Colorado College Upgrades Constellation Sound System

Colorado Springs, Colo.—Meyer Sound has completed an upgrade of its Constellation acoustic system in the 450-seat Celeste Theater at Colorado College’s Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center in Colorado Springs.

The Celeste Theater, part of the LEED-certified Cornerstone Arts Center, serves as a showcase for the arts on campus. With its amphitheater-style seating and reconfigurable architecture, the building supports a wide range of performances, screenings, and exhibitions, and the theater is a centerpiece for the college’s annual summer music festival. Meyer Sound’s update replaces the original Matrix 3-based processing with the new NADIA integrated digital audio platform, bringing enhanced flexibility, modern control options, and long-term efficiency to the intimate performance space.

“This was a 20-year-old Constellation system that had served the theater well, but it was time for a head-end replacement,” says Daryl Porter, vice president of operations at integrator CSD Group. “We replaced the entire processing backbone with NADIA, which is amazing technology. It gives the venue a lot more options in a much more compact and efficient system and brings the technology fully up to date.”

The original Constellation transducer array, still in place, is based around Meyer Sound MM-4 miniature loudspeakers and UMS-1XP ultracompact subwoofers, along with omnidirectional microphones, reflecting the early generation of Constellation installations. The new NADIA platform modernizes the processing and networking infrastructure, reduces rack space and power consumption, and integrates intuitive user control via web GUI, iPad or Crestron interface.

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According to Pierre Germain, Constellation Director at Meyer Sound, day-to-day usability has seen a big improvement. “The old interface was limited in its functionality, so we revamped it with faders that feel more like a mixing board,” he says. “It makes the system more intuitive for anyone using it.”

“We gave them the ability to customize their presets to exactly what they want to do, while keeping the interface as simple as possible,” adds Porter. “All the heavy lifting is under the hood. They can walk in, select a preset on the iPad or from the control booth, and have the room tuned for a string quartet, a larger orchestral ensemble, or even a backbeat rock performance. It really covers the gamut.”