Electro-Voice XLC118 User manual

INSTALLED SOUND
TAKES CENTER STAGE
AT THE HISTORIC
PANTAGES THEATER

For a sound installation contractor, building the sound
system for a historical theater renovation can be a challenging,
exciting, and ultimately rewarding project. The Pantages
Theater in downtown Minneapolis is a perfect example.
It demonstrates how the latest sound reinforcement technology —
such as linear arrays and DSP remote-controlled amps, integrated
with best-in-class analog mixing console technology — can make a
classic performance space sound great while helping to preserve
its vintage charm.
The entire Pantages sound system was built with equipment from
three of the most trusted brands in professional audio:
Electro-Voice®, Midas, and Klark Teknik. Since all three are part of
the Telex Pro Audio Group, product teams maintain close contact,
engineering and testing products together. This creates a synergy
across the brands that, in the case of the Pantages, was a major
contributor to making a large, complicated sound system
come together without compatibility concerns and on a very
tight schedule.

XLC LINE ARRAYS PUT EVERY SEAT
IN THE HOUSE FRONT ROW CENTER.
The Pantages is a small gem of a theater. The house is narrow, there’s not
much stage width or depth, and the rear wall of the balcony is just over
100 feet from the proscenium. In such a modest space, you might expect
a loudspeaker cluster centered above the stage. But the Pantages sound
engineers and their contractor were determined that the quality of the
front-of-house sound would match the great sight lines enjoyed by
every seat in the theater. Achieving intelligibility and precise control
quickly led them to one loudspeaker choice: The Electro-Voice®
XLC™ compact linear array system.
Line arrays are often associated with large performance venues,
like 15,000-seat arenas and outdoor stadiums. XLC compact
linear arrays take the incredible clarity, range, and control of
Electro-Voice X-Line™linear array technology and makes it a
highly versatile option for all kinds of performance spaces.
XLC compact enclosures deliver the full bandwidth sound of
their bigger siblings, while actually improving on conventional
linear array performance. The XLC axis-asymmetrical design
eliminates dead spots typically caused by horizontal lobing.
In the Pantages, two arrays, each with 13 XLC 127 main
enclosures, hang in front of the left and right sides of the
proscenium. Placement was dictated by architecture as well as
acoustics: the arrays couldn’t obstruct the giant columns that
frame the stage or cover important plaster details. Electro-Voice
Line Array Prediction Software (LAPS) guided the precise
placement and aiming of the array elements. Four XLC 118
subwoofers are ground-stacked on each side of the house, with
another eight available if an act needs more low-end power.
At the rear of the facility, Electro-Voice X-Array™Xi-1082
speakers are cleverly concealed to provide the under-balcony fill.
XLC compact linear arrays open exciting new possibilities for sound
system designers and contractors working in venues such as theaters,
churches, and nightclubs. When intelligibility and performance are the
most important factors governing an installation, linear arrays from
Electro-Voice offer a no-compromise solution. They let contractors install
front-and-center quality sound in every application.

