Built in 1903, Jordan Hall is the heart of the New England Conservatory (NEC), hosting leading soloists and ensembles, as well as student recitals and concerts. And while 1,029-seat concert hall’s acoustics serve traditional orchestral music well, it had no requirement for a sound system – until the recent installation of a Fulcrum Acoustic loudspeaker array that features AH65 high-efficiency, full-range coaxial horns and RX699 coaxial loudspeakers.
‘Jordan Hall hosts classical music concerts, as well as performances by our Jazz Contemporary Improvisation and Electronic Music programs,’ explains NEC Director of Audio Visual Services, Lisa Nigris. ‘The acoustics are ideal for instrumental music but challenging when a singer was part of an amplified group, or when a symphonic work included a narrator, particularly in the balcony. We needed a high-quality sound system that could reach all areas of the hall.’
Nigris assembled a strong team for procurement, design, and installation via a collaboration with Rick Scott of Parsons Audio, as well as Ean White of Incendiary Arts and Fulcrum Acoustic’s Rich Frembes. She worked with Frembes to design a system for Jordan Hall based on a horizontal array of three Fulcrum AH65 high-efficiency, full-range coaxial horns, flown from the proscenium in a centre cluster. To install the system, Scott brought in Ean White of Incendiary Arts was recommended as an expert in rigging sound systems in historic buildings.
‘The AH65 is the right speaker for the room,’ says White. ‘The hall has a very high ceiling and long reverb times, and we needed broadband pattern control. It was a good match.’ Fulcrum Acoustic AH Series loudspeakers are bi-amplified, two-way, high sensitivity, arrayable, coaxial horn systems that provide precise pattern control to below 400Hz, low frequency extension to 75Hz, and extremely high output with modest amplifier power. They are particularly effective in acoustically challenging spaces where broadband pattern control is necessary and in applications requiring high acoustic output and high fidelity-as with Jordan Hall.
‘You would never know these loudspeakers have horns,’ White says. ‘There’s no honk, and they are very smooth and open sounding, thanks to Fulcrum’s coaxial loudspeaker and Temporal EQ technology. They sound great.’
‘The centre cluster solved our articulation issues in the main space, but due to limited rigging options, it could not be flown to cover the front rows or any of the under-balcony seats,’ Nigris adds. ‘So we designed the system to include four Fulcrum Acoustic RX699s at the lip of the stage to cover the front seats and shoot under the balcony. They’re small, powerful, and sound terrific. In fact, I was so impressed with those boxes that I’ve since purchased four more to use as monitors.
‘Of course, how it sounds is of the utmost importance, ‘but when you’re talking about a national historic landmark, the sound system has to be visually unobtrusive. We needed the speakers mounted as close to the ceiling as possible to avoid blocking the view of the organ pipes and cherubs. The decor is very ornate, and the idea of cutting a hole somewhere almost gave me a heart attack. Fulcrum Acoustic’s willingness to work with us on color matching was huge, and Ean did a magnificent job in the installation. Most people don’t even notice the speakers.’
Concertgoers might not notice the speakers but they do notice the sound: ‘I’ve received so many positive comments about the new system,’ says Nigris. ‘Personally, I’ve attended 27 commencement exercises at NEC, and this was the first time I could hear every word from my seat in the balcony. It sounded amazing.’
Of critical importance, the system fit NEC’s budget. ‘We’re a non-profit organisation,’ notes Nigris, ‘and it was key for us to find a system with great fidelity that was still affordable. That’s surprisingly hard to do…’
More: www.fulcrum-acoustic.com
