Clair upgrades reinforcement at Ryman Auditorium
- Details
In partnership with Opry Entertainment Group, JBL, and Yamaha, AV integration company Clair Solutions recently completed a significant overhaul of the Ryman’s sound reinforcement system, which required a lot of upfront due diligence and testing, sensitivity to the venue’s historic interior, and a deft installation to work around the Ryman’s packed calendar.
“We installed the Ryman’s previous sound reinforcement system over a dozen years ago,” says Dan Heins, regional vice president at Clair Solutions. “It was a first-generation JBL VerTec system that served them well, but loudspeaker, amplifier, and DSP technology has come a long way since then. We’ve maintained a close relationship in the interim. The folks at Opry Entertainment Group are really passionate about great sound, and they wanted to be sure that they would be getting the very best system for the space.”
JBL’s new VTX Series A12 System rose to the top, but the Ryman engineers wanted to hear the system in-place before fully committing to the installation. Clair Solutions developed an EASE model and optimized a design in collaboration with JBL engineers Raul Gonzalez and Nicholas Mourn. JBL provided an entire demo system that Clair Solutions put in place on temporary lifts. “It was a real proof-of-concept,” Heins explains. “We learned a lot from the demo and decided to go from eight boxes a side to ten. Although the main system didn’t change much from its original design, we learned from the demo that the under-balcony system needed a complete re-think. Given the particulars of the space, we ultimately went with a miniature line array with sub support.”
The installed system consists of 10 JBL VTX-A12 three-way line array elements and eight JBL VTX-S28 subwoofers in a centre hang. Two JBL CSX-F35s provide side-fill, and 10 JBL VT4886 line array elements provide front-fill. A total of 36 JBL VT4886s paired with eight JBL VT4883 subwoofers make listening to a concert under the balcony every bit as exciting as the main floor.
Crown i-Tech series amplifiers with onboard DSP condition and power the system. For the consoles, two Yamaha Rivage PM7 digital audio consoles were the preferred selection of the Ryman team based on their experience using the Yamaha PM10 console at the Opry House. “Based on our experiences with the PM10, we were confident with our decision to add the dual PM7 consoles, without a formal demo, due in part to Yamaha console familiarity and reliability,” states Jeff Hatfield, director of technical services for Opry Entertainment Group.
Les Banks, production manager and audio supervisor for Ryman Auditorium, comments: “In the world of speaker and amplifier technology there has been great improvements in the last 10 years. Earlier this year, Dan Heins and his install team at Clair Solutions, once again, performed a miracle by installing our new JBL A12 system in an extremely short period of time. It’s of great comfort to have the support of the Clair Solutions team only a phone call away. The bottom line, end result is touring engineers give it a thumbs up and say how greatly improved the coverage and clarity is. Truly a team effort between JBL and Clair Solutions."
(Jim Evans)
