Description
The X3 is the latest product from EM Acoustics - a system that has been in the making for nearly seven years. Ever since the release of the awe-inspiring Quake subwoofer, there has been a demand for a high power mid/high pack to compliment it - and 2011 sees the arrival of that system. Despite the prominence of line array systems and their suitablility for certain applications, there is still a clear requirement for powerful horn-loaded systems - a demand which the X3 is designed to fulfil. The X3 is intended for a variety of applications - from ground-stacked front of house duties through full flown array systems, and even as stadium side fills, in fills or out fills.
Simple and elegant
The X3 is a tri-amplified, fully horn-loaded system. Through the use of the completely bespoke waveguides, the X3 has an incredibly consistent 20-degree horizontal coverage pattern which is maintained to below 1000Hz. The six one-inch drivers are spaced so that the acoustic centres are close enough for the HF section to behave as a line source in the horizontal plane. This allows X3 enclosures to be used as 20-degree "building blocks" meaning array coverage is a very simple procedure. The X3 literally can be used as a "point and shoot" system with no need to calculate splay angles or to run complex simulations.
Headroom was the key design factor in all three of the X3's frequency bands - both in terms of SPL and frequency response. To ensure smooth crossover between frequency bands, each element is capable of responding far above and below the actual operating band. For example, the 15" low mid driver is actually flat to nearlly 600Hz - this is due to the phase device in front of the driver, and the lack of any parallel walls in the horn system. Despite this, the system crosses over at 380Hz to ensure perfect alignment of the low mid with the high mid system.
Construction
The CNC-machined enclosure is manufactured from 15mm ( 5/8") multi-laminate Baltic birch plywood, rebated, screwed & glued together for maximum strength.
Standard features and rigging
The X3 is supplied as standard with an integral rigging system. This system serves two purposes - firstly it can be used to attach adjacent enclosures together when used on the ground. Secondly, with the addition of the FC-X3 fly beams and MFB-X3 motherbeam, X3 arrays can be quickly and safely flown in the air. Keyhole rigging points on the underside of the enclosure allow the attachment of the forthcoming DF-X3 downfill enclosure, or any other EM Acoustics product with the addition of the DFG-X3 downfill grid.
The X3 also incorporates an innovative and unique drive unit test system. Intended as a quick fault-finding tool, a 9V battery secured within the connector panel powers the system on the press of the test switch. This system disconnects all inputs via high-current relays and instead passes a low current through all eight drive units. All drive units with complete electrical circuits will show a green indicator on a graphical layout of the X3 on the rear panel. In this way, this system can be used to quickly isolate faults and issues on-site and as a quick pre-show check.
The X3 also has seven steel bar handles, to facilitate easy lifting. The X3 can also be supplied with optional touring wheelboards and heavy-duty drop-over covers.
The X3 is finished in semi-matt textured black paint, although colours are available on request. The front of the enclosure is protected by a hex-punched steel grille, backed by acoustically-transparent fabric which can in most cases be colour-matched to the enclosure, even for custom colours. Connection is provided by two IP54-rated Neutrik STX 8-pole Speakon connectors, with an additional 4-pole connector for subwoofer output.