Achieving the required clarity is fairly straightforward on the orchestra level of the 1,200-seat house, but not as easy in the steeply-raked 500-seat balcony. "The Nederlander is a room with two very different sounds upstairs and down," Ronan explains. "It's fairly predictable and consistent on the orchestra floor, a nice combo of reflective and absorbent surfaces. But the balcony is a very reflective space, which is subject to drastic changes in response due to humidity."
Despite the differing needs of the upper and lower parts of the hall, Ronan had little time to experiment on the long-running show. "It's very unusual to replace the system on a running show," Ronan explains, "because producers face the expense of lost ticket sales, labour, and increased weekly rental. However, they had always felt they could improve the sound, so when the musical director brought up the subject they decided, to their credit, to take the hit." Ronan was allotted one week to strip the old system, install the new one, rehearse with the band and cast twice, and then reopen.
Having designed the new system sing Meyer's MAPP programme, Ronan settled on a set-up based around a centre cluster design with a main array of eight M2D compact curvilinear array loudspeakers. "I knew I wanted a single array in the balcony to cut down on reflections, and I chose M2Ds for their power and size. The 90-degree spread took care of the whole balcony."
The cluster was augmented with two 600-HP compact high-power subwoofers, one on either side of the array, with another four 600-HP cabinets used for floor subs. "The new 600-HPs tucked under an overhang in the stage for a perfect fit," Ronan says. "They gave much-needed bottom to the balcony, and added punch to the orchestra level."
As for the response of both insiders and audiences to the Meyer system, Ronan describes it as "overwhelmingly positive. The comments from the audience have been great, and the producers are reassured that their investment was worthwhile."
(Jim Evans)
