Prosound’s relationship with Michaelhouse began in 2004, when we were asked to assess their existing theatre sound system. Our subsequent work at the famous South African school is an interesting study on how venues can have systems developed and installed incrementally as budgets become available. When there is an event on the sports field or amphitheatre, a large sound system can be built by drawing equipment from different departments.
In the theatre, the first concern was to replace the left and right proscenium loudspeakers with accurate sounding EV SX 300s and later to upgrade the amplifiers. The existing speakers were moved to the foyer for BGM and paging. The next addition was a central cluster of two speakers: one for the stalls and one for the balcony. A single sub-woofer was installed and amplifiers were provided for the new loudspeakers with a spare channel for monitors wired onto stage.
A 3-in 6-out processor was introduced to do a complete preset of what had now become a standard theatre type installation . Recently extra proscenium loudspeakers were added so that the balcony and stalls could get separate coverage . The theatre also invested in EV SX speakers for monitors and in 2014, became the first school theatre to introduce and use a Midas M32 digital sound console.
The Chapel had a pair of unsuitable loudspeakers, which were again replaced with EV SX 300s. In time, the amplifier and the mixer were also upgraded. The old speakers and amp were used to play onto the altar area for sound presence. A unique addition to the Chapel was a sound system to manage the school band playing from the altar so that they could hear themselves. A pair of P Audio 10” 2-way boxes were installed hidden behind the altar rail as monitors which have a dedicated amp and mixer for the band to adjust their sound. The sound mix is then injected into the main speaker system for the audience.
The school’s Amphitheatre is a large, modern sports/meeting/exam centre of around 2000 square metres. There is an installed overhead speaker system of co- ax 12’’ speakers wired in pairs to amp channels. A small mixer can be used in the rack or on the floor via fixed tie-lines for the simple use of microphones and music playback. The layout allows for unused areas of the hall to be switched off.
