CLEVELAND – The Palace Theater, a part of the Playhouse Square complex and Cleveland Theater District that originally opened in 1922, now seats 2,700 for a variety of touring productions and concerts. NAC Technologies senior audio engineer Rick Galbraith and company owner Dave Cooper recently designed and installed a new sound system including 63 NEXO S12s and subs, NXAmps, and a Yamaha M7CL-48 digital console.
Having already installed NEXO products in two additional theaters at the complex, Galbraith and Cooper were already well-acquainted with the gear they had chosen. "We've had good success with the NEXO products in all three theaters," Galbraith said. The Palace, he added, "is the grand dame of the complex," with a 1981 audio system that was "well maintained but past its prime, with inadequacies in coverage and a low SPL."
The key element in finalizing the decision to replace the Palace system came when Galbraith and Cooper were on a regional tour with Patty Lupone and Mandy Patinkin. "The last stop on the tour was the Palace Theater, Galbraith recalled. "We hung our own NEXO touring rig, so that over the course of 12 days, top management would have the opportunity to hear what they were about to purchase."
NAC added three large line arrays – left, center, right – each consisting of 11 NEXO GEO S1210s and one S1230. NEXO GEO S1230s are also used for left/right upper box fill. Six 1230s are used for floor fills left/right along with four NEXO Alpha S2 subs. Two under balcony rings consist of six near and five far GEO S1230s. Eight NEXO GEO S1230s are located in the lighting perches for the farthest seats in the top balcony. NEXO PS8s are used for front fill. Five NEXO 4×4 and four 4×1 amplifiers power the entire system.
NAC Technologies also provides Severance Hall with a NEXO GEO S8 system rental along with Yamaha M7CL digital consoles. Home to the Cleveland Orchestra, this 2,100-seat theater was originally built in 1931.
"Since Severance Hall is a symphonic space, the classical performances are never amplified," Galbraith noted. "Whenever there is a lecture, theatrical performance, dance or pops-type event, we supply a NEXO GEO S8 rig powered by NEXO 4 x 4 amps with anywhere from 12-16 boxes per side plus CD12 cardiod subs, if required. We installed a permanent speaker cable system, a permanent PD, and custom front fill harnesses that enable us to put a rig in or take it out in very little time. The house crew even has a GEOplot hanging in their office, and they fly and pin the rig for us."
NAC typically brings in Yamaha M7 consoles to Severance Hall because space is limited and there simply is no place for racks of processing. They recently ran a Cat5 cable to the recording room and purchased Yamaha SB168 ES stage boxes so the theater can have a three-way digital split between the front of house, monitor mix, and recording. A Yamaha DM1000 is used by the Hall's mixing engineer, Bruce Gigax, to record a live mix of the orchestra's concerts for broadcast on local classical station WCLV.
Yamaha M7CL consoles have also been installed in the State and Hanna Theaters at Playhouse Square as well as at Progressive Field. "The M7CL is universally accepted on any tour rider, adds Galbraith. We've has also trained all local union engineers on the M7CL so that in any given theater, the mix engineer can just walk up and use it."
For more information, please visit www.nac-tech.com and www.yamahaca.com .
