Harman solution for Florida’s Jungle Queen
- Details
Since 1935, more than 18m visitors have embarked on Fort Lauderdale’s Jungle Queen riverboat cruise and dinner attraction for an afternoon and evening of sailing and sightseeing through the ‘Venice of America’ to a luxury private island, where guests are treated to America’s longest-running variety show.
The show features performances by jugglers and stand-up comics, and a live performance of classic songs by a live band. In order to provide premium sound quality with clarity and presence for such a wide range of performances, Jungle Queen hired TM Sound & Lighting to replace their aging sound system with a sound reinforcement solution from Harman Professional Solutions.
“It’s a privilege to supply a sound system for an attraction as famous and historic as Jungle Queen’s sightseeing cruise and dinner show,” says Thomas Mannino, president of TM Sound & Lighting. “Jungle Queen’s previous sound system lacked convincing stage presence and the speaker placement wasn’t strategic. The new HARMAN sound system, which delivers the kind of coverage and stage presence needed to provide audiences with an impactful entertainment experience. The owners are extremely happy.”
The variety show performances take place on Jungle Queen’s outdoor stage. Mannino’s team outfitted Jungle Queen’s outdoor stage with JBL AE Series all-weather AW526 and AW295 loudspeakers. An AW129 loudspeaker was utilised for the outside stage monitor. To supply clean and reliable power to the AW526 and AW295 speakers, Mannino included a Crown CDi 4000 two-channel amplifier.
“The speakers on the outdoor stage need to withstand being outside all of the time without being covered,” continues Mannino. “We installed JBL all-weather speakers because they’re a great speaker for a variety of outdoor applications. These speakers can withstand any element you throw at them - including sun, wind, rain and snow. Not only will they survive, they will still sound as good as the day you bought them.”
The Jungle Queen variety show is regularly moved to the indoor stage due to weather. For the indoor performance area, TM Sound & Lighting installed 40 JBL Control 25AV compact loudspeakers, which provide clear sound reinforcement to the wide coverage area. The Control 25AV speakers are powered by two networked Crown DriveCore Install series DCi 4|600N four-channel amplifiers, delivering eight time-aligned zones throughout the room. One JBL Control 31 was installed for a stage monitor.
The limited space of the venue leaves no room for a front-of-house mixing system in an ideal listening position. A Soundcraft Ui24R digital mixer enables Jungle Queen staff to produce professional mixes with the convenience and mobility of an iPad or any smart mobile device. This flexibility gives them the ability to quickly move the show from the indoor space to the outdoor stage without any hassle, as well as adjusting the mix on the fly from anywhere in the park.
(Jim Evans)
