Meyerson Symphony Center
Dallas, Texas
Seat Count: 2,062
Project Type: Renovation
Original Construction: 1989
Renovation Complete: October 2003
Client: Meyerson Symphony Center
AD Scope: Loudspeaker Design
News | The Meyerson celebrates its 20th Birthday.
Acoustic Dimensions was thrilled to have the opportunity to work on a project that is so close to us personally. Nicholas Edwards and David Kahn, two of our principals, were key acousticians for the hall early in their careers.
While the Meyerson is unequalled as a venue for acoustic music, over time, as the Meyerson gained increased prominence within the community, its use expanded beyond the traditional classical concerts to include pop concerts, jazz and ensemble performances, lectures and other events. Of course, with a more diverse mix of amplified program material, the original sound system's shortcomings began to become more pronounced.
"The ultimate goal has always been to make the sound system as invisible as possible," said Lamar Livingston, technical director for the Meyerson. "One of the reasons we really wanted to work with Craig Janssen and AD is that we knew they would take pains to protect the sonic integrity of this space."
Because of the room's very low background noise level, highly reflective finishing, shape and seating arrangement, it was apparent early on that a typical loudspeaker array was not the answer. The hall is very tall with complex geometry. We could not reach the front of the room with the line arrays, so we adopted a proscenium distributed line form - three sets of speakers, suspended stage left and stage right, to cover the side wall seating for each balcony area, and a pair of speakers for the Grand Tier. Rather than trying to do a single speaker cluster, we allowed for localized coverage for the first 10-15 seats before the line array picks up. A great deal of time was also spent in developing delays and DSP using psychoacoustics.
