The Muny (Municipal Theatre Association), an outdoor musical amphitheatre located in Forest Park in St. Louis that seats about 11,000 people, has upgraded its sound reinforement system infrastructure with a pair of Allen & Heath AHM-64 audio matrixes to better serve live programming that presents the sounds and sights of Broadway each summer.
Sound designer David Patridge specified the AHM-64 matrixes as the audio hub for the venue in replacing an older distribution system with the 96 kHz, 64 x 64 processors. “A lot of power built into 2RU and at a price point that blows away alternatives,” Patridge notes. Utilizing the availing Dante option card allows AHM-64 to connect to amplifiers, microphones and other devices on a Dante network, including third-party audio consoles within the existing system design. “The AHM provides seamless connectivity to Dante and fits into an audio over IP system well,” he adds.
The AHM-64 engine supplies processing capabilities that include 8-band PEQ, gate, compressor and delay on all input channels as well as 8-band PEQ/30-band GEQ, compressor, ANC, source selector, limiter and delay on all zone outputs. “The system design that David put into place at The Muny is a perfect example of what AHM is designed to offer,” says Allen & Heath USA marketing director Jeff Hawley. “More and more consultants and integrators and designers are seeking out options that put audio quality first as they upgrade and configure installs of this type.
“With the Allen & Heath XCVI engine from SQ, Avantis and dLive behind the AHM-64, there is no question as to just how great things can sound. AHM comes with a well-established touring and critical audio application pedigree.”
AHM System Manager software and the AHM-64’s architecture are designed to allow fast configuration. “The AHM-64 user interface is extremely intuitive and clear,” conclues Patridge. “With AHM System Manager on a Mac or PC we can easily handle sound management, paging, audio distribution, and speaker processing roles as needed. It’s a great system that we’ve put at the heart of the audio design at The Muny.”
