Chatham’s Central Theatre benefited from a sound system upgrade that has greatly improved the audience’s audio experience. The venue hosts a variety of performances, including tribute acts, musicals, stand-up comedy, and dance. The venue required a sound system that would ensure clear and even audio coverage no matter the performance, leading the space to contact Bose Professional.
Upon receiving the project, Bose Professional reached out to Tateside to design and install the system.
“They were looking for an in-house installed PA system that would provide great coverage to all the seats. It was also important that the system would be versatile enough to serve a wide range of performance types,” explained Jack Cornish, Technical Director at Tateside.
“As a Bose Pro Partner, we were given the freedom to specify and implement the system, with the added benefit of support from the Bose Professional team,” continued Cornish.
A full ShowMatch solution was chosen for this project, as it offers versatile coverage options that could overcome the challenges of the auditorium space and ensure each audience member enjoys the same audio experience, regardless of their seat location.
The main PA consists of two flown arrays on either side of the stage. The arrays include Bose Professional ShowMatch SM5, SM10, and SM20 loudspeakers with waveguides in hangs of six per side. This solution overcomes the limitations of traditional point source systems by utilising line array technology and customisable coverage patterns, with each module in the array delivering audio to different areas of the theatre.
The J-Curve design further ensures that audio is clear but not overpowering for the seats closest to the stage. The main PA is supplemented by eight ShowMatch SMS118 DeltaQ array subwoofers stacked on the stage. The system is driven by eight Bose Professional amplifiers with DSP through a Bose Professional ControlSpace ESP-880 sound processor.
Chris Stevens, Technical Manager at Chatham Central Theatre, commented: “The sound is clean and precise, with full room coverage. Nowadays, 98% of productions leave their own PAs on the truck and opt for our house system instead, which is a testament to Tateside and the way they listened to our needs in creating a system that would be appropriate for different show operations.”
Through this upgrade, Chatham Theatre has been able to further solidify its reputation as a premier entertainment venue where audiences can enjoy a variety of performances in the knowledge that, no matter where they sit, they’ll experience clear and high-quality audio.
