The critically acclaimed Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts in Southern California is recognized as one of the most advanced theater and performing arts facilities in the nation.

What makes the Cerritos Center most unique is its incredible flexibility. In a matter of hours pneumatic lifts can completely reconfigure the interior in six different venues: a 1,700-seat in-the-round venue featuring a revolving center stage; a 1,300-seat theater for opera, Broadway shows or dance productions; a 1,600-seat concert hall with classic proscenium setup; a 1,600-seat cabaret with chairs and tables; a 940-seat classic theater productions; or the newest configuration: an intimate 300-seat space for live entertainment.

The newest configuration is a 5,000 square-foot venue, called the Sierra Room. It has been adapted as an intimate live performance room to host a series called “Sierra Nights.” The purpose of the room is to make live entertainment more accessible to more people. Some of the artists who have performed in the Sierra Room this season include the West Coast debut of 18-year-old piano/vocal sensation Peter Cincotti, show-stopping singer/actress Jennifer Holiday, and rising country singing star Eleni Mandell.

“When we started developing this new space for live performances, we needed a p.a. system for it,” said Jack Hayback, chief audio/video engineer for the Center. “There are Neutrik Speakon outputs all around the room that terminate at amplifiers already installed in the area, so we wanted a passive system that had to be high efficiency and provide good sound.” Hayback had never worked with a BAG END loudspeaker system, but he knew of them by reputation. “I purchased the BAG END speakers sort of sight unseen,” he said. “But we are incredibly pleased with them – they surpassed every level of acceptance I had set in my mind.”

Hayback purchased six OPALs and four TA6000s. The OPAL, a two-way Time-Aligned™ ported system loaded with a 12-inch high-efficiency, low-frequency cone driver and a high-compression driver with 3-inch diaphragm and voice coil driving a custom-designed oval, high-frequency wave guide, delivers extraordinary high output and fidelity in a compact enclosure.

The TA6000 is a Time-Aligned™ compact, speech range high-output loudspeaker system that offers both high efficiency and high fidelity. It contains a pair of low frequency 6.5-inch cones with 1.5 voice coils and a high-frequency bi-radial horn with a 1.8-inch titanium diagram and weighs just 26 pounds.

“We are using the Opals in two clusters of three as the main p.a. system in this Sierra Room – flown left and right,” Hayback said. “The TA6000s are being used on the front edge of the stage as front fills. The four are divided symmetrically on the stage. The stage is actually shaped kind of like a thrust. There are two on the front edge of the stage and then on the sides were it is thrust out at an angle, one on each side. We send the vocal-only mix to those speakers to provide clarity in the front.”

The system is powered by a pair of QSC EX1250 amplifiers with 275 watts per channel and mixed through a Yamaha DM2000 mixing console. “The result is actually a lot better than I thought it would be,” Hayback said. “It is perfect for the room The TA6000s have a very clear sound – lots of power, and work very very well. The Opals are very clear especially in the low mids. They have a lot of presence, punch and attack, with very low distortion.”

Hayback has actually expanded his use of the TA6000 speakers. He also employs them in the larger, main space, which the center staff calls the “large arena configuration,” using them to do the same job he uses them for in the Sierra Room: as main front fill speakers. He feeds them a vocal-only mix just as he does in the smaller Sierra Room, but this time on the larger main arena stage.

Hayback described how the TA6000s are integrated into the house system. “We take the channels on the console that we want to assign, assign them to their own group, assign that group to the amplifier system which is driven through a sound web – and then assign vocals only to front fills.”

“Large arena” is our main large music configuration,” he said. “In the past we had another brand of speaker there that just didn’t cut it. We replaced them with the TA6000s and they really rock.” Owned and operated by the city of Cerritos, Calif., in the Los Angeles area, the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts operates nearly year-round. Since it opened its doors in 1993, the center has played host to performances by the late Frank Signature, Whitney Houston, Kenny Rogers, Clint Black, the Chieftains, Dance Theater of Harlem and the Royal Shakespeare Company, among others. Its web site is www.ci.cerritos.ca.us.com/ccpa.html

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