PORT MACQUARIE, Australia – Glasshouse, a $50 million arts center that opened in mid-2009, includes a 600-seat performing arts theater, a 600-square-meter art gallery, a studio theater, conference facilities and an community workshop.
Jands, the head staging contractor, hired The PA People for the sound system design and installation. PA People project team leader Brett Steele worked closely with theatre consultants Marshall Day Entertech, RTM and the acoustic consultants ARUP during the course of the project.
Wrapped around the sculpted form of the tall auditorium, the foyers are open and glassy, and are naturally ventilated. Shaped voids and overhangs are created to facilitate street shade, airflow and an architectural journey from street to auditorium.
These foyer areas use a JBL Control speaker system of 24CTM and 26CT ceiling speakers together with Control 328, Control 30 and 25AV cabinets, all powered by Crown amplifiers.
"With all the glass and open areas and different sound sources, we had to spend a fair bit of time commissioning the system," said Steele. "The Control 328s, which are high powered ceiling speakers, especially sound nice in the 6m high space."
For the theatre's main PA, a JBL VRX loudspeaker system was chosen and configured as a L-C-R system in three drops of four VRX932LA cabinets finished in black, augmented by two double 18-inch ASB6128 sub bass loudspeaker, which are flown behind the center cluster.
Three JBL Control 28T60 loudspeakers make up the front fill component located in the front edge of the stage, all of which is powered by six Crown CTs3000 amplifiers. Four JBL PRX512M 500W powered monitors are also utilized.
"The JBL VRX system was a good, price-effective option to cover the theatre's needs," added Steele. "Since installation I've received good reports on the VRX from the theatre staff."
Digital signal processing has been entrusted to a BSS Blu80 processor with eight inputs and eight outputs. This can be configured via a Blu10 control panel in the control room, negating the need for theatre technicians to walk to the amplifier room on level 4.
"The Blu10 gives the theatre staff a nice and easy interface to turn the system on and off and to select the various system configuration presets," Steele.
The FOH and monitoring speaker systems are mixed on a Soundcraft GB8 40ch console, which is also served by a Lexicon MPX-1 effects engine and Marantz CDR 510 CD recorder.
The microphone inventory including Shure Beta 58 and KSM27 wired models and a UHF-R wireless system complete with lapel and hand held microphone transmitters.
A ClearCom Encore MS702 partyline master station was provided for all the theatres' internal communications needs. This is located in the SMD, but is cabled to the system via the SMD umbilical and patched into the control room. The intercom outstations are equipped with an inventory comprising a total of eight ClearCom RS601 partyline beltpack's and four KB701 speaker stations.
"It's a straightforward two-channel comms system with lots of patchable spurs to give the venue flexibility," said Steele.
For more information, please visit www.jands.com.au and www.papeople.com.au .
