dBS Solutions are always looking for developments in technology to assist us with our work. Touring and rigging PA systems day in day out can be fun but its also hard work, so anything we can do to make this task easier or faster is great news for our team. Adding Inclinometers to the frames of line array systems isn’t a new thing. When your array is large enough to need two motors rather than one or the use of a second motor negates the need for a secondary fixing, a tool like an inclinometer is vital to check the angle of the fly frame once at height. Although motors are designed to climb at the same speed checking this angle on the floor isn’t accurate enough for line arrays, especially our Martin Audio Wavefront Precision arrays that allow for very fine details in the coverage to be changed and optimised. All this clever science only works if your room drawings are accurate and the array is flown to the right height and angle.
So for that we need an inclinometer however not all inclos are the same. When we were researching we found many systems where each inclo had to be bolted to the frame of the array. With such a precision instrument that we rely on, mounting this to a great big lump of metal to be placed in and out of a flightcase seemed like a bad idea. We needed something that could mount and be taken off a frame quickly and safely. Many of the Inclos we looked at also needed the use of a little reader tool too to tell you the angel on the ground, this just felt like another tool we had to have on the road, something else to ensure was charged each night before the load in, so it’s fair to say the team at dBS Solutions weren’t blown away with our options and this search had actually been going on for some time.
That was until we were introduced to AlignArray by the good folks at Rat Sound Systems. This little beauty can mount to our frames magnetically (with a safety bond too) meaning we can use it across our range of line arrays. The unit will power over POE and run on Cat5 Ethercon cables down to our racks with the speaker cable. We don’t need the angle reader tool as the unit has an onboard web interface and as it’s sat on the network with our amps, the tablet PC we use for all our system design and rigging info will also display the array angle in real time.
As a bonus too, the AlignArray also has a built in laser that can be turned on or pulsed remotely so that you can see the top angle of the array! This handy little feature helps you check you have the correct vertical coverage to the back of the room, but also that your left and right aim angle is where you need it to be.
A great time saving little bit of tech to help our team on the road. Checkout our other items now in rental stock.