Ritz - îäèí èç êðóïíåéøèõ êëóáîâ Ìàí÷åñòåðà è Turbosound FlexArray (àíãë. âàðèàíò íîâîñòè)

MANCHESTER'S ICONIC RITZ BALLROOM HAS RECENTLY RE-OPENED after a complete £ 2m refurbishment, including a state-of-the-art Turbosound Flex Array audio system installed by Dimension Audio.

The HMV Ritz is one of Manchester's top live music and club venues, featuring in the coming months such diverse artists as Switchfoot, An Evening With Cake, Alabama 3, Thurston Moore, George Clinton with Parliament Funkadelic, Roots Manuva, and Steve Harley's Cockney Rebel.

Dimension Audio's Project Manager Andy Laurie headed up the install team of Ian Silcock and Pete Morgan to complete the job to a record six-week schedule, ensuring the timely delivery of the vast range of equipment and the commissioning of the Flex Array PA system.

The Ritz's main room has a capacity of 1,500 people over two floors in the style of a classic Victorian ballroom. Dimension's Andy Laurie describes the audio specification in detail: "Following a full EASE 3D computer simulation run by Turbosound's Chris Kmiec we decided on a total of 12 TFA-600HW 100° dispersion flown mid/highs on FB-600 screw-thread adjustable flybars," he said, "with two top boxes in each hang feeding the balcony and rear bar, whilst the bottom four boxes cover the main room and dance floor." Six TSW-218 double 18" subwoofers provide a wall of sub frequency throughout the room, with each of the 18" drivers being hard wired individually back to the amps.

The whole system is controlled from front of house by two LMS-D26 loudspeaker management systems, and Turbosound's T-25, T-45 and T-90 amplifiers provide the grunt for the speaker system. A pair of self-powered Aspect TA-500tDP 15" trapezoidal three-ways sit on top of B-18DP subs to make up the side fill stacks. The monitor system is equally Turbosound: 11 of the new TMW-115 switchable active/passive single 15" wedges and a TQ-425 drum sub monitor are available to the artists.

Turbosound's Flex Array was a natural choice for the project due to the long standing relationship with Dimension Audio and Archie McIntosh of the Mama Group, and the system's ability to pin-point exactly where full-range sound was needed on the main floor and balcony without having any issues of unwanted SPL in other areas.

According to Andy, every site has its own unique acoustic challenges of course, and the HMV Ritz was no exception. "There is a suspended floor right in front of the stage," he said, "so this took some fine tuning with TurboDrive with the help of Turbosound's Paul McMullan, and slight adjustment of crossover frequencies and delay to deliver the correct punchy sub frequencies that we all know and love from the TSW-218's."

Andy reports that the desk and the Flex PA rig are well known and a favourite with engineers - "which is good for the venue because people know what they're coming into," he commented.

"From my perspective the coverage and sound quality is incredible given that there are no front fills, just flown FOH PA which covers the whole of downstairs and the balcony," he said. "Flex Array is a great live system that can also do full-on club nights without breaking into a sweat. This was proved on the second night of opening when 80's rappers Public Enemy played an incredible set and couldn't believe the SPL coming from such a small array!

"It has such flexibility, plus it is reasonably priced compared to other products in that range. There aren't many other products out there that can produce the same SPL, coverage and smooth transitions from HF to sub for the price, with those great double 18" subs punching at the bottom end."

Turbosound's new TMW-115 monitors are working in active mode on the stage front, and are proving to be rock solid especially with their sturdy metal support bar across the front under the grille. "They're well protected from 'rock stance' front men," said Andy. "We've had no complaints so far and as we all know no news is good news!"

The Ritz's venue manager Sian Hayward expressed her confidence in Dimension's management of the project: "I'm pleased with the support I have received from Andy - the venue has had some start up issues with regards to staffing a permanent technical manager so Andy has helped out on various occasions with advice and support, random questions and a lot of patience! I'm also pleased with Turbosound; Andy obviously has a good relationship with them which in turn backs us up and provides good post-installation back up and support."

"Our weekly program of events is quite varied, with different genres of music, club nights and gigs so the system has to be versatile and adaptable. The public is very discerning these days and we've had only good feedback and no complaints - a great result," concludes Sian.

Photos courtesy of Paul McMullan

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