Myrtle Beach, SC--Located in Surfside Beach, part of South Carolina’s Myrtle Beach resort area, the 950-seat Celebration Music Theatre opened earlier this year as a home to world-class live entertainment. The Theatre features the artist tribute show SUPERSTARZ! Live! with entertainers performing hits from Elvis, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, Cher, Barbra Streisand and many other stars.
The Celebration Music Theatre occupies the site of a former live-performance venue, where the stage, video, lighting, wiring and other parts of the theatre have now been totally redone. All previous audio and video equipment has been removed to make room for a completely new installation that includes more than 30 Harman’s JBL Vertec line arrays powered by Crown amplifiers.
Local installation specialist Commercial Audio, Inc. was contracted for the renovation, led by sales and marketing director Adam Hyman and owner Chad Johnson. The company installed 16 JBL Vertec VT4886 subcompact line array elements and VT4883 subcompact arrayable subwoofers, along with two ASB6128 subwoofers, six AC28/95 and six AC16 ultra-compact loudspeakers. Crown I-Tech HD IT9000HD, XTi 4000 and CTs 1200 power amps drive the loudspeakers. A Soundcraft Vi1 64/24-input digital console handles both front of house and monitor mixing.
“I went with JBL and Crown because of my previous experience with both brands, their reliability and their broad product lineup that covers practically any professional installation situation," said Johnson. “The theater is more than twice as wide than it is deep, so I selected the Vertec VT4886’s for their coverage pattern, which I was confident would work in such an unconventional room shape. I deployed the VT4886 speakers in arrays across the top left, center and right of the stage, which provided even coverage throughout the width of the room without any gaps in the distribution of sound to the audience.”
Johnson also placed the VT4883 subwoofers beneath each of the two center arrays, and an ASB6128 sub under each left and right stack. In addition, three AC16 speakers are placed on either side of the stage as front fills for the front rows of the theatre. The six JBL AC28/95 speakers are used as on-stage monitors, located at various points along the stage.
“I had used the Vertec VT8886 line arrays in previous projects, but not in a room that was wider than it was deep,” Johnson said. “They work extremely well in the Celebration Music Theatre and we’re very happy with the results.”
