Originally constructed in 1911, the Temple for Performing Arts (TPA) in Des Moines, IA, was deemed one of the nation’s most endangered historic buildings by the National Historical Register. A restoration began in 2002, which upon completion, now includes three unique performance areas: The Grand Hall and The Recital Hall, both on the fourth floor of the structure, while The Temple Theater is on the second floor, which seats 300.
Jason Kartak, from Minnesota-based Audio Logic Systems, describes the facility as “A fabulously ornate theater with a nice natural acoustics.” The venue hosts a variety of styles of music, arts, entertainment, learning and comedy, which meant a flexible PA would be needed.
Greg Tracy, Assistant Production Manager for the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines, states, “After a seven-year time span, it was decided to upgrade our existing equipment in the Temple Theater.” Tracy explains that they listened to three d&b audiotechnik systems, including the Q-Series, C-Series and T-Series.
Although the room is a relatively friendly environment acoustically, there were other factors to consider. Kartak explains, “Today’s sophisticated touring shows demand an increasingly high standard of audio fidelity. A quality sound system solution was needed but it had to be one that didn’t compromise the visual aesthetic of the room.”
The unobtrusive visual design of the T-Series from d&b seemed to fit the bill. “When I demonstrated the system, TPA saw them immediately as the ideal solution to their needs. Small, lightweight, yet extremely powerful in line array configuration; what makes this system stand out is its ability to deliver full bandwidth reproduction at much lower levels, say for speech, without the need for re-addressing the EQ structure.”
Tracy continues, “As in most retrofit installations, there were inconvenient walls, poor cable routes and acoustically unfriendly surfaces to deal with. A particularly tricky area here is an overhang, which puts the last half dozen rows of seats under a much lower ceiling than the rest of the seating. The d&b T-Series arrays did a beautiful job of punching the sound into that area with no discernable loss of response.”
