The 1,165-seat Wisconsin Union Theater on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which began featuring performances 75 years ago, was recently outfitted with its first full-range line array system, an L-Acoustics KARA rig.
First opened in 1939, the auditorium plays host to a wide range of performing arts events, mostly live music and dance, but also some theatre and lectures. The music talent ranges from national and international touring acts to University department performances, as well as those programmed by student groups and local non-profits.
The loudspeaker installation came at the tail end of a 2-year remodel of the west wing of the Memorial Union building that hosts the theater.
“The loudspeakers weren’t actually part of the project, but we knew we wanted to upgrade the sound system before the wing reopened, so we did it at the same time,” notes Jeff Macheel, technical director of the Wisconsin Union Theater, who adds that the installation has already quickly realized a substantial ROI. “Our new system has already cut down the University’s rental costs; I would estimate around $12,000 in four months, which is significant.”
Coming into the project, Macheel had initially issued an RFP with concise specifications for a line array system that would both deliver even coverage throughout the entire venue and meet the requirements of touring acts. He consulted with his counterparts at local performing arts venues, including the Overture Center’s Capitol Theatre, which is similar in size to the Union and also owns KARA arrays.
During his research phase, Macheel was impressed when attending a demo day at Milwaukee-based L-Acoustics Certified Provider Clearwing Productions, which also answered the RFP. Clearwing had previously installed a lighting system at the university’s basketball arena as well as supplied rental equipment for the Wisconsin Union Theater.
“One of the requirements of the Union’s proposal was that whatever system was brought in would need to be tried out in its entirety – the whole thing,” says Mike Jonas, Clearwing’s systems project manager. “All the subs, all the amps, everything at the venue. Bringing in the full system for us was great because we’re a production house as well, so we had all of that in our inventory. It wasn’t a problem for us to show up with exactly what they were going to get.”
The university had a scoring system for the “shootout” that took into account “how the system sounded, how easy it was to rig, and how many people it took to rig it, among other criteria,” recounts Jonas. Prior to the demonstration, Clearwing worked with L-Acoustics to model the room and L-Acoustics’ Andre Pichette, head of install applications, was on hand for the demo.
“Obviously, we have a very favorable relationship with L-Acoustics,” says Jonas. “For applications such as this, they’re one of our favorite choices and we always get strong support. Also, since we are both a rental and installation house, if the Union ever has an event where they need to augment their system, say with a few more subwoofers, we have everything they would possibly need in stock.”
At the shootout, “The system performed exactly as modeled and expected; that was pretty awesome,” Jonas states. “We found out that we won the project the following week. The Union was on a tight timetable; there was a very narrow window when they could get the system in between events. So we pulled the wiring, got the amps and speakers mounted, rigged it in a day, and got them custom carts that allow them to wheel it all off when not in use.”
Installed for its first performance—Brooklyn, NY-based instrumental fusion act Snarky Puppy—the new system includes two SB18 subs flown over eight Kara enclosures per side, a single SB28 sub positioned on the floor below each array and five coaxial 5XT front fills, all collectively powered by a total of five LA8 amplified controllers.
Macheel adds, “The system is easy to set up and use, and sounds great. We haven’t had to change anything from Clearwing’s install, and every touring group that has passed through has confirmed that we made the right choice.”