Great Sound at Every Seat in the House!

Our New Speakers Have Been Installed

Continuing the program of technology upgrades, your theatre has installed the new speaker system. Manufactured by Danley SoundLabs® and installed by Soundworks Systems of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, the speaker system was designed after extensive computer modeling. Created specifically for our auditorium, the system provides a theatre-going experience that is second to none. The new system includes main left and right speakers, a multi-directional ceiling cluster, a large sub-woofer, and small lip speakers along the front of the stage floor.

Sound quality is largely a function of the angle from which sound is heard, so acoustical properties of rooms and concert halls are determined in part by the echo from the reflection and absorption of sound by the walls. Careful placement and angle of speakers and calculation of sound dispersion are key factors in determining sound quality. The computer modeling completed earlier in the project resulted in even volume disbursement and eliminated the problem of loud “hot-spots”, ensuring the highest possible sound quality to every seat in the house.

Preliminary work including electrical supply and cabling was completed during early January and the installation was completed in mid-late January. The sound system was unveiled to rave reviews at the ABBA Mania concert on January 31.

The speakers project is supported in part by a Capital Improvement grant from the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA).

And here is a little trivia for you audiophiles: Nipper was a dog from Bristol, England, who served as the model for a painting by Francis Barraud titled “His Master’s Voice”. The image later became the basis for the famous dog-and-gramophone trademark, one of the world’s best-known. It was used by several audio recording and associated company brands, including Berliner Gramophone and its various successors: Deutsche Grammophon; Berliner’s American successor the, Victor Talking Machine Co. (later known as RCA Victor and then RCA Records); and later Victor’s British affiliate the Gramophone Co. which was informally known as His Master’s Voice (HMV); and onetime Victor subsidiary the Japan Victor Company (JVC).

Nipper was born in 1884 in Bristol, England, and died in September 1895. He was a mixed-breed dog and probably part Jack Russell Terrier, although some sources suggest that he was a Smooth Fox Terrier, or “part Bull Terrier”.  He was named Nipper because he would “nip” the backs of visitors’ legs. Nipper originally lived with his owner, Mark Henry Barraud, in the Prince’s Theatre where Barraud was a scenery designer. When Barraud died in 1887, his brothers Philip and Francis took care of the dog. Nipper died in 1895 and was buried in Kingston-upon-Thames in Clarence Street, in a small park. In time, the area was built upon, and a branch of Lloyds Bank now occupies the site. On the wall of the bank, just inside the entrance, a brass plaque commemorates the terrier that lies beneath the building. On 10 March 2010, a small road nearby the dog’s resting place in Kingston-upon-Thames was named Nipper Alley.