Having operated for many years as the main focus of all entertainments and functions within the campus, the venue attracts several large name acts as well as breaking new up and coming bands and artistes. Consisting of a very acoustically live room with an approximate capacity of 750, the building offers a 1970's style construction with concrete walls, pillars and floors.
Andy Bonehill, operations and projects director for PAI, having already attended several meetings and presentations, knew without any doubt that to increase performance and value and to meet the high expectations of the experienced management team of the venue, as well as the notoriously fickle likes of the graduates, they would need a very special audio system, something that could create explosive dynamics, coupled with finesse and control.
Having seen and heard KV2 Audio products since their inception, Bonehill had been waiting for such an opportunity to specify and utilise some of their products that KV2's Andy Austin-Brown had previously presented to them. Bonehill says: "The initial impression of the KV2 Audio products are always one of a tremendously exciting dynamic capability, seeming to transfer impact and weight at the highest quality, never sounding harsh or offensive and with the utmost clarity and startling imagery... all from a small footprint compared to many products available."
All well and good, but another reason for choosing the product for this particular installation was the need for the two main FOH stacks of the system to be easily moved between two positions, depending on the application, i.e. live sound or club playback. The challenge with this was to create a flexible system that did not require any un-plugging and re-plugging for movement, hence the option to utilise the KV2 ES system, complete with their matched EPAK amplifier packs.
Each stack, consisting of two ES 1.0 mid hi enclosures, one ES2.5 subwoofer enclosure and two ES1.8 subwoofer enclosures, is placed on a custom made reinforced dolly. The EPAK amplifier packs are placed immediately at the rear of the dolly, supplied with a custom security cover.
Repositioning the stacks is a simple case of moving them to pre-marked points, ensuring that they are always in the correct position depending on use, with the accompanying six KV2 EX12 units, working as infill units, correctly time aligned with the system. To control this system a BSS Soundweb unit is pre-programmed with individual pre-sets and accessed via a Jellyfish remote panel.
Having operated over two months since re-opening for fresher's week, the venue has reported increased volume of visitors and is now working a six day week, with visiting bands over three nights and more exciting artistes to follow. The management are delighted and impressed with the results.
(Chris Henry)
