L-Acoustics has announced the new flagship of its L Series, and its companion cardioid subwoofer – the L1 and CS1.
Built on L-Acoustics Progressive Ultra-Dense Line Source (PULS) technology, L1 is intended for stadium systems serving the world's largest stages and has, to date, L1 been deployed on Bruno Mars’ The Romantic tour with Clair Global, for Harry Styles Together Together tour with Solotech, and on Joker Xue’s world tour with MRT, as well as a debut at the Brit Awards in London with Britannia Row. CS1 delivered the low end on the main stages of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival with Rat Sound and Ultra Music Festival with Unreal-Systems/AgorA.
L1 claims a ‘categorically higher’ concentration of transducers in an efficient form factor. Each enclosure carries two 18-inch low-cardioid (LC) transducers side-mounted for frontal energy and rear rejection, four front-facing 15-inch low-frequency drivers, eight 8-inch mid-frequency drivers, and six coaxial 4-inch/2.5-inch HF compression drivers. This HF coaxial configuration, new to the L Series, increases SPL and long-throw capabilities.
The result is a maximum SPL of 160dB per enclosure, across a full bandwidth of 35Hz to 20kHz, yielding best-in-class SPL per size, per kilogram, and per square meter. The companion wide vertical coverage L1D element matches this transducer architecture with a progressive 60° vertical coverage pattern for nearfield zones, achieving 155dB SPL.
The side-mounted 18-inch drivers in LC deliver up to 18dB of rear rejection between 20Hz and 250Hz, and more than 26dB of rejection below 80Hz. Low-frequency energy is concentrated on the audience; spill behind the array is minimised at source. Sound designers choose between cardioid mode for maximum rear rejection, or supercardioid for extended rejection to the sides.
CS1 extends the same principle to the sub-bass range. With four 21-inch transducers in a cardioid topology, CS1 delivers peak SPL up to 150dB and extends bandwidth down to 25Hz.
The new-generation Autofilter algorithm extends this control into three dimensions. Working within L-Acoustics Soundvision software, it shapes the low-frequency beam of an L1 array to rival the low-frequency control of a much longer conventional professional sound system of equivalent power, down to 20Hz, with no added latency.
Horizontal directivity is managed by two Panflex modules per enclosure, offering 70° and 90° symmetrical patterns plus an 80° asymmetrical mode. L1D extends options to 110° or 70° symmetrical and 90° asymmetrical for close-field coverage. Vertical control is built into the pre-shaped progressive geometry of L1, with 0.8° inter-element coupling for long-throw festival formats and 5° for arenas and complex audience profiles.
For touring productions, the economics of deployment carry as much weight as acoustic performance. A configuration of two CS1, four L1, and one L1D delivers the acoustic performance of a 21-element K1 standard rig, with 66 per cent fewer rigging actions, fewer lifts, fewer cables and a smaller physical footprint that integrates cleanly with stage and video structures. The weight savings are equally significant. Five enclosures do the work of 15 and weigh 20 per cent less when rigged. A main hang of four L1 and one L1D weighs 1,263kg, where a comparable K1 system would require 15 boxes at 1,590kg overhead to match the same performance.
The auto-locking rigging system requires no external pins. A single SC32 cable connects the amplified controller to each enclosure. Each L1 enclosure is driven by a dedicated LA7.16 amplified controller with 16 discrete channels of DSP and amplification -- one per acoustic element -- enabling Autofilter and cardioid management to operate at individual element resolution across the entire hang. The LA7.16 mounts in the LA-RAK III touring rack: 48 channels of amplification in 9U, Milan-AVB-ready, delivering more than 60kW per rack.
Availability for qualified partners is planned for early 2027.
More: www.l-acoustics.com