The 77,000-ton Oceana has been at sea for six years, carrying more than 2000 passengers on its 11 decks as it cruises the Norwegian fiords, the
Mediterranean Sea and the Iberian peninsula. It is amply equipped with on-board leisure facilities, and three of the most high-profile venues
have just received new upgraded sound reinforcement systems.
The Starlights Lounge is a luxuriously-furnished cabaret theatre
with an ingenious stage that is lowered after the evening show
to reveal a spacious
dance floor. The Footlights is a 530-seat auditorium which
doubles as a theatre and cinema. For both venues, GHS has
deployed a variety of loudspeaker
models from NEXO's PS Series, using the larger PS10s and PS15s
to form the main front-of-house systems, and the compact PS8s as
peripheral speakers,
and for infill and delay . In the Footlights cinema, GHS has
implemented a 5.1 surround sound design using 16x NEXO PS8
cabinets with PS10s, PS15s and
LS1200 subbass; for theatre shows, a complement of PS8s are used
for stage monitoring.
In the Winners sports bar, which also
features the Monte Carlo Club casino, a small stage is home to a
small band. Here another 8x NEXO PS8s, together
with LS500 subs, are used, supplemented by ceiling infills.
George Bailey of GHS Special Projects
explains that his company has been involved with marine
installation since 1998, indeed its first client in
this field was P&O Cruises. In the last couple of years, GHS has
discovered NEXO via UK distributor Fuzion plc. "We just fell in
love with the PS
Series cabinets, which are awesome, and we're waiting for the
opportunity to use some of the larger line-array elements," says
Bailey. "Last year,
we installed PS Series on several ships in the Ocean Village
line, then, in December, we fitted PS10s and PS8s into the main
pool deck area of P&O's
Artemis, powder-coated white and dipped, so that they met the
required weatherproofing for such a location. These speakers
sound great, our clients
P&O love them, and you can do a lot with them: we just installed
a significant number of PS15s and subs into a football stadium."
As the cruising industry tries to
attract younger customers, leisure facilities are being updated
and given a more contemporary twist. "Loudspeakers
have to be in keeping with the style of décor, and NEXO's
designs can fit with that; we can hide the enclosures if we have
to, or we can powder-coat
them to blend in with their surroundings, as we've done in
Oceana's Starlights Theatre where all the PS8s are white."
GHS is teaming the NEXO loudspeaker enclosures with Symetrix
routing and processing systems, and Vity audio-video
controllers. This equipment is also supplied by Fuzion, as are the CAMCO power amps which drive the
show. "To
power the NEXO systems, we’re using different CAMCO
models, Tecton 22.4 and 38.6 units and the top-of-the-range
Vortex 6 amplifiers. We've found them to be very reliable, which
is a crucial factor for a client that sails off
into the sunset; we can't just go down the road on a service
call when the ship might be in Barbados! Also we try and keep
equipment weight down to a
minimum, and the CAMCO amps are incredibly lightweight, given
their output. And you get a 6-year warranty, which makes them a
bargain!"
and cinema. For both venues, GHS has
deployed a variety of loudspeaker
models from NEXO's PS Series, using the larger PS10s and PS15s
to form the main front-of-house systems, and the compact PS8s as
peripheral speakers, 
supplied by Fuzion, as are the CAMCO power amps which drive the
show. "To
power the NEXO systems, we’re using different CAMCO
models, Tecton 22.4 and 38.6 units and the top-of-the-range
Vortex 6 amplifiers. We've found them to be very reliable, which
is a crucial factor for a client that sails off 
