KILMARNOCK, Scotland — Audio Light Systems provided a technical upgrade for the 503-seat Palace Theatre here that includes RCF gear. Twelve HDL20-A elements are flown (L-R, six per side) and two SUB8006 AS subs are floor mounted. The new system also includes five RCF Media 502 units, 10 NX12SMA powered floor monitors and an NXM22 mid high with PRO 8003-AS active sub bass.
More details from RCF (www.rcf.it):
Eddy O’Hare, who runs the company, was introduced to the HDL20-A system by RCF’s Mick Butler six months ago.
“RCF has always been a brand we’ve admired,” he said. “But although we won a competitive tender the spec was driven by Martin Vivers,” the house’s assistant technical manager, who warmed to the HDL20-A after Butler presented a demo in the venue.
Speaking of the purchase, he says, “I noticed that the sub-hire company we use to supplement our concert hall system had decided to purchase HDL20-A for their own hire stock and that sparked my interest in it as a possible option for our planned upgrade. From there I checked the specifications and decided that it met our needs for a system that could provide the necessary horizontal coverage for our auditorium, which is a wide fan shape, and was within our limited budget range.”
At the demo, Vivers was immediately impressed by the sound quality — “very powerful but with a real smoothness to the mid-range, offering excellent vocal reproduction that is often lacking in other systems within that price range. Once myself and Stewart Campbell (the venue technical manager) realized that the HDL system would allow us more scope to invest in a larger RCF stage monitor system than we had hoped for, it became a ‘no brainer’.”
Six HDL20-A’s have been hung each side using the system flybar, attached to existing steelwork. Two SUB8006 AS subs are floor mounted, buried into the proscenium arch off to the sides and front facing.
The system was given a baptism of fire — with the busy panto season around the corner, and the challenge of being heard over an auditorium full of screaming children. “The system has undergone trials on variety, music and speech work and has sailed through — we have already had our first visiting engineer decide to leave the touring PA in the van … which is always a popular decision with the house crew,” notes Vivers.
“The 100° horizontal dispersion on the system has improved things greatly for our patrons, giving a consistent coverage across all seats. This was always a big problem with the previous installation, which was far from an ideal design with drop outs in many areas, and a huge difference in SPL between the stalls and the circle”.
“With only 503 seats and 14m from front row to back wall I now have a better balance between the two floors and plenty of headroom to spare.”
Physically, he says, the HDL system also looks much neater, moving away from a point-source cluster and is trimmed higher, which has improved sight lines. “So far, we’ve been delighted with our purchase.”
And Eddy O’Hare of Audio Light Systems adds, “HDL was very easy to rig and it’s almost plug and play, and the amplification onboard makes it neat. On the day we powered it up we did some rough EQ and it was obvious it would do what they wanted.”
At the same time Audio Light Systems also supplied five RCF Media 502, ten NX12SMA powered floor monitors, and an NXM22 mid high with PRO 8003-AS active sub bass for drum fill duties. Three of the Media boxes are situated on the front stage for bringing the image down to the front rows and the other two are used as under balcony fills, chosen for their small profile and mounted horizontally.
Thus after 147 years of entertaining audiences Kilmarnock’s Palace Theatre complex (with the adjoining Grand Hall) not only has a new, state of the art audio system for live events but also a new lighting rig, pit barriers and a wheelchair platform to bring the complex up to the latest standards.
