WICHITA, KS – Clearwing Production's Phoenix location provided an L-Acoustics KIVO-KILO loudspeaker system for the Music Theatre of Wichita (MTW), which staged five productions at the 2,195-seat Century II Concert Hall this past summer. Clearwing's Almir Lejlic and Dave Temby used nine KIVA elements flown beneath two KILO cabinets per side. The setup precluded the need for a balcony delay system.
More details from L-Acoustics (www.l-acoustics.com):
Music Theatre of Wichita Eliminates Sound System 'Drama' with KIVA
Clearwing Productions supplies L-Acoustics rig for successful 2011 season
WICHITA, KS – For the last 40 years, Music Theatre of Wichita (MTW) has been staging truly Broadway-quality productions in Kansas' largest city. This past summer, MTW stepped up production values even one notch higher for its patrons with the rental of an L-Acoustics KIVA-KILO loudspeaker system supplied by the Phoenix shop of Clearwing Productions.
Using Soundvision, Clearwing's Almir Lejlic and Dave Temby specified a system for Wichita's 2,195-seat Century II Concert Hall comprised of nine KIVA line source array elements flown beneath two KILO low-frequency extension cabinets per side, all driven by a single LA-RAK equipped with three LA8 amplified controllers.
"In short, my initial impression of the KIVA-KILO system on The Music Man, our first production this past summer, was simply 'wow'," says MTW Sound Designer David Muehl, who also serves as audio producer for Wichita State University's College of Fine Arts and sound designer for WSU's Opera program and sound advisor to student designers in the Musical Theatre program.
"I was extremely impressed, both with what I saw and heard. The arrays are small, compact, and lightweight enough to hang from the hall's cantilevers as a single-point hang. One of my bosses commented on how sexy he thought these curvy cabinets looked, and it's true that they are very visually appealing, but their audio far exceeds their visual appeal."
One of the benefits of switching to L-Acoustics was that Muehl and Temby were able to eliminate the need for a balcony delay system. "Wayne Bryan, our producing artistic director, went up to the balcony during the first show and told me that he loved what he heard because, even up there, it sounded like the audio was coming right off the stage. That's the way it's supposed to sound. It's fantastic."
This summer season's five productions – with seven performances of each show staged between June and August – included Meredith Willson's The Music Man, Finian's Rainbow, Sunset Boulevard, Xanadu, and Disney's The Little Mermaid.
Now that the current season has come to a close, Muehl and Temby are already making plans for 2012 – plans that again include L-Acoustics. "We hung everything in a single line this year, but next year we're going to fly the KIVA and KILO cabinets side-by-side, which will afford us a little more height," Muehl notes. "The Concert Hall, which is used by both the Wichita Grand Opera and Wichita Symphony, is a very live and reverberant room that tends to be favorable to low end up in the balcony. Seeing that our shows are 100 percent amplification, this new arrangement will allow us to push more KIVA toward the balcony and tip the KILO down a little to have more low end go toward the floor for a bit more punch. I'm already excitedly looking forward to another great season with Clearwing and L-Acoustics."
For more information, please visit www.mtwichita.org and www.clearwing.com.
