Ironman Sound Industries, is a successful live event sound and lighting rental company based in St. Louis, MO. The company also boasts a thriving installation division that recently supplied a state-of-the-art sound system to Lumière Place Casino & Hotel’s elegant Lumière Theatre, also in St Louis. The new installation includes a rack of industry-proven Lab.gruppen PLM 10000Q Powered Loudspeaker Management systems that drive a number of Martin Audio line arrays, side-fills and stage-monitor loudspeakers.
“The new 500-seat Lumière Theatre here in St. Louis was designed to accommodate a wide cross-section of events, from cabaret to rock groups,” offers Chris Schlueter, entertainment supervisor and the venue’s staff FOH engineer, “so we needed a flexible and versatile sound reinforcement system. Ironman Sound’s choice of Lab.gruppen PLMs and Martin cabinets is excellent. The theater’s shape is wide and shallow; a very tricky space to cover adequately. The PLM 10000Q’s built-in Lake Processing allowed us to tweak the crossover, room EQ, limiting and delay-compensation settings to match the irregular and acoustically challenging shape. The new system sounds outstanding; we are very pleased with the result.” Lumière Place Casino & Hotel is owned by Pinnacle Entertainment, which operates a number of similar properties around the country.
As ISI president Bob Horner explains, “We supplied a total of ten PLM Powered Loudspeaker Management systems to Lumière Place. Five of the units are driving the main sound reinforcement rig, which comprises eight Martin Audio W8LC line array cabinets, four Martin Audio W218 subwoofers and Martin Audio WT3 front fills. Of the five amplifier/processors, four are running the tri-amplified cabinets plus the subwoofers, while the remainder handles the bi-amped front-fills. The remaining five PLM 10000Qs power the various stage monitors: three running a pair of bi-amped mixes each, one a bi-amped cue mix plus drum fill, while the remaining unit handles a pair of bi-amped side-fill mixes.”
“Because the theater’s walls are covered in sound-absorbent drapes, with deep-pile carpets everywhere,” continues Horner, “acoustically, the new room is super-dead, so we needed a lot of PA to ensure that the entire room was properly covered. The built-in Lake Processing was very useful for dialing out acoustic anomalies, and making sure that sound coverage throughout the targeted area is smooth and well controlled.” Horner also likes the PLM amplifier/processor’s networking capabilities via standard Ethernet connections. “That lets us download EQ settings, for example, to multiple amplifier/processors from a single laptop. The Lake Processing is very versatile for quickly adjusting room EQ, crossover parameters, and all the rest.”
Regarding equipment choices for the new venue, which opened in late August 2008, Horner considers that “the combination of Lab.gruppen and Martin is a major attraction for touring acts that look for these names on equipment riders. Our rental division has also had excellent experience with that combination – we have found that the amplifier/processors offer outstanding reliability, so we were more than happy to recommend the PLMs for the Lumière Theater.”
“The system was put together and installed in record time,” recalls Schlueter. “Originally, we had planned to use the space for a nightclub or maybe a sports bar. Then a decision was made to create an elegant theater setting in just two and a half months. We researched all the options, and Ironman Sound did a fine job for us; the choice of Lab.gruppen amplification driving Martin line arrays is outstanding. The combination of amplifier with integral Lake processor – dual functions in a single unit – saves a lot of space, which is always at a premium in casinos and hotels!”
Lumière Theatre recently hosted Saint Louis Fashion Week featuring exclusive clothing lines from a range of vendors. ISI transformed the room into a premiere fashion venue, including a stark white runway down the center of the room flanked by three custom walls to create a backstage area. The Lab.gruppen-powered Martin Audio WT3 side-fill cabinets were re-directed towards the audience. “The show went very well, with the PA system handling the driving music and announcements. In fact, we have experienced absolutely no problems at all since our opening night in late August, with nothing but positive feedback from our guests,” Schlueter concludes.