The EV X2 system is very powerful, which gave us plenty of extra headroom. I found that it was very responsive and reacted well to equalization, which is critical for creating clarity. You have to be able to clear a space for things like the interplay between articulated guitar parts among all the cymbals, and to bring out Tony Levin’s parts in the bass register.

Everything is working out great with Foreigner. We’ve got the entire X2 system running as a Dante network, and the amount of output we get is unbelievable. There’s plenty of power for a rock show, with so much headroom – most nights I don’t even see a peak limiter light come on. The bottom line: the band is happy, and they sound fantastic on this EV rig.

The first time I used the X2 was in a smaller amphitheater, just four boxes per side. It looked a little small, but when I turned it on the first time, my eyelids flew open. It just sounded so much better than what we’re used to hearing on a daily basis. With the EV X2, everything sounds more musical and has more depth, with none of the harshness on the top end that most PA systems have. It’s very coherent, too. I didn’t perceive the system as subs and tops. Everything worked together seamlessly, all the way down. Touring with Craig Morgan, I hear every rig you can imagine, and I’m OK with most of them. But the X2 is really stellar. When I show up at a gig and see an X-Line system in place, I just go back on the bus and say, ‘OK boys, it’s going to be a good day.’

In our world, fidelity matters. It’s what our clients expect, and the Electro-Voice system delivers. We’ve used it with the New York Philharmonic. We’ve used it with Glen Hansard. We do musical theater shows with the University of Michigan, and main-stage, black-tie concerts at the Detroit Auto Show. We couldn’t be happier with our investment.

Everyone who has worked with the new system has been blown away by it. When you see the engineer put on the system-check music and walk the venue, and then go back to the console and turn it off with zero adjustment, you know the system is sounding great. And that’s been the case, artist after artist, all summer long. It’s certainly made me confident that we made the right choice.

We’ve had nothing but positive comments from all the artists and engineers. When you can make the engineers happy for hard rock, country and pop artists all with one system, you know you’ve got a good one. Add in EV reliability, like the way it survived some very heavy weather with zero failures, and you know you’ve got a great PA..

The X-Line Advance is extremely modular and scalable, offering the same great sound in smaller venues where we might use just three X2/212 boxes above a pair of subs. We do about six gigs per week with the X2 system on average, in different configurations and for different types of music. It doesn’t matter if it’s a large rock show, traditional acoustic music, a classical orchestra or electronic dance music. The X2 system from Electro-Voice does it all and performs flawlessly. We’ve got happy customers all over the country, and have had no problems at all. It is absolutely worth the investment.