JAPAN: Expected to welcome more than 20,000 visitors daily until mid-October, World Expo 2025 opened in Osaka on April 13th with 160 countries showcasing their cultures, crafts, technologies and visions of the future in a series of exhibits.

In addition to more than 250 of its speakers installed in a spectacular visitor experience at the France Pavilion, GEO M10 and P12 systems from French sound innovators NEXO are also installed at ‘Ashita Hiroba’ in the Osaka-based Yoshimoto Kogyo Holdings Co., Ltd.’s “Yoshimoto waraii myraii pavilion,”, one of thirteen exhibits by private companies and organisations at the Expo.

Comprising of the smiling sphere ‘Tamar’ and the event space ‘Ashita Hiroba’ the Pavilion hosts a variety of laughter-themed events daily with precision, immersive sound central to the visitor experience.

“The main speakers are NEXO GEO M10 with 2/4 facing speakers on each side, and NEXO P12 speakers are also installed as monitor and delay speakers” reported Yuya Nishikawa of YOSHIMOTO BROAD TECH Co., Ltd, who was responsible for selecting the audio system.

“The amplifiers are NXAMP4x2MK2, and the connections are analog. At first, we were thinking of using point sources for the main speakers, but since there is a pavilion of another company right next door, we thought it would be better to use speakers that could control the sound, so we decided to install a line array.”

“Ashita Hiroba is an event space where visitors can come and go freely to enjoy a variety of events and shows” explained Shiro Yotsufuji, General Manager of YOSHIMOTO BROAD TECH Co., Ltd., who was in charge of planning the audio system.

“We have a wide variety of entertainment on offer, including a variety of comedy shows by entertainers, non-verbal performances that can be enjoyed even without speaking the same language, and a participatory event called ‘Bon Odori no Ashita’ which adds karaoke and dance arrangements to the traditional Japanese art of Bon Odori. We also use a smile detection tool to measure how many smiles visitors have gathered. I’ve been using NEXO speakers for a long time, and I’ve demoed the GEO M10 a few times, and I was really impressed,” said Nishikawa.

“We do a lot of comedy, and I think these speakers make the human voice sound clear. They work well with the standard coverage, and they also provide solid off-mic amplification. We used them in the semi-finals of the 2022 M1 Grand Prix, and the words were really clear, and it seemed like the audience was laughing more than usual! Another big factor was that they fit the budget for this Expo” he summed up.

Commenting on behalf of MITOMO Co., Ltd, Director Yoichi Tatsumi concluded: “Normally, we would get quotes from two or three companies for this kind of project but this time we decided on the GEO M10 from the beginning. Yoshimoto fully understood that the GEO M10 was the line array with the best performance within the budget.”