The Hatheway Cultural Center at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, Illinois, has been equipped with an Electro-Voice sound reinforcement system that combines high performance, architecture-friendly aesthetics, and energy-efficient operation.
The installation features loudspeakers from the EV-Innovation range (EVA line array and EVF front-loaded models) as well as EV subwoofers, stage monitors, amplifiers, system control, and touchpanels.
“We were looking for a system that sounded good and offered smooth frequency response and even coverage throughout the room,” said Brian McKinney, technical coordinator at the Hatheway Cultural Center. “During concerts it needs to provide enough sound pressure level while also ensuring highest intelligibility for talks and recitals.”
To provide powerful, even coverage inside the venue, simulations of different locations and dispersion angles were made using EASE software. The ideal setup proved to be a solution based around Electro-Voice’s installation-dedicated EVA line arrays. At left and right of the stage, each main array consists of five EVA enclosures with two dispersion angles.
In addition to EVA, the installation includes two EVF speakers, which act as a centre cluster if the system is used in LCR (left/centre/right) mode. Four further EVFs are installed as balcony fills. “Being able to pick from a variety of angles allowed us to get the speakers focused exactly to where we needed them,” McKinney said.
Alongside the system are six QRx 218S compact dual-18in subwoofers, as well as 12 full-range QRx boxes used as stage monitors. All speakers are powered by 13 CPS power amplifiers equipped with RCM-810 remote-control/DSP modules.
A NetMax N8000 system controller handles control and EV’s digital matrix system manages all aspects of professional sound reinforcement systems. With EV’s IRIS-Net software, designers, and end-users are given flexible routing, DSP, and component-level system control and supervision. To allow remote access, the system includes one TPI-8 touch panel.
McKinney concluded: “I love the quality of these products, and the system sounds great and has a nice smooth response. Numerous guest engineers have used the system and always comment on how nice and flat it sounds. Additionally, Preston Stevenson, of EV’s tech support team, was willing to do anything and everything to help us optimise the system to our space. I’ve worked with other companies and this level of support is simply unmatched!”
