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The
Maui Arts & Cultural Center's (MACC) petroglyph-style
logo shows a person releasing a bird into flight, symbolizing
the freedom of expression at the heart of all creative
endeavors. Since its founding in 1994, the MACC delivers that
artistic liberty to residents and visitors of this
picturesque Hawaiian island, hosting over 1,700 events a year
in nine facilities.
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"When
you approach a project like this with Meyer Sound, you've
got high-quality hardware, advanced software, and total
support. That adds up to success."
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Dave Lawler President, Docktrdave Audio
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Two
of the MACC's premier venues, the 1,200-seat Harold K.L.
Castle Theater and the 250-seat McCoy Studio Theater, have
just been given major audio upgrades with the installation of
new self-powered Meyer Sound systems. The Castle Theater's
new MICA compact high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers,
700-HP ultrahigh-power subwoofers, UPJ-1P compact VariO,
UPA-2P compact narrow coverage, M1D ultra-compact curvilinear
array, and CQ-1 wide coverage main loudspeakers are put to
optimal use with the aid of Meyer Sound's RMS remote
monitoring system and a SIM 3 audio analyzer.
The
system was installed by Docktrdave Audio, specialists in
theater sound system retrofits. Company president Dave Lawler
and his partners, Craig Doubet and Eric Laliberte, saw the
opportunity to make a big difference for the MACC. "As
the designer/installer, you're in the spotlight when you're
retrofitting a venue with a new sound system," says
Lawler. "We use Meyer Sound speakers because they allow
us to live up to the high expectations that come with these
projects. I think their loudspeakers are the best quality out
there, but the biggest benefit of the Meyer products is
predictability. With their self-powered architecture, MAPP
prediction software, and the myriad of available rigging
hardware, you get great tools to deliver what you've
predicted to the client."
In
fact, Lawler states, Meyer Sound's MAPP Online Pro acoustical
prediction program played a key role in the systems' design.
"MAPP is a fantastic prediction tool," Lawler says.
"Anybody can make a prediction program, but MAPP
predictions exactly match the measured reality. It's very
handy not just for laying out the system, but for client
presentations, since it enables them to see what the system's
going to do before it goes into the venue."
Having
confidence the new systems would be adequate for the task was
certainly foremost in the minds of those at MACC. "The
Maui Arts & Cultural Center is without question the
premier performing arts complex in the state of Hawaii, and
possibly the entire Pacific Rim region," explains Rusty
Conway, technical director of MACC. "Because of our
location, our mission, and our number of venues, the variety
of entertainment spans a very wide spectrum. Not only do we
want to provide quality audio reinforcement, it's expected."
The
Castle Theater hosts everything from major music tours to a
culturally diverse and technically demanding concert series,
and so it required components that would push the envelope
both acoustically and aesthetically. Two 10-cabinet MICA
arrays offered the necessary power-to-size ratio and profile,
given each unit's peak output of 138 db SPL.
"The
size of MICA is perfect for the room, providing full coverage
with a smaller amount of weight," says Lawler. "There
were issues with hanging speakers from the upper grid, and
you don't need something too big in a room that is that
small, relatively speaking. "We complemented the MICA
arrays with four 700-HP subwoofers in the grid, plus six M1D
cabinets on the stage lip for frontfill and two UPJ-1P units
on the proscenium walls to cover the area between the line
arrays and frontfill. The separate center cluster system is
made up of five CQ-1 and two UPA-2P loudspeakers."
The
sonic flexibility and self-powered nature of the Meyer Sound
components was also an asset to the installation team,
allowing them to design the Castle Theater system to do
double duty. The system can be easily removed from the venue
for use at outdoor events, thus saving MACC the cost of
renting a sound system for such occasions. "The
assortment of Meyer UPA, UPJ, and M1D self-powered
loudspeakers give us the flexibility to quickly throw the
right tool at jobs that require portability," Conway
says. "Obviously, not having to deal with amp racks is a
huge bonus. For most of these applications, the UPJs are
great: To be able to turn the horns and have them become
wedges, or put them on sticks makes them really versatile."
A
"black box" facility that hosts small-scale
theatrical performances, seminars and corporate events, the
intimate McCoy Studio Theater, benefited from the precise
coverage control, low distortion and extraordinary fidelity
of two UPA-2P and two UPJ-1P loudspeakers. "There are a
fair amount of portable UPA-1Ps and UPJs to be used as
monitors or on speaker stands," says Lawler. "They
add significantly to the versatility of the space."
According
to Lawler, the benefits of self-powered design were both
easily in evidence and very welcome at MACC. "The amp
room of the Castle Theater used to have three
floor-to-ceiling racks — now there's just one-half of a
rack," he says. "Self-powered speakers are quiet,
highly reliable, and have an extremely low failure rate,
while exhibiting high audio quality. The consistency is
great: and every cabinet performs practically identically to
others of the same model, which results in an extremely
predictable system."
The
impact of MACC's new audio systems is significant enough to
be considered downright transformative, Lawler asserts. "It's
a pretty shocking difference in fidelity and coverage –
the audio is so vastly improved that the comparison with the
prior setup is just night and day," he concludes. "When
you approach a project like this with Meyer Sound, you've got
high-quality hardware, advanced software, and total support.
That adds up to success."
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