"It's a wonderful improvement," says Eric Pells, technical director for the venue. "The clarity of Mina is excellent, and there's very little difference now in levels from front to back. Even on shows when we have to mix from the booth in the back balcony, we still get a true representation of the sound."
Nine Mina loudspeakers each flank the existing overhead centre cluster, comprised of two each CQ-1 and CQ-2 loudspeakers and one 650-P subwoofer. Four UPM-1P loudspeakers provide front-fill, while two 1100-LFC low-frequency control elements have been added for low-end reinforcement. A Galileo® loudspeaker management system with one Galileo 616 processor provides system drive and alignment.
"The Mina arrays work very well in the room, and have a profile that literally disappears into the proscenium wall," notes Dreyer. "And their performance is just unbelievable. We walked the room top to bottom and side to side, and there wasn't a dead seat anywhere."
Artists and productions that have been heard through the new Mina system include Bryan Adams, Jesse Cook, Great Big Sea, and the Catalyst Theatre's musical, Nevermore.
"We've yet to bring in an outside rental or have a tour take their rig off the truck," adds Pells. "Regular touring techs told me they love the MINAs, both because they don't have to hang their own arrays and because they now have a great system to mix on.
"It's been a great experience all around," continues Pells. "The installation was easy, and we didn't have to compromise any lighting positions with the slender profile of the MINAs. So we now have the best of both worlds, for audio and for lighting."
The upgrade also included a new DiGiCo SD9 mixing console with LCR panning capabilities for musical theatre productions. The venue uses Audio-Technica and Shure wireless systems, along with microphones from AKG, Countryman, Shure, Sennheiser, and Clockaudio.
(Jim Evans)
