Applications
Sound Systems for Theatres and Performing Arts Venues
In a theatre the system has to be heard and not seen, and the voice has to stay on the actor rather than on the loudspeaker.
What this application asks of a system
A theatre is one of the few rooms where the audience is actively looking at the place the sound is supposed to come from. If the system is louder than it should be, or hung in the wrong place, the listener localises the voice to a loudspeaker above the proscenium instead of to the performer on stage. The design problem is therefore as much about arrival times and level relationships as it is about coverage.
The geometry does not help. Stalls, circle and balcony sit at very different distances and angles from a single position, the overhang shades the rear stalls from the main hang, and the first two or three rows are usually underneath the coverage entirely. Most theatres end up as a system of systems: a main left and right, a centre cluster or proscenium fill, front fill along the stage lip, and delay under the overhang, all time-aligned so the audience hears one source.
Everything then has to survive the production department. The system is expected to disappear into black, fit behind the portal or on a slim wall bracket, and stay quiet in the gaps between lines, which is why amplifier racks belong in a machine room rather than at the back of the auditorium.
What we look at first
- Source image: keeping the perceived origin of the voice on the performer
- Sightlines from the circle and the balcony, which usually rule out large-format formats
- Under-balcony and overhang coverage, and the delay times that make it read as one system
- Front fill for the rows the main system flies over
- Rigging positions the building will actually allow, in a listed or heritage house
- Foldback that a director will accept on stage, physically and visually
Recommended SSOUNDS products
Grouped by the job each product does in this kind of system. Specifications live on the product pages and in the data sheets, so nothing is restated here.
Main system
Compact arrays sized for the room rather than for maximum output. Vertical control matters more here than headroom.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS XTO 4.6
Column element of the XTO System, passive line array, 4 × 6.5″ drivers, 65 Hz – 20 kHz and 134 dB peak in a sightline-friendly column.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS XTO 8P
Compact element of the XTO System, 2-way bi-amplified 8″, 110° constant directivity, 141 dB peak, 0°–10° splay.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS LS208
Compact dual-8″ line-array element, 141 dB peak, 55 Hz reach and 100° coverage from a 26 kg box.
FeaturedSSOUNDS
SSOUNDS LS310
Flagship of the LS series, large-format quad-amplified line array, 143 dB peak, 110° × 8°.
Front fill, under balcony and delay
The seats the main hang cannot serve: the stage-lip rows, the rear stalls under the overhang, boxes and side seats.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS M-4
Ultra-compact 4″ full-range, discreet fill and foreground audio with M-rigging.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS M-6
Compact 6.5″ full-range, versatile install and portable speaker with M8 rigging.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS M-8
8″ full-range, high-output multipurpose box for portable PA, fill and install.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS M3.6P
Compact 3″ × 6 full-range column array, clean speech and music for architectural install.
Subwoofers
Effects and musical low end, usually placed and levelled so it supports the pit without arriving before the voice.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS M-12SUB
Ultra-compact 12″ subwoofer, discreet low-frequency support for small rooms and AV.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS M-15SUB
Compact 15″ subwoofer, fast, musical low-end for portable and install systems.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS XTO S18
Single-18″ subwoofer module of the XTO System, flyable on the shared track for arrays that hang with the tops.
Stage monitors and foldback
Low-profile wedges that keep the stage picture clean and hold gain before feedback near open microphones.
Amplification and processing
Alignment delay, per-zone limiting and presets for a system made of several sub-systems.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS D14X
4-channel DSP amplifier with FIR, line-array power plus full system processing and presets.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS A14X
4-channel touring amplifier for line arrays, 4 × 2,000 W @ 4 Ω, analog input.
SSOUNDS
SSOUNDS DSP 4×8
4-in / 8-out loudspeaker processor, 96 kHz, 1/36-octave filters and full system alignment.
Why these products. The XTO 8P names theatres in its product description, the XTO 4.6 names theatres and auditoria and is described as sightline-friendly for heritage rooms, the LS208 names theatres, and the LS310 is described as scaling from theatres upward. The SM-12 is described as a low-profile wedge for clean sightlines, and the M-4 as discreet fill and delay.
Guides for this application
Get this specced for your room
Send us the drawings, the seat count and what the room has to do. Our engineers model the coverage and come back with a product list, a rigging plan and a budget.