Acclaimed theatre companies, touring musicals and comedians have all paid visits to The Hawth theatre in Crawley, UK, whose auditorium has been equipped with a host of new audio and lighting equipment as part of an upgrade project.
Following a competitive tender, single source supplier AC-ET was selected to provide the complete order of leading brand entertainment technology products, accessories and custom manufactured items from its extensive stockholding. The company’s dedicated Lighting and Audio sales divisions worked alongside each other to deliver more than 65 separate product lines.
The new audio equipment includes a Yamaha M7CL-48ES-SBK digital mixing console with EtherSound port, used in conjunction with three Yamaha EtherSound stage boxes. Martin Audio Blackline full-range loudspeakers, QSC power amplifiers, and Shure vocal and instrument mics are also part of the upgraded facilities. To handle performers’ personal monitoring requirements, AC-ET provided an Aviom solution that receivers audio from the Yamaha desk a 16-channel A-Net EtherSwitch card and CAT5E. An A-16D ProAviom Distributor supplies audio and power to six A16II personal mixers.
New lighting equipment includes ETC Source Four and Selecon theatrical luminaires, ETC Eos and Ion lighting control desks, and Chroma-Q Plus colour changers. A Roland Systems Group video mixer was also specified, allowing the venue to mix together live camera and PC graphical feeds as a single output for projection onto screens during performances.
Chris Wilcox, technical manager for the Hawth Theatre, commented: “I’d used AC-ET before so approached them to tender. As well as providing a competitive quote, I was very pleased with the way they handled the project. The company’s lighting and audio sales teams provided a really prompt service and accommodated my changes when I needed to find more cost-effective alternatives to meet our budget. Overall, it was a very easy and pleasant experience dealing with them.”
Post-installation, the new equipment has already been used for productions including Footloose and Beauty & The Beast.
