EASTON, MD — After opening with silent films and vaudeville acts in the 1920s, the 400-seat Avalon Theatre on Maryland’s Eastern Shore went into a period of decline before being purchased and refurbished by the town of Easton. It is now equipped with a sound system featuring Bag End speakers and processors. Designed for live performances in an era when sound systems were in their infancy, the Avalon has excellent natural acoustics. But its small layout poses its own unique challenges. Singers sometimes struggle to be heard above the band, for instance, and balcony wings create some dead spots in the auditorium.
In 2001, Mid South Audio of Georgetown, Del. installed a modern sound system designed to eliminate those problems. The installation included Bag End full-range Crystal speakers for the main system downstairs and Opals in the balcony, as well as a single Quartz subwoofer. Bag End provided the speaker processor and also four monitors, which were TA 1200-RFs.
In September of 2008, the sound system was upgraded, and more Bag End speakers were added to further improve the sound quality.
“We installed two Bag End TA 6000 speakers under the balcony,” said Mid South Audio lead technician Gino Bailey, “and two more for additional front fill. We added four more TA 1200-RF floor monitors, which gave us a total of eight discrete mixes from the monitors.”
Bailey said Bag End speakers were the best choice for installation in the Avalon’s smaller auditorium because they combine compact size with top-quality sound production.
“On one occasion, an engineer from one of the performing groups came into the theater, saw the smaller speakers and asked where the PA was. At the end of the night he came back to apologize and asked for more information about the speakers. In 20 years on the road, he said he had never heard such big sound from such small speakers.”
Since that upgrade, the theater’s sound system has received positive reviews from both performers and audiences, and the theater itself has resurfaced as a highly-regarded music venue.
For more information, please visit www.bagend.com.
