Sage Gateshead’s last upgrade to the 1700-capacity main room included a permanent installation of RCF HDL 20-A line arrays.
Nearly two and a half years later, Nitelites was called back to upgrade the venue’s second room, Sage Two.
Sage Two is a flexible, ten-sided auditorium, split over three levels and accommodating 430 (theatre style) or 600 for a full standing gig.
Nitelites director and system designer, Andy Magee, opted for a pair of RCF’s TTL6-A as the centerpiece of the first phase upgrade, knowing that the subsequent arrival of the HDL6-A composite line array would then enable the two upper balconies to receive full 360° coverage.
“Sage Two’s sound system was falling short,” opined Magee. “The room stages many performance genres — from classical, world and jazz music to straight theatre — some of it unamplified. Therefore, the reason for specifying the TTL6-A is because it is not only compact but packs a considerable punch. The first time I heard it I was blown away by the SPL. It seemed the ideal one-box solution.”
The three-way active TTL6-A is equipped with 2 x 12-inch LF woofers, 4 x 6.5-inch midranges and a 3.0-inch voice coil compression driver. The enclosure integrates four channels of digital amplification and advanced digital processing to manage distortion, noise and thermal efficiency.
The Nitelites director’s enthusiasm resulted in a demo for Sage Gateshead’s technical manager, Neil Colebeck and lead audio technician Graham Orchard.
The TTL6-A’s are complemented by eight SUB 8004-AS 18-inch subwoofers, set in a reverse cardioid pattern recessed under the stage apron. Three of the compact TT052-A act as lip fills, directing the audio beam to the front rows, while a pair of the equally discreet active TT08-A, set out wide, act as side outfills, and offer maximum SPL of 128dB.
The design was confirmed using the EASE Focus 3 software, which Magee used to model the room. “Aside from the massive bandwidth, the TTL6-A has a 90° horizontal, 30° vertical dispersion pattern, with -25°/+5° which is perfect in that room,” he says.
Colebeck confirmed that a versatile system upgrade had always been in the planning. “The previous system did well for us but was starting to develop faults and was lacking in low frequencies and sidefill coverage. We reviewed the situation in September as we faced a heavy program of gigs post summer.”
Budget had been a concern, he says. “But we have received great support from Nitelites and have never experienced any problems with the RCF system in Room One, for which we have received excellent feedback. As for the TTL6-A Nitelites had already been doing a number of gigs with this box, so we were already familiar with it.”
There was also a recognition that the rear SPL rejection now offered by the cardioid subs would improve the lot of the monitor engineer and at the same time work with a cross-section of product — all under the control of BSS Soundweb DSP and a Midas Pro 2 mixing desk with analog drive rack.
Summing up, Colebeck is convinced by the logic of the point source solution. “The TTL6-A offers a wide horizontal and controlled vertical pattern, which are ideal for this space,” he says.
Orchard adds, “Having now mixed shows through [the TTL6-A] you can hear the difference tenfold.”
(Since this article was written, Neil Colebeck unexpectedly passed away. He is greatly missed by his friends and colleagues.)
