The 500-seater Barrow-in-Furness venue, which is owned and run by the local Borough Council, plays host to everything from stand-up comedy to rock 'n' roll to musicals. The Forum's technical officer, Lee Winter, reported an increase in problems with the venue's 30-year-old FOH point source system, and recognised the need to upgrade to a modern speaker system that could "handle it all".
"The problems were notably with the amps, the degradation of the speaker woofers, and the restricted sight lines due to the size of the speaker stacks," says Lee. "We were granted some money from our council to update the FOH speaker system and amplification, and looked at some passive systems, but they were out of our limited budget range because of the need to buy separate, good quality amplification alongside them. It was at this point we decided to look at some active speaker systems when RCF came onto our radar."
"The reps from both RCF and A.C.'s Audio division came to the venue, bringing some of the (HDL 20-A active line array) system with them for the demo," explains Lee. "After auditioning several brands, we were blown away with the clarity, quality and throw of the RCF system in particular, and I was extremely happy with the price from A.C. - they were really knowledgeable about the product and made sure we would have the system we needed within our budget. We've been using the system for a while and have not been disappointed."
The Forum's system comprises of two RCF line arrays each featuring six HDL 20-A modules, two HDL 18-AS subwoofers, two SUB 8006-AS double 18inch bass reflective active subwoofers, two C3108-96 300W, 2-way speaker systems and associated system fly bars.
Lee reports that since installing the system, all of the touring engineers have been "very impressed" by the sound quality, coverage and power of the RCF line arrays.
"Also, because it is a suspended array, our sight line issue has been removed, meaning a much better experience for our customers and performers," continues Lee. "The sound dispersion from the array is also excellent, filling our theatre with an even, rich sound unlike our old system, which was extremely loud on the front row and inaudible at the rear. The RCF line array is an excellent purchase and investment, and we look forward to dealing with A.C. again into the future."
(Jim Evans)
