Goldsboro, NC's historic Paramount Theatre was built in 1882 as an office building, and in the years since has been everything from a temporary synagogue, vaudeville theater, and movie house, until it became the Paramount Theatre. Recently, the theater—with the help of James Braddy, owner of Javelin AV—upgraded to Connect Series 352, Connect Series 354, Connect Series 704, and Connect Series 1504 amplifiers from LEA Professional.
The theater has been through quite a bit. In 1993, the renovated building was donated to the City of Goldsboro, and the City managed the theater for the next 12 years. Early one morning in February 2005, a fire destroyed the Paramount Theatre. The loss of the theater was personal to many members of the community. However, the theater was rebuilt and officially reopened in February 2008. The Paramount Theatre’s auditorium has a capacity of 500, with seating for approximately 350 on the lower level and 150 in the balcony.
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After all that, the existing AV systems started to fail. In stepped Braddy for a complete system redesign and upgrade. “The theater has a pretty extensive audio system,” said Braddy. “They have a main hang, upper balcony delays, lower balcony delays, and distributed audio throughout the building. They have a separate feed for the lobby and another for the rehearsal rooms and bathrooms so the paging system can page. Almost everything needed replacing.”
Javelin AV installed multiple Connect Series amplifiers to power the immersive audio experience in the venue. The CS352 is a two-channel amplifier with 350 watts per channel, while the CS354 is a 4-channel amplifier that outputs 350 watts per channel. The four-channel CS704 offers 700 watts per channel, and the 4-channel CS1504 provides 1500 watts per channel. All Connect Series amplifiers are professional-grade IoT-enabled smart amplifiers for any sized installation, support Hi-Z (70V or 100V) and Lo-Z selectable by channel, and feature Smart Power Bridge technology. With three ways to connect, the venue can engage the built-in Wi-Fi access point, connect to the Wi-Fi, or connect to the local area network via Cat5 or Cat6 cable.
The CS352 powers one of the stage monitors, while the second channel is a spare. The CS354 powers the left, center, and right lip fills, plus one stage monitor. The CS704s power the main left, center, and right loudspeakers, upper and lower balcony delay speakers, and two stage monitors. The CS1504 powers subwoofers on its first two channels. Utilizing LEA’s Smart Power Bridge technology, each subwoofer is supplied with 2800W. The remaining channels power the 70V lobby, bathroom, and dressing room speakers, which are tied into the comms systems for paging.
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“The Paramount Theatre is a historic landmark and cultural epicenter of Goldsboro, so we had to be sure that the sound system particulars were worked out in advance and could adequately serve the flexible use of this space,” noted Chip Cannon, technical director of Paramount Theatre. “The room tuning was easily handled by the LEA Connect Series’ onboard processing, which is readily accessible to those who need it via our integrated LAN. The state-of-the-art connectivity and pristine sound made these amplifiers a must-have for our theater.”
Javelin AV utilized LEA’s free SharkWare software to configure a base profile and push it out to all the pre-staged LEA amplifiers. SharkWare includes amplifier grouping, offline design, granular user access control levels, locked speaker tunings, and a graphical EQ. SharkWare also allows users to monitor the status of every amplifier connected to the network and the status and performance of individual channels. In addition, the software gives users the ability to view and adjust channel settings such as input settings, signal generator, crossover, equalizer, limiter, and load monitoring for all LEA Professional Connect Series amplifiers.
Paramount Theatre has a full calendar of upcoming events, including comedians, storytelling, ballet, musicals, and movies. With the audio upgrades in place, every seat in the theater is the best seat in the house.
“LEA amps just work,” said Braddy. ”Connecting to SharkWare over Wi-Fi and setting up any device is great. Having the limiter calculator online, the presets, and responsive technical support—I’ve been really impressed with LEA across the board.”
