Sennheiser's Spectera makes its debut at Glastonbury festival
At this year's Glastonbury Festival, the Arcadia Stage and Dragonfly installation dazzled audiences with an immersive audiovisual experience, thanks in part to Sennheiser's Spectera wireless audio system.
Sennheiser's Spectera provided reliable, wideband, bidirectional digital wireless coverage across the large festival area, enabling strong and clear in-ear monitoring (IEM) for DJs and performers suspended inside the near 100m diameter ring of PA towers. The system's ability to connect multiple antennas to a single base station—one inside the helicopter structure and another at front-of-house—ensured extended range and strong signal in a busy, delay-prone environment, crucial for quality live performances.
Four channels of EW-DX handheld transmitters, equipped with Sennheiser's MM 435 capsules, handled DJ and MC vocal duties. Six Spectera SEK bodypacks provided IEM mixes for DJ, MC, and featured artists. The pristine clarity delivered by Spectera allowed each vocal artist to immediately feel comfortable and connected in the unique environment.
The six-point immersive sound system based on L-Acoustics speakers created a 360-degree sound field that filled the large Arcadia area effectively. On the audiovisual side, Hive's Beeblade Nexus media engines powered the sophisticated projection mapping on the irregular surfaces of the repurposed military helicopter, LED playback, and lighting. Their compact, energy-efficient system replaced former rack-based systems, delivering the necessary processing power with much lower energy consumption. This setup allowed perfect synchronization of projection, lighting, and LED panels (including the Dragonfly’s "eyes"), enhancing the immersive experience while supporting Arcadia’s sustainability goals by using renewable energy.
The coverage of the entire Arcadia arena, as well as the stage, was flawless, and the options it creates for dispersed performance elements are exciting. The Dragonfly DJ installation, featuring at Arcadia since 2024, is crafted from a transformed Royal Navy helicopter. This year's Dragonfly installation demanded reliable wireless coverage across a large area while maintaining audio quality, a challenge that Spectera met with ease.
A dedicated article about the AV technology deployed at the 2025 Glastonbury festival will feature in the September/October edition of Installation. Spectera was also used for Nile Rodgers & Chic's performance on the Pyramid Stage and Dhani Harrison's Friday slot on the Acoustic Stage, demonstrating its versatility and reliability. Both antennas transmitted and received on the same TV channel, providing seamless, dropout-free coverage across the field, including catering areas.
Rob Cook, FOH engineer for the Arcadia Stage, placed the Spectera base station at FOH with a local antenna covering the entire Arcadia field. A second antenna, connected via a 100m ethercon run, was installed at the structure entrance with direct line of sight to the performers.
In summary, the AV technology combined advanced wireless audio with immersive, synchronized projection and lighting controlled by energy-efficient media servers, resulting in greatly improved audio coverage, monitoring precision, and striking audiovisual quality for the Arcadia Dragonfly installation at Glastonbury 2025.
[1] Glastonbury Festival Official Website [2] Hive [3] L-Acoustics
- The Spectera wireless audio system, crucial for quality live performances at the Arcadia Stage and Dragonfly installation during Glastonbury 2025, also enabled the Nile Rodgers & Chic performance on the Pyramid Stage and Dhani Harrison's Acoustic Stage slot.
- Hive's Beeblade Nexus media engines, a compact and energy-efficient system, powered the sophisticated projection mapping on the irregular surfaces of the Arcadia Dragonfly's repurposed military helicopter, while L-Acoustics speakers created a 360-degree sound field, enhancing the overall entertainment experience at Glastonbury 2025.
