A landmark in the heart of Boston’s theatre district, the Cutler Majestic Theatre at Emerson College was built as an opera house in 1903 but now serves student, community and professional theatrical productions. Part of its history is its sound system.
In 1999, A/V systems integrator Boston Light & Sound was called in to design and install a PA system using a pair of EAW MQ1364 MF/HF Array Loudspeakers on either side of an MQTD412 LF Array Loudspeaker with a single MQ1394 below and JF290zs for L&R Orchestra fill. At the time, with the theatre’s balcony closed, the system provided complete coverage of the venue’s main-floor and mezzanine seating areas. In 2003, when the balcony was reopened after extensive reconstruction as part of the theatre’s centenary anniversary, additional EAW AS690e fill speakers were added for balcony coverage, based on a consultant’s design.
Over the summer of 2011, it was decided that the balcony required additional PA coverage, primarily due to the less than optimal architecturally dictated location of the balcony fills. Boston Light & Sound returned to replace the centre cluster with ten EAW NTL720 compact, self-powered, three-way line array loudspeaker modules. These provide full coverage of the balcony’s first several rows, as well as the rest of the venue. A pair of EAW SB1001 Subwoofers extends low-frequency response when required.
Addressing the changing sound needs of many years, EAW showed how several generations of its components are able to create a single, integrated system. ‘It’s pretty amazing when you think about it,’ says Mark Rowinski, Systems Design Engineer at Boston Light & Sound. ‘All the components matched perfectly.’
When final measurements of the system were made, every point in the room was within ±2dB, underscoring the system’s consistency. ‘The entire EAW system performs very, very well and the coverage is completely even throughout the house,’ Rowinski reports.
‘And it sounds fantastic. It’s got that EAW sound that sounded great in 1999 and still sounds great today.’
More: www.eaw.com
More: www.emerson.edu
