After months of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Chichester Festival Theatre returned with Daniel Evans’ revival of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, South Pacific – a performance accompanied by an upgraded EM Acoustics loudspeaker system.

Among the UK’s leading producing theatres, the venue regularly sells out its 1,300-seat auditorium and feed plays and musicals into London’s West End. The Grade II listed building recently underwent an extensive renovation, followed by a comprehensive audio upgrade to an EM Acoustics sound system in 2019. This has since been upgraded to feature EM Acoustics’ flagship R10 loudspeaker and the medium-format Halo-B line array system.

‘It was all a bit piecemeal following the renovation, but having replaced our existing outer delay line with EM Acoustics EMS-61s and added EMS-51 front fills, we wanted to update the rest of the house to EM to create a more cohesive system,’ explains CFT Head of Sound, Mike Keniger. ‘This is always a challenge in a venue with a thrust stage but in 2019 we were able to replace the larger existing boxes for EMS-129s which made a huge difference in both coverage and quality, and was of great benefit to the mix of productions – from plays to musicals – that the theatre produces.’

Subsequently, Keniger became aware that EM was working on a new point-source box, and was able to attend a demo in 2020: ‘I was extremely impressed by the sound of the R10 from the moment I heard it,’ he recalls. ‘Both speech and full-range music reproduction were handled exceptionally well. Later in the year when we were looking at the Halo-B system, we had the opportunity to trade up to R10 as well, so we jumped at the chance. We’ve now replaced our trusty EMS-129s with R10s, and although I was sad to see the EMS-129s leave the building, I am more than happy with R10 as the replacement.’

The Halo-B system replaces the Halo-C system that the theatre had on trial for two musical productions in 2019. ‘We really liked Halo-C and had lots of compliments on the transparent sound it produced, but we wanted the additional horizontal coverage and power handling of Halo-B,’ Keniger says. ‘The full system was finally installed earlier this year in time for our grand reopening with South Pacific.’

The system comprises a main LR system for music and FX of eight Halo-B cabinets per side, two S-215 subs, two S-218 subs and a pair of EMS-81 proscenium side fills. The flown vocal system is distributed around the auditorium in three delay lines: speaker ring one over the stage comprises six R10s; further back speaker ring two (the first delay line) comprises a further five R10s; and further back again speaker ring three (the second delay line) is comprised of 14 EMS-61s. Eight EMS-51s provide under-balcony delay, with a further 14 EMS-51s for front fill.

‘The R10 is such a capable speaker that it has further improved level of detail in the system and also integrates exceptionally well with the Halo-B,’ Keniger says. ‘We often blend the R10 vocal system with the output from the “prosc” LR Halo-B system, so this pairing works really well for us.

‘Coupled with the DQ amps delivering plenty of clean power and headroom and integrated with our desk and system processors via Dante, we have a world-class system that has more than proved its worth.

‘South Pacific was the first major test, and it passed with flying colours. The reviews have been tremendous, and a significant part of that success is thanks to the superlative sound – great production is one thing, but if the audience can’t hear it, or it sounds bad, it ruins the whole show. When we get the kind of rave reviews that we did for South Pacific, I know that although we’re the ‘invisible element’ we’re responsible for part of that success.

‘Throughout the process of us experimenting with various combinations of speaker boxes and hardware, EM has been extremely supportive and generous with time and knowledge, even during the challenging times the industry has faced over the past 18 months,’ he adds. ‘It’s helped us focus on deployment of the sound equipment in our building; consequently we’re in a really good place with a system that is more than capable of matching and exceeding the expectations of designers and the creative teams that work in the theatre. I’m proud of what we’ve achieved together and can say with confidence that we have a system to rival the best theatre systems anywhere.’

More: www.emacoustics.co.uk