Situated in the village of Port Sunlight on the Wirral, the historic Gladstone Theatre began life as an assembly and recreation hall with a platform stage for entertainment. The half-timbered and red-brick structure was opened by Prime Minister William Gladstone in 1891, and after many years was converted to a theater in the 1950s. To support music of every type—including comedy, theater, pantomime, variety, and dance—the 400-seater venue recently enhanced the audience experience with a new CODA Audio system.
Catering for such a wide range of productions demands a high quality and versatile sound system. Venue technology specialists Adlib were engaged to supply and install the new system and impressed the theater team with a CODA Audio-supplied hire system for an important production. That led to Adlib’s George Puttock designing the final system with the CODA’s G-Series.
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“The space’s acoustic response is very good, owing a combination of its original design and plush, very comfortable seats," Puttock said. "The primary issues surrounded the need for keeping any flown payloads low, as well as making the best use of the limited space available. The former was mitigated by the use of CODA’s G-Series, three-way, high-output full range loudspeakers, where we used a pair each of compact and very versatile G712-Pro as mains and delays. With limited space next to the stage during productions, we opted to use a pair of compact G-18 subs in this position with our in-house joinery team opening up the front of the stage to allow an additional pair to be symmetrically installed. This allowed optimization, control, and uniform delivery of low frequency coverage throughout the Theatre.”
The system was completed by the deployment of two CODA Audio HOPS5 (high output point source) loudspeakers as lip fills, with the system driven by two CODA Audio LINUS12C 4 channel DSP amplifiers.
The Theatre is very happy with its new system which effortlessly caters for its wide-ranging program, delivering clear and powerful sound to every seat in the house. Completed on time and within budget, the project will ensure that this iconic heritage space, will continue to serve as an important performing arts hub for the Wirral region.
“The engineers and the Adlib team have been amazing form start to finish," general theater manager Jamie Brown commented. "They explained the procedures and met our requirements with precision. We can’t thank them enough. The new CODA Audio system at the Gladstone takes our shows to a whole new level.”
