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Crossroads Audio
When a triumvirate of new owners purchased Dallas-based Crossroads Audio early in 2002, they renewed the company's commitment to providing quality products and responsive customer service. But the trio also decided to expand the enterprise in new directions, most notably by bolstering large-scale sound reinforcement capabilities through the addition of a new Meyer Sound M3D/M3D-Sub Line Array loudspeaker system to their rental inventory. "Frankly, we are all thrilled with the M3D," says Robin Magruder, who now directs the company alongside partners Stewart Bennett and Ed Spoto. "We had a chance to compare it over the course of the spring and early summer with other line array products. We do a lot of shows at the Smirnoff Music Center pavilion here in Dallas, and we would hear another system one day and then bring ours in the next. The results with the M3D were significantly better across the board." The Crossroads inventory includes 24 M3D cabinets and 12 M3D-Sub Directional subwoofers. For downfill, the company also offers M2D Compact Curvilinear Array loudspeakers. Magruder's praise for the M3D is based on more than thirty years of experience in professional audio. Before becoming a partner in Crossroads, he served in several capacities at Showco, including senior management positions and touring engineer credits for some of the biggest names in rock/pop music—the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, James Taylor and Willie Nelson to name a few. Partner Stewart Bennett is still in demand by top acts (he mixed the Joe Satriani tour this summer), and his other credits span the musical spectrum from Reba McEntire to the Smashing Pumpkins. With sixteen years in the business, partner Ed Spoto is a relative newcomer, yet he also comes with top-notch touring credentials (from the Dixie Chicks to Limp Bizkit) as well as an Electrical Engineering degree from Vanderbilt University and top-of-class honors from the Full Sail Center for Recording Arts. In recent months, Spoto has served as system engineer for a number of shows with Crossroad's new M3D system, and he is pleased with the consistently positive comments the Meyer Sound system has received. "The mixing engineers have been very pleased both with the clarity of the system and the power, the sheer raw energy it puts out. It handles the shows that require delicate nuances all the way up to heavy rock shows that require brute force volume." Also, testifies Spoto, the highly directional nature of the M3D across the full bandwidth and the cardioid nature of the M3D-Sub has been appreciated. "The country and jazz groups with acoustic instruments miked on stage are happy with the rear rejection. They can get a much more realistic sound since they need less EQ to deal with the problem of on-stage bleed." A cross-section of acts using the Crossroads M3D rig so far includes Clint Black, the Doobie Brothers, Trisha Yearwood, Aretha Franklin, Jon Secada, the new rock Edgefest show, and gospel's Gaither Family. The late summer Clint Black concert gave veteran Nashville mixing engineer (and Meyer Sound touring consultant) Buford Jones his first opportunity to mix a show for Black on an M3D system. Though Black is a long-time Sound Image client, notes Jones, for the Dallas show at the Smirnoff Center it proved logistically simpler to bring only monitors and front-end gear and use the Crossroads M3D arrays. "The system clarity was just amazing," Jones says of the evening's show. "I had numerous compliments from local people. The system responded very well, with minimal EQ. It was a pleasure mixing on the Meyer system and working with the Crossroads staff." The new association with Meyer Sound marks an important turning point in the history of Crossroads, which was established in 1972 by Chuck and Diane Conrad. The company's mix of services encompasses three complementary departments: equipment sales (audio, video and lighting), "dry hire" equipment rentals, and full-service event production. According to partner Stewart Bennett, Meyer Sound will be an integral part of Crossroads' future growth and development. "Meyer is the ideal company to represent," he says. "Not only do they have impeccably engineered products, but they are manufactured and supported with the same integrity that goes into their design." As an active mixing engineer, Bennett looks forward to the time he will spend behind the mixing console and in front of the Meyer Sound line array system. "The M Series products set a higher standard for sound systems of any scale," he says. "With their marriage of power and purity, they make the mixing experience so enjoyable that you wish your shows lasted longer!" Crossroads Audio Inc. July, 2004 |
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