Every year, over 100,000 fans flock to the grounds of Slovakia’s two largest music
festivals—Pohoda and Topfest—to experience everything from EDM, experimental
music, classical and more. In order to support the audio needs of an incredibly
diverse group of artists and musical genres, Slovakia-based production company
RentalLive turned to JBL by HARMAN VTX Series loudspeakers and Crown I-Tech HD
amplifiers. The reliability and sonic versatility of the JBL VTX series enabled system
engineers Marek Barabas and Tomas Oravec to deliver accurate, high-impact sonic
experiences at both festivals.

Held every July at Trenčin Airport, Pohoda is a three-day festival that features
eclectic musical performances, theatrical productions, dance, literary discussions
and more. Pohoda has grown exponentially over its nearly 20-year history and is
now the biggest annual music event in Slovakia, with more than 30,000 in
attendance each day. For the Main Stage, RentalLive hung main PA arrays of 28 x
VTX V25-II loudspeakers with 28 x S28 flown subwoofers, 8 x V25-II for out fills, 2
x V20 loudspeakers for front fills, plus 6 x V20 and 4 x S25 subwoofers for side
fills. For the smaller Nay Stage, they used 16 x VTX V20 loudspeakers and 12 x S25
subwoofers as the main PA.

Topfest is an annual summer rock music festival set in the popular Piestany Airport
venue. The festival has hosted such acclaimed artists as Guns N’ Roses, Iron
Maiden, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Twisted Sister and more. In order to provide
powerful, highly accurate and intelligible sound across a vast open-air venue,
RentalLive deployed two JBL VTX Series systems—one for the larger A2 stage and a
smaller system for the C stage. The A2 system consisted of 28 x V25-II
loudspeakers, 6 x V20 subwoofers and 32 x S28 subwoofers for the main PA, with 4
x V20 for front fills, 6 x V25-II for out fills, plus 6 x V20 and 4 x S25 for side fills.
The C stage system was comprised of 16 x V20 and 12 x S25 for the main PA.

Each JBL VTX system was powered by racks of Crown I-Tech 12000HD and
4x3500HD amplifiers. RentalLive also used the JBL HiQnet Performance Manager 2.0
software to tune and configure the VTX system to their specifications.

“The JBL VTX Series systems allowed us to provide superior sound coverage to
every part of the venue,’ said Barabas. “We were able to achieve accurate sound
up close, 70 meters away in the last rows, and at the VIP sections which were
positioned 45 degree angles away from the stage. Thanks to JBL VTX, fans of all
genres were able to hear their favourite music in superb sound quality. These
systems are great!’