Meyer Sound Constellation is installed at Cornish College in Seattle

The Raisbeck auditorium has become a multipurpose venue that has a sound system based on Meyer Sound Constellation. In total they have been installed 110 speakers from this manufacturer, deployed in four subsystems.

Located near Amazon's global headquarters (Seattle), he Cornish College of the Arts It is surrounded by some of the most expensive real estate in the country. As a consequence, when the school proposed expanding to a new facility, maximizing space utilization was a top priority. Its Raisbeck auditorium has a Meyer Sound Constellation acoustic system to provide the optimal listening environment for conferences, plays, film screenings and dance recitals, as well as concerts.

The new multipurpose space, with capacity for 160 personas, It is located in a new high-rise building known as The Ivy on Boren, which shares the ground floor with an art gallery.

“When we looked at our curriculum about five years ago, One principle that emerged was the shift toward multidisciplinary arts education”, explains Pinky Estell, director of creative services and event spaces at the university. “This new space had to be multifunctional and we knew that the main challenge was the difference in acoustic requirements. We needed a movie theater, another for conferences and a third for concerts”.

The order for both the design of the audio and video system and the acoustics of the auditorium was delivered to the consulting firm Jaffe Holden, and associate director Steven Schlesman was assigned to acoustic design and project management.

“Cornish has a forward-thinking music department, so they did not hesitate when we proposed an active acoustic system”, says Schlaseman. “And that was really our only option to change the acoustics, since the dimensions of the room were absolutely fixed. Although we could dampen sound reflections by adding physical absorption, there was no way to increase the room volume to expand the reverb, which would be optimal for many uses”.

The systems installed in the Raisbeck auditorium comprise a total of 110 altavoces Meyer Sound, deployed in four subsystems.

The Constellation-compatible cinema surround sound system and Atmos includes 70 small full range speakers (Ashby‑8C , HMS‑5 , MM‑4XP) y 16 subwoofers MM‑10XP; in addition, 64 Miniature condenser microphones are arranged around the space to detect ambient acoustics.

The main reinforcement system uses six speakers UP‑4slim and three Ultra‑X40, complemented by a central cardioid array of three subwoofers ETC‑210P. Three cinema speakers Acheron 80 transmit screen channels with LFE assigned to a trio of cinema subwoofers X‑800C. There are six stage monitors MJF‑208 available for artist folding.

All Meyer Sound systems, along with video projection and extensive audio recording facilities, were supplied and installed by Morgan Sound tea lynnwood (Washington). Plus a console DiGiCo SD-10, show control QLab and personal monitoring Aviom,

Morgan Sound also provided a wide selection of premium microphones from Neumann, Royer, Shure y Sennheiser.

“This is the smallest theater with so much technology I have ever been involved in.”, comment Steven Weeks, Morgan Sound Project Manager. “And when we did the initial demo session for teachers and donors, Everyone was impressed with what they heard.. And not only Constellation. The sound reinforcement system is flat and musical. And when we run the cinema system with Atmos content, “Everyone was impressed by how good it sounds.”.

Cornish College has been known as a cutting-edge arts institution for decades, especially during the years in which the iconoclastic composer resided John Cage.

Classes taught in the Raisbeck auditorium include jazz performances and new trends in composition, with concerts to date ranging from punk rock to taiko percussion. In addition to student film screenings, talks are underway to form partnerships with local film festivals.

Other key contributors to the Raisbeck auditorium project include theater consultant Robert Smulling of PLA Designs and the general construction consultant Jen Creighton of Brightpath Consulting. The place is named in recognition of philanthropists James and Sherry Raisbeck.

Founded in 1914 as a music school, Cornish College of the Arts now also offers fine arts programs, dance and theater. Notable alumni include choreographers Merce Cunningham and Robert Joffrey, as well as Ann Wilson of the rock band Heart.