Empire Theatre installs Adamson IS-Series
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The building, originally erected as The McCarthy Theatre in 1938, was purchased by Mark Rashotte in early 2002 with the goal of returning it to its original use. In September 2003, The Empire Theatre was open for business, and its team has been working hard to advance their shared vision of enhancing the community they serve ever since.
In the autumn of 2018, ahead of a special show commemorating 15 years of operations, Rashotte and his team decided to invest in a new audio system to better cater to visiting productions and invited several manufacturers to demo their array systems in the Empire’s 700-seat auditorium.
Kyle Schroeyens, VP and production manager with The PA Shop Productions, teamed up with Adamson to audition the IS-Series.
“The Adamson out-performed everything and made our decision an easy one,” says Wayne McFaul, the lead audio engineer for the venue. “Not only is it powerful, but it delivers extremely accurate and clean sound that’s consistent from the front row to the very back. Without prompting, everyone that uses it says that it’s a real treat to mix on and that they love the room.”
The system now anchoring The Empire Theatre’s auditorium boasts main arrays of nine Adamson IS10 two-way, full-range array enclosures beneath a single IS119 subwoofer per side. An additional six IS119s are built into the stage - two each in left, centre, and right positions - to enhance the bottom end. Three Adamson Point 8 two-way enclosures, also built into the stage above each sub pairing, handle front-fill.
Schroeyens, whose company was recently named Adamson’s partner of the year in the Americas for 2019, says he never doubted that the IS-Series solution was the optimal choice. “Considering all the acts they bring in, it’s got to be able to go loud, but also needs to be very clear and detailed,” he says.
The integration and tuning process included the team at the Empire, helmed by technical director Brandon Kull, along with Schroeyens and Adamson application engineer Jeremiah Karni, and was all completed within a single day.
The first show in the Empire to employ its new audio system was Steve Earle & The Dukes commemorating the 30th anniversary of the classic Copperhead Road album. Two days later, The Empire Theatre celebrated its own anniversary in style with a variety-type show featuring Canadian acts Randy Bachman of The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Tom Cochrane, Greg Keelor of Blue Rodeo, and others.
(Jim Evans)
