Twenty One Pilots on stage at Theatre of Living Arts. The house right Arcs II array can be seen in the background. Photo: Derek Brad
Philadelphia, PA (December 2, 2013)—In recent times, Live Nation has transformed the Theatre of Living Arts (TLA) into a popular small concert venue for the Philadelphia market. Now the 1,000-capacity club has added a new L-Acoustics Arcs II loudspeaker system, installed by Manheim, PA-based Clair Brothers Audio Systems.
“We worked closely with L-Acoustics and Dan Schartoff, Live Nation’s VP of production, to come up with a new plan for TLA that would improve sight lines while providing better coverage and clarity,” says Dustin Goen, system designer and project manager for Clair Systems.
The new system, replacing an 18-year-old Clair R4/S4 house PA, features left and right arrays each comprised of four Arcs II loudspeakers flanked by two flown SB18 subs per side. For additional low-end reinforcement, four more SB18 are permanently housed under the stage and are complemented by two larger, portable SB28 subs that areon-hand for EDM shows.
A compact cluster of two Arcs Focus enclosures is flown between the Arcs II arrays for front-fill, while two coaxial 5XT “cubes” are positioned under the acoustically shaded bar area at house left. Three LA8 and two LA4 amplified controllers power and process the entire system.
Goen noted, “By flying everything, aside from the subs under the stage, we were able to remove all of the speakers from the deck and create more space on the dance floor. Plus, audiences on the far left and right sides of the room can now see everything on stage, whereas before the view was blocked by big PA stacks.”
Rob Tauscher, TLA’s production manager and FOH engineer, remarked, “A lot of bands return to play our room, so I’ve talked to dozens of engineers that have now mixed on both our old and new systems, and the response is 100 percent positive,” he says. “The audio quality here at TLA has improved almost immeasurably and they’ve been overjoyed to see and hear our new PA.”
“Clair and L-Acoustics really did a great job of spec’ing the right system for the space,” he added. “The asymmetrical horn of the Arcs II allowed us to splay the cabinets in such a manner that coverage was maximized with very little wasted energy, and the center hang of Arcs Focus more than does the trick of covering the pit. I’ve found the Arcs Series systems to be very efficient and robust, and, combined with the flown SB18 subs, our PA acts like a three-way system plus auxiliary sub. The smooth directivity and constant tonal balance throughout the audience is really nice, and everything sounded great from the start with very minimal tuning adjustments.”
A few of the very first acts to benefit from the new system included Hole’s Courtney Love, J. Cole, Glee’s Darren Criss, and Brothers In Arms, a new side project featuring D’Angelo and ?uestlove.
Clair Brothers Audio Systems, Inc.
www.clairsystems.com
L-Acoustics
www.l-acoustics.com
