SSE Audio Group has completed the installation of a new PA system in the 1500-seater Butterworth Hall at Warwick Arts Centre following a rigorous selection process, with a Lake LM 44 digital audio system processor providing added flexibility to this prestigious installation.
When the tendering process began in January 2012, the objective for Warwick Arts Centre’s technical director, Howard Potts was to achieve the best sounding PA system for the approved budget. Following a number of product and system demonstrations in the auditorium, where SSE went head to head with a number of other suppliers, it was decided that the L’Acoustics KIVA demonstrated by SSE Audio Group was the most impressive.
“We may have used a rather unscientific set of criteria in the demonstrations, but they were equally and uniformly applied across all the systems demonstrated” says Howard Potts. “Several of us listened and took notes as to how each system coped in a space that is not the easiest to work in. We were particularly interested in how much reflected sound we were hearing and how that impacted on intelligibility as we have a lot of speech going through the system. Music was also important of course, and we were looking to hear the tone of the system, without lots of EQ and how the bass end was handled.”
SOUND DESIGN
The audio design submitted by SSE incorporated two main hangs with two out-hangs of KIVA with two flown SB18i subs per side. In addition, six L’Acoustics 8XTi front fill cabinets were specified to cover the front edge of the stage. During the demonstration to various members of centre’s technical team, SSE was able to show how the design provided full and even audio coverage across all of the venue’s seats.
Warwick Arts Centre is one of the largest arts centres in the UK with audiences that number upwards of 200,000 each year across a range of outstanding performance venues – the Theatre, Studio, Cinema, Gallery in addition to the recently refurbished Butterworth Concert Hall. The arts centre is located at the heart of the University of Warwick in Coventry.
LAKE PROCESSING
In addition to the L’Acoustics equipment SSE installed a Lake LM 44 processor to run the main drive of the system.
SSE’s technical manager Simon Gladstone commented: “While we have fine-tuned the system within the L’Acoustics LA8 amplifiers, by including the Lake processor in the signal chain, the venue and visiting engineers can tune the system for a specific show. This has the added bonus that Warwick Arts Centre’s technicians can quickly and easily reset the system to SSE’s commissioned settings once a visiting engineer has left. The Lake also able enables us to send audio to the amp racks in AES format, even if we only have an analogue input into the Lake.”
SSE has also installed an AES output card into Warwick Arts Centre’s existing Soundcraft Si3 mixing console. This now allows audio to be kept in the digital domain from the input to the desk, to the output from the amplifiers.
The tight schedule of bookings and events at the venue meant only very small window of three days was available to carry out the complete installation.
“The Install schedule was tight, but with a great install team and good planning we were able to achieve the required deadline” commented Mark Hatfield, SSE’s project manager.
SOUND INVESTMENT
The investment in this new system was proposed to improve the concert hall’s facilities and acoustics. Since the venue was refurbished in 2009 a temporary PA system has been in use.
“I had high expectations of SSE and I’m happy to say those expectations were met. There has been good attention to detail and a great deal of perserverance in dealing with issues relating to our existing FOH desk” Howard Potts reflects. “We have now been using the system for a few weeks and so far it has more than coped with everything we’ve thrown at it. We are looking forward to using it as much as possible, hopefully for many years to come.”
This article first appeared on the SSE Audio Group website – READ THE FULL STORY BY CLICKING HERE