Autograph Sales & Installations was called in to Surrey’s Dorking Halls to provide sound reinforcement for its main performance space. Recently completed, the result is a ‘substantial’ EM Acoustics Halo-C loudspeaker system.
Having opened in 1931, the venue’s inter-war facade now house contemporary entertainment and conference complex offering three separate spaces hosting live music, cinema, corporate events, comedy and theatrical productions. The main hall, which has a capacity of 791 seated, rising above 1,000 when part-standing, is now served by 22 Halo-C compact line-array elements plus a single MSE-218 subwoofer per side, and four EMS-61 modules. The system is powered and managed by two EM Acoustics DQ20s and one DQ6 advanced system amplifiers.
High on the venue’s priority list was improving sight lines, requiring the new PA to be flown: ‘The fixed flying points are only rated at 500kg each, which effectively eliminated a self-powered system but it also pointed us straight at Halo-C, which is very light at only 17Kgk per module,’ explains Autograph Sales Engineer, Peppe Mallozzi. ‘Our final design uses 11 Halo-C compact line array elements per side and even including the rigging and cables the total load is only 270kg per hang, while easily meeting all performance specifications.’
‘When tuning the system I was amazed how little needed doing in terms of EQ to make it sound completely natural,’ he reports. ‘It’s almost totally flat, yet there’s plenty of power when needed and the vocal intelligibility for stand-up and similar applications is just outstanding. Once again, Halo-C’s combination of low weight, space-efficient power and processing plus superb audio quality in a very cost-effective package has enabled us to deliver a top-quality solution and stay within budget.’
‘The only real issue we had to contend with is that the hanging positions are quite wide and fairly close to the wall, but we know that this is something that Halo-C is very good at coping with,’ adds EM Acoustics’ Ed Kinsella, who specified the system. ‘Indeed, we managed to achieve flawless coverage throughout the entire room with no delays at all and just a few EMS-61 for front fill.’
‘As always, Peppe and Autograph as a whole have been very patient and a pleasure to deal with throughout this project, as indeed have Ed & Mike [Kinsella and Wheeler], says Michael Knight, Technical & Facilities Manager at Dorking Halls. ‘From the initial demo to final tuning they’ve been happy to offer advice and support. There were no attempts to blind us with science or to reinvent the wheel – just honest explanations based on solid loudspeaker theory. All in all, that is a bit of a rarity these days.’
