Gand Sound Installations (GSI) in Elk Grove Village, IL, recently installed NEXO GEO S12 line arrays, two RS18 install Ray Subs, two RS18 tour Ray Subs, four NX4x4 amplifiers, along with a Yamaha CL5 Digital Audio Console, two Rio3224-D input/output Dante boxes and one Rio1608-D input/output Dante box at The Hemmens Theatre in Elgin, IL.
Located in the Center City area along the banks of Elgin’s Riverwalk, The Hemmens Cultural Center is the cornerstone of Elgin’s growing arts community.
Since 1969, audiences have been treated to such names as the late B. B. King, Bob Newhart, Phil Vassar, Garrison Keillor, The Ides of March, Blue Oyster Cult, and many more.
The Hemmens Cultural Center is named after Hattie Pease Hemmens who died in 1957, leaving over $1,000,000 to the City of Elgin to establish and maintain a not-for-profit community building and auditorium in the City of Elgin to benefit its residents.
Attending a performance at the 1200-seat Hemmens offers clear sightlines and wide aisles to provide a concert and theatre-going experience with no seat farther than 87 feet from the stage and any viewing obstructions.
Gand chose a left and right array of eight GEO S1210 and one GEO S1230 line array and a center array of one GEO S1210 and three GEO S1230. The RS18 install subs are flown above the acoustic clouds, and the RS18 tour subs were brought in for extra low end when required and set on stage.
“We chose the GEO S12 system for the fidelity, clarity, flexibility, pattern control, ease of installation, and power,” says owner Gary Gand. “The CL5 was chosen due to its user friendliness and the ease of communication with Dante, accessible throughout the system from the Shure ULXD wireless mics and all the way through to the NEXO amplifier outputs.”
“One of the tricky parts was to make the entire rig easy to move so it could be hidden for the Elgin Symphony concert dates when the system is not required,” Gand GSI manager, JoJo Clark adds.