CLEARWATER, FLORIDA: It took more than five years, but Ruth Eckerd Hall finally has it all: a beautiful new grand concourse, crystal clear sound, paging capabilities throughout the building and, for its hard-of-hearing patrons, a new Sennheiser infrared assisted listening system.
 

Sennheiser IR systems assist the hard of hearing in the new Ruth Eckerd Hall,
part of the Clearwater, Florida,
Richard R. Baumgardner Center for the Performing Arts.

The renovation of the hall, part of the Richard R. Baumgardner Center for the Performing Arts, was funded in part by the City of Clearwater, Florida. All except the outer shell of the Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired building was ripped apart and re-designed. The last ten rows of seats were removed to make room for a grand concourse. Additional improvements included new restrooms, a connecting lobby between the east and west sides of the building, an educational wing, and a studio theater. The architect and theater consultant/designer, H. Patterson Fletcher Architects and Robert Lorelli Associates, paid such close attention to detail that they went to great lengths to match the color of the floor paint to the color of the seat cushions.

It's no surprise, then, that the hall also wanted the best assisted listening devices money could buy. "The choice to use the Sennheiser IR assisted listening devices was driven by the client," says David Burke, senior project engineer for Columbia, Maryland-based SPL Integrated Solutions, who designed the audio systems at Ruth Eckerd Hall. Burke specified five Sennheiser SZI1015 emitters and a SI1015NT modulator, along with 16 RI250 IR headsets. Carlton Audio, out of Ft. Lauderdale, completed the installation. Additional audio consulting was provided by sound designer Richard Closs, of Boston, Massachusetts-based Acentech.

Ruth Eckerd Hall sound engineer, Bill Camillo, notes that he had first been introduced to the RF system at the Sennheiser booth during an NSCA show. "We said that these would be the best choice if we could make it financially feasible," he says.

In the past, Ruth Eckerd Hall had used FM-based assisted listening systems. "With the system we had before," Camillo says, "we got a lot of complaints that the batteries weren't charged or that people couldn't hear properly." FM-based devices often pick up interference, and users often have problems with reception. Additionally, the old system was harder for volunteer ushers and theater patrons to operate and, with multiple connection points, there were more chances for it to break down.

The Sennheiser IR system has only one connection point, and is distributed to patrons in one piece, which goes around the user's neck and in the ears. "It really fulfilled our needs for ease of use, ease of charging, and ease of distribution to audience members," Camillo says. More importantly, with the new system, he reports, "the number of complaints has gone down to zero."

Three SZI1015 transmitters were installed on the catwalks above the stage, using Sennheiser GZG1029 pipe mounts. Two additional units were placed on the tympanum, on either side of the center speaker cluster, by way of WM1 wall mounts. Coverage is very good, according to Burke. "By adding the two units on the tympanum, we cover about 90 percent of the seating areas."

Even prior to adding the tympanum units, he says, there had been enough coverage to meet the audience's demands. "Something cool happened when we were done with the installation," he says. "A Broadway show came in and they had an infrared camera. We pointed it out into the audience and you could see that the theatre was glowing with infrared light [from the emitters]."

The system is powered from a central location in the amplifier room to ensure that enough DC power is available. Two additional SZI1015 emitters were installed in the 182-seat studio theater as well. "We wanted the systems to be interchangeable," Camillo says. Like the other audio equipment selected for the project, including a left-center-right configuration of d&b audiotechnik C Series main speakers, the SZI1015 system was designed to blend in with the architecture of the building. "You really have to look for the emitters to notice them," Camillo says.

Other components of the audio system include a BSS SoundWeb 9088ii-LL digital signal processor with three BSS 9008 slaves and Tannoy CMS65-15 ceiling speakers as front fills and a Midas H3000 mixing board at FOH.

The renovation of the 21-year-old building began with two-million dollars from the City of Clearwater. "There's a program in our county called Pennies for Pinellas," says president/CEO of Ruth Eckerd Hall, Robert Freedman. "It's made up of pennies that our citizens have set aside for capital projects throughout the community."

After receiving the money for the renovation, but before jumping into the construction, Freedman and the rest of the management team assessed their needs for the project. "We took a year to study all aspects of our program at Ruth Eckerd Hall," he says. "We looked at audience amenities, what we needed for the artists, what we needed for our education program. We developed an architectural master plan that addresses all of those programmatic issues to improve the facility."

Once the master plan was in place, the fundraising drive began. A private donation of five million dollars came from the Eckerd family and the Kreski Foundation contributed one million dollars. Individual and corporate donors provided the rest of the funds. Now that construction is complete, the Hall has had a chance to give back to the people of Clearwater, too. "Ruth Eckerd Hall has a very strong financial impact on the community. The renovation has just enhanced that effort and capability," Freedman says. Since the renovation, Ruth Eckerd Hall has hosted 1980s headliners such as Journey and Weird Al Yankovic, Broadway shows, oldies favorites, comedy acts, and symphony orchestras. None of this would have been possible without a highly versatile sound system.

"We can bring in a few more shows a year through this renovation," Freedman says. "We can program the main hall year round, and we can program a broad variety of acts." The assisted listening devices help ensure that every member of the community can benefit from everything the 2,173-seat performance hall has to offer. "The assisted listening system increases the fidelity for people who have hearing problems, so that they can enjoy the shows," Camillo says.