The theatres at six of California’s San Mateo Union High Schools District schools are currently being updated and upgraded. Two of the projects – the new 614-capacity Aragon venue and refurbished 90-year-old, 593-seat Burlingame space – have been completed, with consulting provided by San Francisco’s Shalleck Collaborative, which specified L-Acoustics loudspeaker systems throughout.
Both feature LR arrays of six L-Acoustics Kiva elements, flown beneath a single SB18 and driven by LA4 amplified controllers. The remaining four theatres are all scheduled for completion prior to the start of the 2013-14 school year. Two of the schools boast nearly 800 seats and feature long, narrow room geometries, which will use left and right arrays of eight Kiva with a central cluster of three SB18i arranged in a cardioid configuration. A third school, with close to 1,000 seats and a single balcony, will feature a total of six Kiva, two Kilo mid-frequency extension cabinets and a single SB18 per side, while San Mateo (1,540 seats) will use two arrays of eight larger Karai hung below two SB18i.
‘L-Acoustics’ dV-Dosc has always been one of my favorite loudspeakers, especially for theatre because the vocal quality is so wonderful,’ says According to Shalleck Collaborative Principal, Ian Hunter. ‘But I have to say that the essence of dV-Dosc – and now Kara – translates down very well into the much smaller and more cost-effective Kiva enclosures. They possess the same clarity and truth of reproduction, particularly in the vocal bandwidth, and really sound fantastic in these relatively intimate spaces.
‘The San Mateo District is a fairly sophisticated client when it comes to arts and technology,’ he continues. ‘Their productions are always high-profile and extremely well produced, but they still had to stay within a budget, which L-Acoustics fit nicely. With Kiva and Kara, we were able to offer a scalable solution with a great cost-to-performance ratio and the systems easily support the district’s whole range of events from PTA meetings to “battles of the bands” and everything in between.’
Santa Rosa-based PCD is handling integration duties for three of the schools with the other three bids being awarded to three separate contractors.
