Hatboro-Horsham High School in Horsham, PA. has recently been installed with a new sound system in their auditorium ,completed and designed by Clear Sound, Inc.
For the new sound system, Milt Kunz , stage manager for the schools auditorium turned to Yeadon, PA-based Clear Sound. With over 40 years’ expertise in all applications of pro AV, Clear Sound’s team includes audio-video engineers and specialists in event production, system design and installation.
Chris Dietze from Clear Sound worked closely with Milt to understand the multi-purpose requirements for the auditorium, enabling him to design a system that would meet and exceed the requirements for each application. Chris had a long time relationship with Community and, having heard the company’s new IV6 Modular Vertical Array at InfoComm, decided this was the best product to provide the sound quality, coverage and performance needed. Chris designed the system with assistance from Community’s Technical Applications Group.
Milt Kunz commented: “Chris Dietze and Clear Sound had a real skill in their ability to listen in our conversations, and pick out the priorities and needs of our house. They applied common sense problem solving and sophisticated technical solutions that I know will serve our school and community best.”
The system comprised two 6-cabinet arrays of IV6-1122 wide-dispersion 12-inch two-way array elements, flown on either side of the stage. Each array included five IV6-1122/05 elements with a 5-degree vertical coverage and one IV6-1122/15 element with a 15-degree vertical coverage. IV6 incorporates physical- and acoustic-shaping tools that allowed Chris to tailor the arrays to the venue. This included use of each cabinet’s Passive Acoustic Optimisation module and EASE Focus 3 to calculate the ideal passive array parameters for each loudspeaker. This gave Chris an unmatched SPL and frequency response consistency throughout a listening area without requiring additional amplifiers or DSP channels, an important consideration as he wanted to supply a system that as fully tailored but cost-effective.
To deliver the audio quality and flexibility needed for live bands, theatre and public address, Chris designed the system around a DiGiCo S-31 mixer with Dante, and Cisco switching. Digital signal processing and control is by QSC, with Yamaha amps powering the Community arrays. Stage monitoring is provided by four Community MX10 compact coaxial two-way monitors driven by QSC amps, and a Shure wireless mic package completes the system.
Milt added: “The room sounds amazing. Those who knew the old house are fascinated by the improvement. It’s seamless with clear and crisp sound that delineates every performer’s voice. Music sounds full and rich with real presence and projection. Hatboro-Horsham School District is proud to work with Pennsylvania companies like Clear Sound and Community and we look forward to many years of great sound from this significant improvement to our theatre.”
