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Sounding Out The Revitalized United Palace

A new PA system is making the most of a vibrant 1920s movie palace-turned-concert venue in New York City.

New York, NY (January 3, 2018)—Originally built as a majestic, 3,400-seat cinema in the late 1920s, United Palace now hosts concerts, church services, shows and more, all of which are making use of a brand-new L-Acoustics sound system.

Boston’s Audio Spectrum, Inc. installed the new L-Acoustics system at the West 175th Street and Broadway venue in September. Visitors now hear everything via 20 K2 array elements and six K1-SB subs divided into two flown arrays, eight SB28 ground subs and four X8 coaxials used as front-row fills, all powered by a dozen LA8 amplifiers.

Venue technical director and production manager Jed DeFilippis suggested that the facility buy its own rider-friendly PA and rigging and then rent it to promoters, rather than make promoters rent outside systems, which had been the case for a long time. As it turned out, Audio Spectrum, one of the companies that would bring rental systems into United Palace to support productions there, is an L-Acoustics vendor.

“Rafael Jaimes at Audio Spectrum knows the Palace well and said that K2 would be the perfect system for this room, and it is,” said DeFilippis. “The perception of the Palace is changing, being increasingly regarded as a great concert venue, and by bringing a rider-friendly PA like K2 in, we’re helping promote that perception.”

Now the K2 system covers the massive balcony, and the orchestra-level seating beneath it. K2 and L-Acoustics’ PANFLEX system, which usees mechanically adjustable fins and DSP algorithms to direct the system’s throw, allowed the system to meet long and short distance coverage/SPL requirements, while avoiding reflective surfaces.

“Now, we get the sound all the way to the back wall of both levels, clearly and evenly,” said DeFilippis. “And L-Acoustics’ engineer came in and did the tuning in a matter of hours after it was installed. Amazing.”

United Palace • www.unitedpalace.org

Audio Spectrum • www.audiospectrum.com

L-Acoustics • www.l-acoustics.com

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