For any town on the outskirts of a major city, a cultural centre can promote both local pride and wider interest. In the City of Wyndham – a local government area in the outer south-western suburbs of Melbourne – the Wyndham Cultural Centre has installed a new sound system in its performance auditorium with precisely this in mind.

The centre houses the Tattersall’s Theatre, two exhibition galleries, the CBD library, a Visitor Information Centre and a café. It was opened in 2001, but a the approach to its construction meant there some problems from the outset, as Gavin Hume, Director of MultiTek Solutions, explain: ‘The theatrical infrastructure was lumped in with the general electrical scope of works with many things done in a non-industry standard way. This made the venue very hard to use when it first opened in 2001,’ he says.

‘However, the current technical managers and technicians have really done a great job in bring the venue up to a great standard by methodically fixing all the errors made during the construction.’

MultiTek Solutions has a long association with the WCC, dating from the initial post-construction fix of the cabling infrastructure to ongoing preventative maintenance and equipment supply, so when the time came for an upgrade of the sound system in the auditorium, it was a job they approached with some careful considerations...

‘As a regional arts centre, it hosts the gamut of shows, from professional touring theatre companies to the high school musical and Callisthenics production, along with the all important end-of-year school dance. The system has to cater for all of these and their specific requirements.

‘Whatever solution we put in place had to improve the overall coverage of the system throughout the venue, specifically the front few rows and the extreme rear. We also had to tidy up the sight lines and mount the subwoofers out of the way. As well as that, they wanted to increase the headroom of the system and provide some image steering for musicals.’

With so many considerations, Hume knew the system had to be able to cope with any eventuality, and Tannoy was a brand he knew could produce the results the WCC were after.

‘I have used Tannoy for many years as a venue technician and love the coherency of a point source,’ he says. ‘In the end, we went through the new ranges and chose the right models based on the overall dispersion pattern and power handling capability.’

Two Tannoy VX 12HP boxes are mounted either side of the arch and another pair from the lighting bridge for delay. A single VX 12Q is mounted in the centre above the stage to help fill in the front row and also provide image steering for musicals. Four VX 5.2s are set across the front lip of the stage for those occasions when there is an orchestra in the pit, ‘but we attached these using custom mounts to facilitate easy removal when not required’. VSX 18DR are were flown above the proscenium walls, giving a more aesthetically pleasing look to the stage overall.

With an expanded range of enclosures and transducer compliments, Tannoy’s VX Series combines next-generation Dual Concentric driver technology with portable and install-friendly cabinet designs and carefully thought-out functionality.

The venue’s amplifier racks were also rebuilt using Powersoft amplification, as well as using multiple BSS London units for DSP. ‘This provides the users with the flexibility of being able to address the system in different ways depending on the event,’ Hume explains. ‘They are able to send just LR to the system right up to being able to send multiple outputs from their console to each element of the system if required.

‘Now that the system is installed and the venue is up and running, the overall response has been very positive – we have achieved the requirements set out at the beginning of the project. They now have a fantastic venue for the people of Werribee and beyond to enjoy for many years to come’.