120dBA Peak & 131dBC Peak at FOH on a calibrated NTI XL2 meter.”

PA Deployment:

• Main Hang: 15x M46/B112 + 2x M28s Per Side
• Side Hang: 15x M46/B112 + 2x M28s Per Side
• 270 Hang: 15 M28s per side
• Rear Hangs: 12x S12s Per side
• Air Subs: 8x S118s per side
• Ground Subs: 12x RS18s (Cardioid) and 8x S118s (Omni) per side
• Front Fills: GEO M1012s
• Delays: 15x M28s per side
• Drive System: Lake LM44s & LM26s via Dante

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