Officially declared the State Theater of California by the State Legislature in 1937, and known for decades as ‘Hollywood’s talent factory,’ the legendary Pasadena Playhouse launched the careers of dozens of notable actors, writers and directors.

Unfortunately, in recent years, the Pasadena Playhouse’s ageing audio system had fallen far short of the venue’s tradition of excellence.

“We had an antiquated system that was cobbled together back around 1988,” admits Tom Ware, production director for the Playhouse, “and we had been looking around for quite a while. We needed a system that was flexible, since we do everything from small, intimate plays to large scale musicals.”

To design a new system on rather short notice, Ware called on independent sound designer and audio engineer Rick Boot, a long-time associate of the Playhouse. Working closely with Lori Burke at Delicate Productions in Camarillo, Boot created a system design based around Martin Audio Wavefront loudspeakers. The main left and right systems each comprise two Martin Wavefront W8C full range 3-way cabinets augmented by a single W8CS bass cabinet. A removable centre cluster utilises two Martin Wavefront Theatre WT3 3-way systems. Sub-bass comes from a pair of discretely-placed Martin S218 subwoofers.

“I decided to go with the Martin speakers because I’m very familiar with their sound quality,” says Boot. “The Wavefront response, particularly in the crucial vocal range, is just incredible. They are never harsh sounding, but always warm and natural. They do a great job in here.”

Tom Ware echoes Boot’s sentiments. “The Martin is a great cabinet, very warm and full and with excellent detail. Although it’s a permanent installation, the set-up allows for great flexibility.”

Following Boot’s specifications, Delicate Productions supplied a complete new system for the Playhouse, including a Midas Heritage 2000 console, 15 Crest amplifiers, and BSS Omnidrive and Varicurve units for system control and equalisation. Dynamics control and effects units come from Lexicon, tc. electronic, Drawmer and Yamaha, while source playback units were supplied by Akai and Tascam. Other Delicate-supplied equipment included ten Shure microphones, a Telex inter-com and a video monitoring system based largely on Panasonic products.

Interestingly, the Martin Wavefront system was not part of the theatre’s original plan for technical renovations. Another firm had been contracted many months before to supply a different system, but when they demurred at meeting the installation deadline, Tom Ware called on Rick Boot to see if he could
do better on a much
tighter schedule.

“The other company had already been working on it for six months,” says Boot, “but we had less than two and a half months to
get everything designed, supplied and installed.

“Lori at Delicate did a great job of co-ordinating with suppliers, and Martin Audio was particularly helpful in getting the custom-painted cabinets to us very quickly.”

All’s well that ends well, says the Bard, and all concerned at the Pasadena Playhouse seem more than content with the change in plans. The first show, a vintage Sondheim-Rogers musical, entitled Do I Hear A Waltz, was enthusiastically received by audiences and critics alike.