texastech

Texas Tech, the largest public university in west Texas, has installed high-performance BAG END Quartz loudspeaker systems in the school's Allen Theatre.

Completed in 1976, the 1000-seat Allen Theatre is part of the University Center complex, hub of campus life for the nearly 30,000 students enrolled at Texas Tech. The center contains restaurants, study areas, meeting rooms, a ballroom, and a computer store, as well as the theatre.

An extremely busy facility, Allen Theatre was the venue for 261 events last year for students and faculty that included a wide variety of programs - from showing first- and second-run feature films to pop and jazz concerts, to dances, to fine arts performances.

But after more than 20 years of hard use, Allen Theatre was in need of a major overhaul.

"This a pretty good size space we're talking about," said Casey McGrew, of Tarpley Music & Sound of Lubbock, Texas, the project's sound reinforcement contractor. "Allen Theatre is about 18,000 square feet in the seating area: about 120 feet long by 100 feet wide, and 30 feet high at the front and 22 feet at the rear."

One of the first things the university did to upgrade the theatre was to acquire a Barco 8200LC projector, with digitized DVD and VCR format.

In addition, the theatre's aging sound system needed to be replaced. Because of the theatre's size and its extensive use as a performing arts venue - in addition to showing feature films - a sophisticated, high-performance, but adapt-able sound system was called for, and theatre officials knew they needed professional assistance. Luckily, they had to look no further than Austin, Texas, and nationally-recognized sound reinforcement consultant Boner Associates to design the kind of sound system they needed.

As one of its recommendation for the new sound system, Boner specified the installation of a pair of BAG END Quartz quad-18 subwoofer systems to be flown at the front of the house.

"To match the power of the pictures the Barco projector could recreate, we speced a pair of BAG END Quartz quad-18 subwoofer speaker systems because we wanted subwoofers that could generate an impact to complement the image, with the clarity and faithful reproduction required for live sound," said Brent Smith, senior consultant for Boner Associates. "And the BAG END Quartz do that better than any subs we know."

The entire sound system is controlled by a Peavey X-frame matrix computer containing eight different pre-set configurations to make operation as straight-forward as possible.

"This way the system operator can quickly recall the set-up he needs for a specific event: a lecture, movies, a play, or orchestra, whatever," McGrew said. "And, it was necessary that we have a subwoofer system we could control from the X-frame, but yet would give us all the frequency responses we needed so we wouldn't lose any bottom end."

"We pre-set the Quartz speakers with a BAG END ELF (extended low frequency) processor," McGrew added. "It works very well, very transparent, and was everything it's written up to be.

"In fact it performed so well down to 8 Hz. that we had to raise the frequency response to 16 Hz.," he said. "At 8 Hz. we were getting a buzz from some metal structures in the room that were vibrating sympathetically with the sound created by the subs, "McGrew said. "But at 16 Hz. you can still `feel' the bass, and that just what they wanted."

BAG END's high-performance QUARTZ subwoofer system is loaded with four 18-inch cone transducers capable of reproducing sound as low at 8 Hz. While designed to take on enormous spaces such as stadium sound reinforcement, its low distortion, high definition bass - packed into one of the smallest quad-18 cabinets available today - make it an extremely versatile loudspeaker system.

The subwoofers are flown at the front of the house, above the stage - another consideration in the QUARTZ' favor. Its unique design measures 40 inches high by 30 inches wide at the front and 20 inches wide at the back by 31 inches deep, making it one of the most compact quad-18s on the market.

"A side issue, but one that reinforced our decision to go with the QUARTZ speakers, was BAG END's support," McGrew said. "We thought the factory-fitted flying attachments weren't going to work because of the odd space in which they had to fit, so we called BAG END to see if we could find a solution," McGrew said. "Henry Heine (BAG END's director of engineering and development) overnighted us CAD drawings that solved the problem, so we didn't miss a beat; the installation continued right on schedule."

Bill Brannan, theater coordinator at Texas Tech, is pleased with the final product. "We are very happy with both the flexibility and sound of our new system. It's simple enough to operate that our newer and more inexperienced technicians have the ability to to do the most sophisticated sound kind of sound, when it's required."

Brannan said the BAG END Quartz have improved the sound system many times over. "The Quartz subs are especially great when we need extra punch. One of the first events we did with the new system was a showing of `The Wizard of Oz' with Pink Floyd's `Dark Side of the Moon' soundtrack and the audience went wild."

Just as important, he said, "The Quartz also have added a dimension to the spoken word that both our audiences and speakers tell us they appreciate."

Founded in 1923 at Lubbock, Texas Tech is comprised of seven colleges on a sprawling 1,839-acre campus that features Spanish Renaissance architecture, campus gardens and walk ways. The enrollment of nearly 30,000 students can choose from more than 100 undergraduate, 100 master's or 60 doctoral programs ranging from agricultural sciences to law, architecture and fine arts.

BAG END Loudspeaker Systems has been manufacturing professional quality loudspeaker systems and components for more than two decades, building an enviable reputation among performing artists, recording studios, post production facilities and sound reinforcement companies.

Bag End Loudspeakers, USA
847 382 4550 www.bagend.com