Dedicated in 1993, and located in Minneapolis, MN's West Bank Arts Quarter, the 1,126-seat theatre/concert hall is a multi-purpose venue, hosting lectures, School of Music ensemble concerts, performances and master classes by the likes of the Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and others, as well as a various community events.
"Because we need natural sound at both low and higher volumes, for both speech and music, subtlety is key," says Phillip O'Toole, U of MN Music Department technical coordinator.
In 2009, O'Toole noticed 'a scratching sound' coming from the hall's aging custom made centre cluster. "It was only noticeable at low volumes," he says. "I thought the PA had a bad driver, so I flew in the cluster and combed through every component but couldn't find it. Turned out it was a bad amplifier.
"When I hooked up eight channels of Lab, it sounded amazing. It just came to life." In summer 2011, O'Toole added another four channels of Lab.gruppen. He intends to replace the system's remaining amplifiers with Labs as soon as funds become available. "I often joke about dumping water on the older amps," he adds, laughing. "If they fail, we'll have to replace them."
Swapping out six of the pre-existing amplifiers with the C 48:4s allowed O'Toole to consolidate the venue's amps in one rack. "They've saved a significant amount of space and installing them was easy to do. The phoenix connectors really lend themselves well to a permanent installation application."
Currently, the new C Series are driving Ted Mann's custom loudspeaker array and the venue's, four-box, stereo, main floor speaker system.
(Jim Evans)
