Artistic Flare: Loudspeakers In Performing Arts Centers

Domonic Sack of Sound Associates (New York) has shepherded dozens of performing arts center installations, and he typically favors treating the problem areas in the room first – shadowed underbalcony areas, acoustic anomalies, inadequate rigging points, power distribution, other existing systems such as hearing assistance – and then focusing on sound reinforcement.

In his experience, many larger acts bring in their own production, and what helps them most is ease of rigging, effectively powering their equipment, and efficiently tying into existing house systems.

“The worst thing you can do is put in the ‘perfect’ sound system, since perfection is a matter of opinion,” he states, adding that what is best for a symphony orchestra or theatrical performance may not be adequate for a mid-week rock show.

He suggests utilizing sub-systems that can be individually used, such as a center cluster, underbalcony, other distributed units, and left/right arrays, so that the best combination can be used for a particular production.

Technology Perspective
Manufacturers keep pushing the design envelope, integrating electronics, advanced acoustic modeling and measurement, and new transducer and structural materials into loudspeakers in making them more of a total solution.

Innovations such as beam steering, component-specific processing and amplification, comprehensive system monitoring, coverage pattern control, and digital audio inputs have come from these efforts.

DSP is an integral part of the majority of loudspeaker designs now, an element as essential to its performance as the compression driver, loudspeaker suspension, horn geometry, and enclosure materials and tuning.

Dave Gunness

Loudspeaker designer Dave Gunness has long been devoted this quest, with results seen more than a decade ago in the KF900 system when he worked with EAW, and now recently from Fulcrum Acoustic, his current enterprise, where proprietary TQ temporal equalization is used to help overcome the time smear effects of reflections generated within the HF horns of its compact coaxial systems, resulting in smoother and more accurate high-frequency response.

Under the leadership of John Meyer (recently inducted into the TEC Hall of Fame), Meyer Sound pioneered the integration of processing and amplification into its enclosures, with each transducer coupled to a precisely controlled amplifier channel, matched to its response characteristics. The five models of M-Series line arrays as well as a variety of stand-alone enclosures and subwoofers adhere to this design philosophy. The company continues to move strongly forward with a “total system” approach with integrated power, processing, and predictive and optimization software.

John Meyer.

Meanwhile, both in terms of transducer design as well as leveraging the strength of its sister companies, JBL Professional has developed a range of integrated solutions. Another strong contributor is Martin Audio with MLA (Multi-Cellular Loudspeaker Array), where the user specifies exactly what SPL and frequency response is required at various points throughout the venue and intelligent software automatically determines the array configuration and controls each of the individual cells in the array to produce that result.

The recently introduced EAW Anya system integrates multiple LF, MF, and HF transducers in a single enclosure with an onboard 22-channel amplifier and Resolution software; from single systems to multi-unit arrays, proprietary Adaptive Performance algorithms optimize directivity, output levels, and frequency response for the particular space in which they are installed.