Meyer Sound News : Finding Just the Right Angle at Bushnell Auditorium

Finding Just the Right Angle at Bushnell Auditorium

"It's a beautiful, old hall," says Domonic Sack of Sound Associates. "Obviously we didn't want to touch the walls and damage any of the artwork. And whatever system we installed had to reach the balcony and mezzanine. It's a long hall - about 150 feet from the stage to the last row of seats in the balcony. There are seats in the balcony and mezzanine that a conventional, single-tier central cluster would never reach."

- Domonic Sack of Sound Associates

The challenge facing Sound Associates of New York as they designed a large Meyer sound system for Bushnell Auditorium in Hartford, Connecticut, was fitting the sound system unobtrusively but effectively in the hall. "It's a beautiful, old hall," says Domonic Sack of Sound Associates. "Obviously we didn't want to touch the walls and damage any of the artwork. And whatever system we installed had to reach the balcony and mezzanine. It's a long hall - about 150 feet from the stage to the last row of seats in the balcony. There are seats in the balcony and mezzanine that a conventional, single-tier central cluster would never reach."

Bushnell Auditorium, built around the turn of the century, seats 2,900, and includes orchestra seating, a mezzanine, and a balcony. The versatile auditorium, home to the Connecticut Opera and the Hartford Symphony, is used for opera, classical concerts, plays, and musicals.

The goal of the new sound system was to provide intelligibility to every seat in the house. To reach the orchestra and the front seats in the mezzanine and balcony, Sound Associates designed a three-tier central cluster. Each of the top two tiers contains three MSL-4s splayed 20 degrees apart. The lowest tier holds three UPA-2Cs packed tightly together. Sack decided to take advantage of the tight coverage pattern of Meyer Sound's new MSL-4 loudspeaker. "The MSL-4 is the only speaker that could handle this balcony," he says. "It has the pattern control we needed to reach the back without bouncing off the sides. We were able to maintain coverage and keep up the SPL. The MSL-4 let us put the signal on the seat."

The new sound system also includes two portable, sixteen-foot towers of speakers that can be positioned stage left and right, as needed. Each tower consists of five tiers. The top tier holds a UM-1; the second tier, an MSL-2A; the third tier, another MSL-2A; the fourth tier, two UPA-1Cs; and the fifth tier, a 650-R2. When musicals play in the hall, the UM-1 and UPA-1Cs carry vocals, while the MSL-2As carry the orchestra. The tower speakers can also be used for sound effects, such as the bells in Tosca. Each speaker is mounted on its own swivel and can be adjusted independently of the others; this design gives the sound crew great flexibility in adjusting the towers to suit a particular performance.

Ten UPM-1s arranged in four delay zones provide coverage under the balcony. "We wanted people in seats in the rear and along the sides of the orchestra to hear clearly, without requiring the central cluster to be too loud," says Sack.

The new sound system, which was installed in early August, incorporates UPAs and 650- R2s installed in the hall in the mid-eighties.

Sack concludes: "The great thing about Meyer Sound is they make all the right products to do the job. And their new products, like the MSL-4, are useful right away."

November, 1996