AUDIO
98 AUDITORIA 2019 VOLUME ONE
It was decided to make the solution not only
flexible for the theater space, but easy to split
and use across the Congress Theatre’s other
performance, exhibition and event spaces. These
include the Winter Garden, which is currently
undergoing refurbishment but will serve as a
venue for shows, and the Welcome Building,
a conference venue.
TED AV designed the system not only to be
incredibly quick and easy to put up and take
down but also so it would be straightforward to
move the whole PA into a different venue, along
with all the processing, amplification, racks and
leads. This meant that the control connections
also had to be designed to be split up and moved
around. But, as Spence explains, the solution
“wasn’t just flexible, it also delivered from an
audio point of view”.
The way the various teams worked together
was another highlight of the project, according to
Wise, who cites how Sound Technology listened
to his design requirements when modeling the
system, and the high level of commitment from
TED AV and HARMAN Professional.
Opening night
When it came to the installation, the racks were
pre-built and tested off-site, meaning that they
could be fully installed within three days. That
was vital, as timing was tight with a performance
scheduled for the opening weekend.
Across the board, the audiences, sound
technicians and the team that worked on the
project have been unanimously impressed with
the final result.
“We’ve had some fantastic comments from the
sound engineers coming in and saying this is one
of the best PAs they have heard for a long time,”
shares Congress Theatre’s Hine. “It’s more than
loud enough, and because I’ve got delays and
it’s all being set up properly, it covers the whole
auditorium, which we never had before.”
Hine also describes the subwoofers as
“stonking”. “I’ve only got three per side and it’s
more than enough,” he explains. “Everybody
keeps turning it down.”
Overall, this adds up to a system that works
as a whole and as individual parts across multiple
venues, utilizing the entire JBL ecosystem.
Spence says that he was “absolutely blown away”
by how it sounded. “I remember we played Hotel
California and it literally sounded like they were
on the stage,” he adds. n
www.pro.harman.com
Once the system was selected, the next step
was to design how it would be laid out and then
build the rigging infrastructure to hold it in
place. The power amplifiers sit up in the roof
void, directly above the arrays, with amplifiers
for the other loudspeakers located in the
sub-stage control room.
The B18 subwoofers have both flown and
ground stack configurations, catering for the
large variety of event requirements. “We were
very impressed with how musical they were for
subs,” says Spence. “It adds so much definition
throughout the actual audio image.”
Above: The JBL VTX A8 and
B18 flown subwoofer have
earned particular praise from
the Congress Theatre
/www.pro.harman.com