The State Theater (New Brunswick, NJ) recently installed a do-it-all main system based on Meyer Sound’s M Series curvilinear arrays.
“We do all kinds of shows here, ranging from a ballet one day to rock ’n roll the next,” says Tom Painter, the theater’s longtime sound engineer. “With the Meyer rig, we’re finding it most attractive to have a system that can do it all, with both clarity and a lot of guts to it as well. We’ve done rock, pop, new age, just about everything, and we’re finding we just don’t have to supplement or replace anything.”
The new system in the 1,800-seat restored movie palace incorporates a total of 19 self-powered M Series cabinets. The left and right stage stacks each comprise four M2D compact curvilinear array loudspeakers, with the arrays mounted atop a single M3D-Sub directional subwoofer using QuickFly® transition grids. Balcony coverage is provided by an array of five M2D cabinets, transitioning to four down-angled M1D ultra-compact curvilinear array loudspeakers for orchestra fill. A pair of UPA-1P compact wide coverage cabinets fills in the front corners.
For those shows not requiring full power — classical concerts and ballet, for example — the side stacks are quickly rolled backstage on the M3D-Sub’s modified caster rails. For these limited applications, sufficient coverage is provided by the center cluster and fill speakers.
All Meyer Sound loudspeakers were provided through ProMix Electrotec (Mount Vernon, NY); system installation was accomplished by an in-house crew of IATSE technicians, headed by Painter and theater staff associate Willie Weist.
The process of selecting a new loudspeaker system was a collaborative effort on the part of Painter and the theater’s long-time acoustical consultant, Anthony Nittoli of Norwalk, Conn.-based Akustiks. After narrowing down their choices to the M Series and a conventionally powered alternative, the duo brought in demo rigs of each for on-site tests.
“We wanted a system with a lot of integrity, because we knew it would be a long, long time before we could do this again,” concludes Painter. “That’s one reason we built the system around the Yamaha board and the Meyer speakers, because everybody felt very comfortable with both. We are very happy campers.”
For more information, please go to www.meyersound.com.
