Hosting lectures, ensemble concerts and other performances, it is masterclasses from the likes of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis that have put the University of Minnesota’s Ted Mann Concert Hall on the international music map. And with its music pedigree ensured, the university is eager to keep its sound system in step.
To this end, it has recently installed Lab.gruppen C 48:4 amplifiers. ‘Because we need natural sound at low and high volumes for both speech and music, subtlety is key,’ says Music Department Technical Coordinator, Phillip O’Toole.
In 2009, O’Toole noticed ‘a scratching sound’ coming from the hall’s aging custom centre cluster. ‘It was only noticeable at low volumes,’ he recalls. ‘I thought the PA had a bad driver, so I flew in the cluster and combed through every component – which is quite a chore – but couldn’t find it. Turned out it was a bad amplifier. When I hooked up eight channels of Lab, it sounded amazing. It just came to life.’
He has since added another four channels of Lab.gruppen amplification serving the 1,126-seat theatre/concert hall and intends to replace the system’s remaining amplifiers with Labs as soon as funds become available. ‘I often joke about dumping water on the older amps,’ he adds. ‘If they fail, we’ll have to replace them.’
Swapping out six of the pre-existing amplifiers with C 48:4s also allowed O’Toole to consolidate the venue’s amps in one rack. ‘They’ve saved a significant amount of space and installing them was easy to do,’ he reports. ‘The phoenix connectors really lend themselves well to a permanent installation application.’
Currently, these are driving Ted Mann’s custom loudspeaker array and the venue’s, four-box, stereo, main floor speaker system.
Beyond having the system retuned by Minneapolis-based, Audio Logic Systems, nothing else has changed, O’Toole explains, adding that his choice of Lab was based on his use of the product during an install at the 2009 Minnesota State Fair: ‘Once I had that experience I knew I wanted them for our space, and the interesting thing about this is that we’re using the same speakers, processing and console; we’ve only swapped out the amplifiers and I’ve noticed a marked difference.’
Phillip O’Toole has been the lead sound engineer and production manager at Ted Mann Concert Hall for 12 years and has advised the unversity’s Music Department on all equipment purchases and installations at both the venue and its main building, Ferguson Hall. Over his 20 years in professional audio, he has split his time equally between live production and recording and has recently begun doing sound design for local theatrical productions.
More: www.music.umn.edu/about/facilities/tedmann
More: www.labgruppen.com
