Meyer Sound News : Monks' Visit to California State University at Chico Inspires Move to M2D

Monks' Visit to California State University at Chico Inspires Move to M2D

"I heard the M2D system with the Gyuto monks, and afterwards I told my supervisor that it was what we needed in here permanently. I was flabbergasted by the sound quality, and by the fact that the voices sounded exactly the same everywhere in the house."

- Steve Ellis
Technical production manager, Laxon Auditorium

The Romanesque-styled Laxon Auditorium has been a focal point for the performing arts in north central California since it first opened in 1931. In recent years, this 1,400-seat venue — a landmark on the California State University at Chico campus — has hosted a variety of events, including visits from the San Francisco and Pittsburgh symphony orchestras, the Joffrey Ballet, and frequent concerts by touring rock, blues, jazz and world music artists.

In recent years, however, the installed sound system had proven sorely inadequate, forcing the university to rely on rental systems for all touring acts — and often compromising sound quality for school and community events. Fortunately, early in 2002, a group of touring Tibetan monks brought along the very first Meyer Sound M2D Compact Curvilinear Array loudspeaker system, and this timely visit prompted a welcome change in the hall's audio facilities.

"I heard the M2D system with the Gyuto monks, and afterwards I told my supervisor that it was what we needed in here permanently," says Steve Ellis, technical production manager for the auditorium. "I was flabbergasted by the sound quality, and by the fact that the voices sounded exactly the same everywhere in the house."

The new system at Laxon, supplied and installed by Kevin Windrem of Sweet Spot Sound of Grass Valley, Calif., comprises ten M2Ds and two M2D-Sub Compact subwoofers. The two main arrays are floor mounted on a MG-2D Multipurpose Grid, with cabinet splay adjusted to optimize coverage on both the orchestra floor and the large balcony.

Windrem and Ellis adjusted the M2D splay angles specifically to deal with acoustical difficulties that had plagued many amplified concerts in the past. "Laxon was built at a time when there really was no amplified sound," notes Ellis. "So we do have inherent problems with the room. But if you start with something as good as the M2D, it makes it easier to deal with the acoustical problems."

Kevin Windrem consulted with the Design Services Department at Meyer Sound to address specific concerns, and together they computed the optimum splay angles required to assure even coverage and minimize unwanted reflections. "With the M2D, we were able to splay the cabinets to create a 'hole' in the sound pattern and minimize slap back from the large balcony front," he says. "After initial set-up, Steve Ellis and I walked the hall and we didn't find a bad seat in the house."

The M2D cabinets were custom painted to match the auditorium walls, and the compactness of the arrays allowed them to be tucked neatly onto platforms over little-used stairwells, completely off the stage. "They fit in exactly right," observes Ellis. "We didn't plan it that way, but the way the sightlines match up, it looks like the system was designed into the stage area."

Ellis and Windrem put the system through a number of tests using recorded music, but the crucial test was the first full-blown concert for the new system: an August appearance by folk diva Joan Baez. "You can play CDs over a system until you are blue in the face, but you don't really know what you have until you push up the faders on a show. A voice as pure as Joan's is about the toughest test you can have. And the M2Ds worked out very, very well."

October, 2002