Jan 4, 2005 6:38 PM, By Mix Editors

Miami’s Manuel Artime Community Theater is a city-owned facility and historic building on the city's west side that once served as a church. The location regularly hosts a far-flung array of concerts, corporate events, plays and religious worship gatherings.

Miami-based A/V systems integrator Pro Sound Inc. worked with The Audio Bug to install a new sound system. "The old system had been in place for about 15 years, and half of the speaker drivers were either blown or couldn't produce full output," says Pro Sound VP Rick Scharmann. "Despite that, the facility has had a full schedule for many years to the point where it's booked seven days a week. Yet the city was getting serious complaints from everyone who was using it."

Playing a major role in helping the 1,000-seat community theater turn the corner on sound quality was a complement of loudspeakers from Sound Physics Labs (Glenview, Ill.), whose qualities have proven to be ideal for the broad range of uses the facility needs to meet. To adequately address that broad range of requirements, Pro Sound installed SPL-td1 three-way speakers and SPL-td1 subwoofers.

Three full-range Sound Physics Labs td1 speakers are suspended in a cluster from the ceiling, while two td1 subwoofers hang below it. Rounding out the loudspeaker mix are multiple balcony delays and stage monitors. Other sound equipment included QSC amplifiers, an Allen & Heath mixing console and Klark-Teknik processing.

"The SPL speakers worked especially well in this application," Scharmann says. "The space needed a speaker with high SPL output. It's rare you can find a system capable of handling the high end, clearly defined sound for the classical ear, yet one that gives the thump-thump needed for hip hop. The consultant's choice of Sound Physics Labs speakers was based on listening and careful evaluation."

A central cluster of td1s was the logical choice as a way to cover a facility with some challenging acoustical aspects, most notably high ceilings. To ensure that the speaker system would work to its maximum capability, Pro Sound installed acoustical panels over the stage area. "They ended up with a false ceiling effect over the stage, which helps absorb some of the energy," he says. "It's a pretty live room, but it proved to be decent to work with."

Several months after the project was completed, Scharmann says the new system appears to have worked its magic. "There's new life for the building now," he says. "The feedback I'm getting is that everybody loves it. It's the difference between night and day."

For more information on SPL, please go to www.soundphysics.com.

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