Established in 1969, Brentwood Academy, a co-educational, independent, college preparatory school located in the suburbs of Nashville, TN, is well known for its fine arts program, which encompasses the academy singers vocal ensemble, bands (groups include concert, jazz and contemporary, or rock), chorus, dance, forensics (competitive speech and debate), musicals and plays. Campus facilities for the program include the upper school theater, an approximately 350-seat venue that was recently upgraded with a Bose RoomMatch progressive directivity loudspeaker array driven by Bose PowerMatch amplification.
“This was the third system we have installed at Brentwood Academy,” reported DeWayne Rains, vice president of operations at Audio Electronics in Nashville. The full-service AV company offers design, installation, and service support. “We had already done the athletic building, which had an event gymnasium, a wrestling gymnasium, and a dance/cheer practice studio, all outfitted with different Bose loudspeakers and ControlSpace networkable processors,” he continued. Installed components included suspended Bose FreeSpace DS 100F speakers managed by a Bose ControlSpace DSP processor and CC-64 controller, Bose Panaray 802 Series III and 402 Series II speakers, with a ControlSpace CC-64 in the wrestling gym; and a pair of 402 Series II speakers with a single Bose MB4 subwoofer in the dance/cheer practice studio. All three spaces also feature Shure ULX wireless microphone systems plus CD players and a variety of connectivity, all housed in Lowell wall racks.
“Then we did the upper school gymnasium, which had a heavy AV component, with three projectors and screens, plus Bose components,” said Rains. The extensive equipment list in that facility includes Bose Panaray 802 Series III and 402 Series II speakers with ControlSpace DSP and CC-64 controller, a portable Allen & Heath ZED-14 rack mount mixer, multiple Shure ULX wireless mic systems, various Tascam and Apple media player options, and a Compass Control Key Digital MC-2500 master controller, with everything again housed in a Lowell wall rack.
The fine arts program at Brentwood Academy, which is attended by the children of many Nashville-based music industry people, is staffed by 19 full-time and part-time instructors, including technical director/set designer Jan Urbanowicz. “Jan really wanted a traditional line array system in the theater,” Rains recalled. “I told him, this room is too small; I really want you to consider the Bose RoomMatch system. You can do a smaller room like the theater and get concert array-quality sound without peeling people’s heads off.”
Rains, Urbanowicz and Jed Rothenberg, the local area Bose rep, traveled to World Revival Church in Kansas City, MO, to experience that facility’s installed Bose RoomMatch system. Urbanowicz took along various CDs, including some with less than perfect audio on them. “He told me, I need to hear what the less-than-ideal stuff sounds like, too.” said Rains.
“Steven Brown [systems design and sales, Progressive Electronics, the design and integration firm that performed the church install] was gracious enough to set up a time for us to meet with the church and listen to the system,” he continued. “At World Revival, you could really hear where the array coverage stopped on the sides, and how clearly they could ‘paint’ the audio on the floor and keep it off of the walls.”
Rains used Bose Modeler software to design the new system in the upper school theater. “I’ve been a Bose certified Pro Designer since 1995, using Modeler when it was only available on Mac.”
The two arrays each comprise three modules. The top is an RM5510 (providing a nominal 55 degrees horizontal by 10 degrees vertical dispersion pattern), the middle is an RM7020, and there is an RM12040 on the bottom. “We ran all of that off of two PowerMatch PM8500 amplifiers,” he added.
Due to inaccurate architectural drawings, that bottom speaker module was originally specified in a different configuration, Rains reported. “We got ready to install and discovered we were about two feet short with the coverage, so we had to reorder the bottom array from Bose and change it out.” The original array would just not have provided the correct dispersion, he noted. “So we put a 120x40 module on the bottom and it worked great.”
The upgrades in the theater were largely limited to replacing the existing speakers and amplifiers with the new Bose RoomMatch/PowerMatch system. Audio Electronics also added a Compass Control Key Digital controller to manage the venue’s existing three projectors, video matrix and Apple TV devices, he added.
- According to Rains, the faculty is very pleased with the results. “The arts program is very high end, and they wanted to emphasize that with this system. We were able to bring in a phenomenal, natural sound, with hardly any variation, front to back. It’s just a pure, natural, clean sound.”
