The main auditorium, Lew Klein Hall, is a challenging space that seats 1,200 people. Approximately half of the seats are immediately left and right of the 40-ft x 40-ft stage, with additional seating in a gallery behind the choir loft. The hall is primarily designed for classical and popular music performance, but also hosts lectures and large scale projection. As Curtis Kasefang of Theatre Consultants Collaborative observes, the hall’s unique configuration with tightly stacked side balconies immediately adjacent to the stage, large expanses of glass and a very variable stage depth made designing a sound system that provided high-quality sound coverage to every seat a delicate undertaking.
Kasefang’s system design uses four clusters of nine Renkus-Heinz PN121 Series loudspeakers, each configured for 360° coverage. Three of the clusters are spread across the front of the fixed stage area in a LCR configuration, with the fourth positioned at the front of the removable thrust stage extension. Eight PN82 cabinets provide delay coverage to underneath the left and right balconies, with two mobile pairs of PN212 subwoofers placed under the edge of the stage when needed.
‘One of the main reasons why I like the Renkus-Heinz speakers, specifically the PN-series, is they blend very well from cabinet-to-cabinet in an array, with very minimal lobing,’ says Kasefang. ‘I can count on them to provide CD quality music sound.’ And Kasefang has props for the system contractor, AVI-SPL, as well, ‘They are marvelous contractors, very technically capable and very quality driven.’
The facility opened with a performance by Patti Lupone, with a variety of classical music, lectures and popular performers planned for its first season, including events as diversified as The Chamber Orchestra Of Philadelphia, Hot 8 Brass Band and Loretta Lynn.
More: www.renkus-heinz.com
