Novatech Creative Event Technology has purchased eight L-Acoustics L2 and four L2D for its rental stock, giving the Adelaide company the largest L series rental inventory in Australia.
The investment falls in Novatech’s 25th year in business and its 21st as an L-Acoustics Certified Partner, and follows the company’s design and installation of an L2 system at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre Theatre earlier this year.
Novatech was founded in Adelaide in 2001 and has grown into one of Australia’s larger independent event technology companies. Its L-Acoustics story began four years later, in 2005, with the purchase of a Kudo system, and it has tracked the brand’s development ever since: K2 in 2014, Syva from 2017, and L-ISA in 2018 for a project with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (also the very first in the Southern Hemisphere). Acquiring K1 in 2025, L series is the latest step, and the largest single commitment the company has made to the brand.
Leko, Novatech’s managing director, said: “This wasn’t just a project for a client. We’ve been buying L-Acoustics systems for our own stock for 20 years because we use what we sell, and L2 was the clearest next step for us as much as it was for the AEC.”
The Adelaide Entertainment Centre has been South Australia’s busiest indoor concert venue since opening in Hindmarsh in 1991, hosting more than 500 events a year beneath its landmark domed forecourt, from Kylie Minogue and P!nk to the Adelaide 36ers. Its programming runs from arena concerts and sporting finals to trade shows and gala banquets, spread across an arena and a theatre.
Adding to the already successful Arena, in 2010 a AUD 52 million redevelopment saw the addition of the Theatre which gives hirers the option of a smaller capacity but high quality performance space. This brought with it L-Acoustics V-DOSC line array speakers that could be physically repositioned through the room depending on the event, letting the theatre scale from a 1,900-seat production down to an intimate standing show without rebuilding the rig. Novatech has worked regularly in the room over the years supporting both clients and the venue which saw the deployment an eight-element K2 system in the theatre in recent years.
By 2025 the venue had 15 years of evidence to work from. The V-DOSC system had done what was asked of it since 2010, and when the AEC came to replace it, the question was what the next system could do in the room rather than who would supply it. Through a competitive tender process, Novatech put forward a design centred on L2 and won the contract on the strength of it.
Leko said: “We’ve been an L-Acoustics partner for twenty years, and every system we’ve put into this venue has tracked how far the technology has moved in that time. Going from V-DOSC to K2 to L2 in one room tells you a lot about where the brand has taken us, and why we’ve chosen to keep investing alongside it.”
The Novatech team designed the system themselves, with support from L-Acoustics, working to a brief that the rig had to perform across every one of the theatre’s configurations without altering array geometry between formats. Since one L2 is the acoustic equivalent of four K2 units, the team knew the new system would deliver considerably more headroom from an array both smaller and lighter than the one it replaced.
Matthew Ruggiero, Novatech’s technical project manager, commented: “The brief was to match the flexibility of the old system without re-rigging between formats, and L2 let us do that with far more headroom in reserve. With L-Acoustics Network Manager, we can adjust coverage on the fly instead of flying the array in to re-pin it, which matters in a room that changes configuration as often as this one does.”
L-Acoustics Soundvision modelling initially indicated that one L2 and one L2D per side would meet the brief. The AEC chose to go further, specifying two L2 and one L2D per side, a decision Novatech points to as the clearest measure of the venue’s own conviction in the technology. L2 was also a request from the venue due to its appearance and overall size.
The main system comprises two L2 and one L2D per side, covering the theatre’s audience area in all of its configurations. Four KS28 per side fly in a cardioid configuration directly behind each array, so the low end travels with the system when it is repositioned for a different show format and the low-frequency picture stays consistent whatever the room setup. For very high SPL events, a further 12 floor-deployed KS28 can be rolled in as required, with L-Acoustics Kara II pre-attached. Six X8 handle front-fill duties in a compact and unobtrusive form factor.
At the heart of the system sits a custom drive rack designed by Novatech and built around the L-Acoustics P1 system processor. The system runs on fibre-based Milan-AVB, with Cat5 AVB and analogue redundancy paths for resilience throughout. Each L2 and L2D element is driven by an LA7.16 amplified controller, whose 16 channels of independent DSP give the team precise control over the wavefront without any need to physically re-pin or reconfigure the array between formats.
With L2’s streamlined rigging process freeing up time on site, the Novatech crew put it into calibration, tuning the system in each of its positions and configurations using the M1 measurement and optimisation workflow in L-Acoustics Network Manager alongside the P1 processor. Steering and ongoing optimisation stay in L-Acoustics Network Manager, so the AEC in-house team can follow the room with confidence as it changes.
Since its debut at the Science Excellence Awards 2025, the system has drawn a strong response from visiting touring engineers and audiences alike, with cardioid control in the subwoofers and L2’s DSP credited for added clarity and impact across genres. For the technical team the gains reach past sound quality: the speed with which L2 repositions and reconfigures has widened what the venue can stage across formats.
That reception is also what stands behind the rental purchase. Novatech now carries eight L2 and four L2D alongside its existing L-Acoustics stock, putting the platform in front of touring productions across the country rather than in a single room.
Smith said: “The L2 system delivers substantial headroom across all genres, with particularly strong high-frequency clarity and coherence. Shows have been met with consistently positive feedback, and we look forward to continuing to put the system through its paces across a wide range of productions.”
Image: Adelaide Entertainment Centre installs L-Acoustics L series after a 15 year history with the brand’s products