Iconic Canadian theatre boosted by new Adamson system

The Rialto Theatre in Montreal has had a new Adamson SpekTrix loudspeaker system installed.

Constructed in 1923-1924 and designed by Montreal architect Joseph-Raoul Gariépy, who specialized in theatre and hospital projects, the Rialto was inspired by the Neo-baroque-style of the Paris Opera House.

The Louis XVI style interior was designed by Emmanuel Briffa, designer of over sixty Canadian movie houses. The Rialto ceased operation as a cinema in 1990, and has since undergone many transformations. After nearly thirty years of ownership the building was sold in March 2010 to Le Groupe Merveilles Inc, and today the main floor supports 708 people in standing mode, 450 people in theatre row seating, 350 in cabaret style seating. The newly opened balcony holds an additional 450 seated people.

In order to preserve the architectural beauty and clean sightlines, the new ground stacked PA system – powered by Lab.gruppen PLM technology with Lake processing – is made up of four Spektrix five degree boxes mounted atop a double 18” cardioid sub left and right of the stage with a single T21 Center sub covering the floor level. The balconies feature a second SpekTrix system – a flown SpekTrix sub with three SpekTrix five degree boxes underhang both at left and right of the balcony.

A Midas Heritage 3000 console for FOH, and a Yamaha M7 48-channel console for monitors were also added, along with with full Shure and Sennheiser microphone systems. On stage ten Adamson M series M12 and M15 wedges powered by Powersoft provide flexible monitoring for the wide variety of performers and events, which include live concerts, film, dance and theatrical performances. The system was provided by Adamson’s exclusive Montreal-based Canadian distributors Theatrixx.

Photo: John Woo

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