DWR Distribution recently held an L-Acoustics Open Day at the Pirates Club in Greenside, Johannesburg, designed to showcase the power and versatility of the Kiva II system.

L-Acoustics representative at DWR, Richard Smith, explains: “The Kiva system is very versatile. It is a small-format system in terms of its physical size – two six-and-a-half inch drivers with a high-frequency driver in the middle and a complimentary sub on top, the SB15M. But what we wanted to demonstrate today is that over and above its ability to be broken up into small, compact systems – for corporate functions of two or three speakers per side, which is what most people know it can do – we wanted to demonstrate that you can use it for bigger gigs.”

Smith points out that “we have a lot of big corporate gigs in this country, where you have big halls of sixty or seventy-plus metres. We’re finding that a lot of clients are trying to buy bigger systems in order to service those events – but they don’t really need to, what they need is a workhorse that they can use for the smaller gigs but, when the time comes, put it all together to make one big system. There’s a misconception that the Kiva is not suited to this, so we thought we’d do a demonstration in an outdoor environment to show how well the system copes in these conditions.”

Saying that the session “surprised” a lot of people, some of whom are familiar with the larger Kara system from L-Acoustics and were “amazed” by the power and clarity of the Kiva II’s output, Smith explains that his team specifically aimed the PA system, which featured a dozen flown Kiva II boxes, at 70 metres, “which is a very comfortable throw distance for the Kiva II. You could push it further, but as the system splays out you will start to lose a bit of level.”

Smith says another great market for the system is houses of worship: “There are a lot venues in this market that are about 35 to 50 metres deep. For people who don’t want to go that step bigger, the Kiva II is perfect for spaces where you want something compact but still need that line array, in-your-face kind of feel.”

These thoughts are reinforced by DWR’s Jaco Beukes, who also lauds the Kiva II’s ”incredible versatility”, saying that – depending on how you set it up – it can cover events from “150 to about 6,000 people, and it always sounds like the ‘right amount’ of sound for the space. For me, that’s the mark of a good box – it’s always out of the warehouse and being used on gigs.”

Beukes agrees that the houses of worship market has, so far, been the quickest to take to the Kiva system in South Africa. “I think rental companies are still a little hesitant to push it – because there is simply no other system of its size that can do what it can do – but hopefully events like today will show people to trust the brand and trust that it can deliver for bigger audiences. We believe that the Kiva system fills an important niche in the South African live event ecosystem and we look forward to introducing more and more clients to this impressive solution.”

In conclusion, Nicole Barnes at DWR Distribution commented: “We really enjoyed the opportunity to showcase the Kiva II’s qualities to our Johannesburg-based partners, and are delighted with the turnout on the day. Thank you to everybody who attended for the support.”