United Kingdom (January 10, 2006)--Hawthorn Theatrical recently helped update Northampton Academy, an educational venue that has been designed around four spaces--the main assembly hall, two drama studios and a dance studio. According to Hawthorn's installation manager Simon Ling, the existing building was replaced at a cost of around £25 million, assisted by external funding.

Northampton AcademyHawthorn Theatrical provided a full technical infrastructure, consisting of sound, light, projection and control. In the main 350-capacity assembly hall, the system, comprising a pair of AQ15s, four AQ12s (as delays) and a pair of AQ212 subs, is under AMX wireless touch control from the lectern (which, in turn, controls the Allen & Heath iDR8 DSP which stores all the loudspeaker parameters). Aside from requiring a high degree of speech intelligibility, the main hall is also designed for music presentation and the screening of films (via the Hawthorn-supplied big screen)--all of which are within the scope of the AQ series.

Behind the main hall is a giant 'air' wall which can be opened up to reconfigure the performance spaces and integrate the drama studios into one huge area, all under the control of the Allen & Heath live mixing desk. Each drama studio is equipped with four bar-mounted AQ10s while the dance area sees another pair of AQ12s, supported by a pair of Martin's Blackline F12s, forming a complete portable rig.

Martin Audio
www.martin-audio.com