Clair Solutions has completed an upgrade of Radio City Music Hall’s installed sound, replacing all of the theatre’s amplification and DSP in support of the JBL VerTec line array sound reinforcement system.

The Clair Solutions team managed the time-sensitive operation by completing all of the advance prep work in Manheim, Pennsylvania, which allowed them to finish the swap and re-commission the system in seven days.

‘Clair Solutions installed Radio City Music Hall’s JBL VerTec line array system back in 2007, and the loudspeakers themselves are still going strong,’ explains Clair Solutions Senior Systems Designer, Jim Devenney. ‘However, Crown, in partnership with JBL, recently released the new I-Tech amplifier/DSPs with FIR filters that are designed to optimise performance of the VerTec components. It presented an opportunity for Radio City to revamp their system just by changing out the amp/DSP technology and had to be quick due the limited amount of available time and access to complete the work in the theatre.’

Two factors worked in Clair Solutions’ favour. First, the theatre’s Christmas Spectacular uses a different sound reinforcement system for the production, which meant that the VerTec system would not be used during the show’s eight-week run during the holiday season. The second factor was Clair Solutions’ ability to take the seven portable racks that house the VerTec’s main amplifiers from New York City to the Clair shop in Manheim, where the majority of the work could occur without a big-time crunch. In addition, Clair Solutions configured and tested the new Crown amplifiers that would need to go into permanent racks at Radio City for the fill speakers.

Devenney and his team pulled the old amplifiers out of the racks and replaced them with thirteen Crown I-Tech 4x3500HD amplifier/DSPs for the mains and eight Crown I-Tech 12000 HD amplifier/DSPs for the subwoofers. They modified the portable racks’ power I/O to accept the new amplifiers, which require a step up to 208V from the previous amps’ 110V.

In addition, they prepared 12 more Crown I-Tech 4x3500HD amplifier/DSPs for the permanent racks that power the fills. ‘When the Christmas Spectacular completed its shows for the 2017 season, we moved in with the finished portable racks and swapped out all the amplifiers in permanent racks,’ Devenney says. ‘It was all feet on the ground. The work went quickly, and we finished comfortably in the week that we were given.’

More: www.clairsolutions.com