ASHEVILLE, NC (7.18.23)—Built to resemble the exterior courtyard of a Moorish castle in 1926, the 4,800 capacity Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom in Chicago has been host to thousands of concerts and special events since its opening, recently hosting the 1975, Jack White, Lil Nas X, and Omar Apollo, with upcoming guests including Lewis Capaldi, Keshi, and Macklemore.
Eighth Day Sound (Cleveland)/Clair Global Integration recently installed a d&b KSLi (install variant) loudspeaker system as requested by Live Nation. KSL was introduced to the world as the ‘younger sibling’ to the flagship GSL system, which set the stage for the evolutionary path that KSL would inherit as part of the SL-Series, just in a smaller package, sharing broadband directivity and extended low frequency response as a family trait. Unique technologies like d&b ArrayProcessing have also provided an option for sonic consistency, delivering tonal balance and even level distribution over the entire coverage area front to back.
“Our client had several criteria that determined KSLi was the right system: d&b ArrayProcessing and Broadband Directivity,” states Jason Vrobel, Global Sales, Eighth Day Sound. “The Aragon Ballroom is a very acoustically challenging room with a domed ceiling.”
“The d&b KSLi system is a phenomenal PA for any room but is particularly well suited for the challenges at the Aragon. The building is from an era before amplification, so the dome is designed to spread sound all over the room without any reinforcement at all. In the heyday of big bands and ballroom dancing there was no more elegant spot to dance the night away. However, if you stomp your foot on the spring-loaded dance floor there is a 7 second decay. The cardioid pattern of the KSLi eliminates much of the acoustic energy coming off the back of the array and helps tremendously in reducing many of the unwanted reflections. On top of that, the Array Processing provides even coverage throughout the main floor and balcony while seemingly placing the audio right in the rear balcony pocket and cutting it off before it gets directly up into the dome.” states Adam Ross, Head of Audio at the Aragon.
“Every guest engineer that has mixed on it, including some of the biggest names in the business, has been thrilled with the performance of the new PA. In the nearly 20 years I’ve been doing shows in this building I’ve never heard it sound so crystal clear and intelligible in every inch of the room from the front to the back.”
Ross said that while he’s thrilled with the outstanding performance of the line array, the mind-blowing output of the SL- SUBs is equally impressive. “I was initially skeptical at the spec of only 8 subwoofers but was immediately impressed with the results, and I’m not alone. A recent artist’s engineer had demanded 18 floor subs on their rider, but begrudgingly agreed to use our 8 SL-SUBs and immediately upon firing up the system said “Oh, ok…yep that’ll do”. Once again, the cardioid pattern lets us direct the acoustic energy where we want it and reduces it on stage and to my co-workers’ delight, backstage. The quality of audio we are now capable of with KSLi and SL-SUBs has reaffirmed the Aragon’s place as one of Chicago’s very finest concert venues. The technology behind this system has brought us from the roaring twenties into the 2020s and we couldn’t be more pleased with the results.”
The system configuration includes 16 x KSLi8 + 4 x KSLi12 (10 per side), 8 x SL-GSUB, 6 x Yi10P, 18 x D80 amplifiers, 1 x DS10 Dante network bridge.
For more information on Clair Global and Eighth Day Sound, visit www.clairglobal.com and www.8thdaysound.com.
For more information on the Aragon Ballroom visit www.livenation.com.
For more information on d&b audiotechnik visit www.dbaudio.com.
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PHOTO CREDIT: Rick Roman
