Located in the Perkinson Music Centre at the 122-year-old private Millikin University in Decatur, IL, Kaeuper Hall is a 167-seat auditorium that has just taken delivery of the very first white Martin Audio TORUS system, matched to the room décor.
It is in fact the hall’s first ever permanently installed sound system, despite its multipurpose usage. “There was no PA in there previously, they had just been using speakers on sticks… since forever, yet it runs pretty much the whole gamut of performance,” said designer Graeme Brown, whose company Advanced Audio & Lighting Systems carried out the integration. This includes events ranging from lectures to individual recitals and opera rehearsals to guest performances and intimate concerts.
The university contacted his company for a quote, and Brown was soon on site carrying out a survey. His concern was not so much the boutique size of the room as the fact that the superstructure was largely wood framed concrete, and the room had not seen a cable run in its life. But the clients did know precisely what they wanted.
Brown's initial instinct had been to specify a WPM line array (from the Wavefront Performance series). But recognising the room was too small for a line array, he quickly turned his attention to Martin Audio's TORUS constant curvature, knowing this to be perfect for the throw distance and dynamics of the room.