THE INSTALLED SYSTEM
THAT’SGOOD TO GO.
The Pantages front-of-house system has one capability not
often found in fixed installations: It’s easy to move.
The Pantages is one of three historical theaters in
downtown Minneapolis that share staff and equipment.
So if the Orpheum Theater three blocks down
the street needs the Pantages sound
system, everything can be moved
in a couple of hours.
Portability is one reason
why XLC linear arrays
were chosen for the
Pantages. Not only
do they offer
quick, one-person
rigging, they
provide the high
SPLs needed to
fill the 2600-seat
Orpheum.
ALL IN
THE MIX.
The nerve center of the
Pantages front-of-house system is
its Midas Heritage 1000 mixing console.
Everything a theatrical sound designer or concert
FOH engineer would need is packed into the 48-frame
package: an automation system controlling over 1500
faders and switch functions, four-band parametric EQ on
each channel, ten aux sends, a 13x8 output matrix, and
legendary Midas XL4 mic preamps. The Heritage 1000 is
surprisingly compact, and is easily moved to one of two
mix positions in the Pantages house, or even down the
street to another theater.
While the Midas name is most often associated with
concert touring systems, its mixing consoles are favorites
for installed live performance and broadcasting systems
around the world. Midas offers sound contractors a wide
choice of consoles from the awesome Legend 3000 to the
amazingly versatile and compact Venice consoles.
The 16-, 24-, and 32-channel Venice boards in particular
bring the legendary “Midas sound” to applications as
diverse as churches, hotels, recital halls, theme parks,
corporate presentation rooms, and many more.
DIGITAL INNOVATIONS.
When the Pantages opened in 1916, it was the first theater in
Minneapolis to offer air conditioning — using blocks of ice —
and one of the first anywhere with a second-floor mezzanine.
That spirit of innovation is alive today in the signal processing and
amplification sections of the Pantages sound system.
For equalization, the Pantages systems uses the
remarkable new Klark Teknik DN9340 Helix
digital equalizer. It combines common
EQ functions (such as a 31-band graphic
EQ, 12-band parametric EQ, filters,
and delays) with “T-DEQ” advanced
real-time dynamic controls into a
2RU dual-channel device. Not only
does the Helix allow stacking its
different processing functions
together, it can also talk to the Midas
Heritage console to provide an
“auto-solo” function.
At the powerhouse end of the system,
the Pantages uses the new Electro-Voice
DSP remote-controlled amplifiers. These
amps deliver the incredibly clean and
powerful performance of EV®P-Series
amplifiers along with the tremendous flexibility of
digital remote control. With a laptop computer, a
sound engineer can sit in the middle of the Pantages house,
tweak any audio parameter, and run diagnostics on the speaker
systems. The remote-controlled amps make daily system maintenance a snap:
There’s no climbing up to the equipment gallery (14 feet above stage left)
to check an amplifier, or bringing an entire XLC array down to test for a
damaged cone. The amps’ integrated impedance testing documents any
out-of-tolerance conditions or components.
THE SOUND STARTS HERE.
It’s no surprise that all three of the historic theaters along Hennepin
Avenue in Minneapolis make extensive use of Electro-Voice
microphones. EV mics are industry legends, beautifully capturing
every type of performance— from vocals and acoustic instruments
to thundering heavy metal—with clarity and hard-as-nails reliability.
The EV microphone selection at the Pantages starts with its
12-channel, frequency-agile RE-1 wireless mic system, employing
six handheld and six bodypack transmitters. For wired mics,
Pantages has a full complement of N/DYM Series
microphones, including the superb N/D767a vocal mic and
the indispensable N/D868 kick drum mic.

Telex Communications, Inc.
12000 Portland Avenue South
Burnsville, MN 55337
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Specifications subject to change without notice.
©2003 Telex Communications PA 20621 01/03
Electro-Voice Loudspeakers
Electro-Voice Amplifiers
THE PANTAGES THEATER SOUND SYSTEM
26x XLC 127 Compact main enclosures
16x XLC 118 Compact subwoofers
11x Xi-1082 Xi-Series under-balcony fills
4x Xw15 X-Array floor monitors
19x P1200RL 2x550W @ 4ΩDSP remote-controlled
5x P3000RL 2x1300W @ 4ΩDSP remote-controlled
Midas Mix Console
Heritage 1000 48-input/26-buss/13x8 output matrix automated console
Klark Teknik Signal Processing
1x DN9340 Helix digital equalizer–master unit
2x DN9344 Helix digital equalizer–slave units
3x DN360 Analog dual-channel graphic equalizers
1x DN300 Analog single-channel graphic equalizer
4x DN504Plus Quad compressors
2x DN514Plus Quad multi-gates
3x DN1248Plus 12-in/48-out active signal splitters
2x DN9848 Loudspeaker management systems
8x LBB100 Active DI boxes
Electro-Voice Wireless Microphones
12x RE-1 Frequency-agile wireless mic systems
(6 handheld, 6 bodypack transmitters)
Electro-Voice Wired Microphones
4x N/D767a N/DYM vocal mics
4x N/D267 N/DYM vocal mics
2x N/D468 N/DYM instrument mics
1x N/D868a N/DYM kick drum mic
2x RE200 Condenser instrument mics
2x RE510 Condenser vocal mics
For more information about all of these
products, please visit our web sites:
www.electrovoice.com
www.midasconsoles.com
www.klarkteknik.com
You can also read an interview with Steve
Olson, Pantages operations manager, on the
Electro-Voice web site.
For more information about the historic
Pantages, State, and Orpheum theaters in
Minneapolis, visit:
www.hennepintheaterdistrict.com
SIGNAL PROCESSING BY DESIGN
SIGNAL PROCESSING BY DESIGN