Ryman Auditorium is considered the historical “home” of country music. Built in 1892, and originally used for religious revivals, it soon became a performance hall for some of the top performers of the era, among them Enrico Caruso, John Philip Sousa and Charlie Chaplin. In 1943, the Grand Ole Opry moved in and served as its beloved home for more than 30 years. Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Roy Acuff and hundreds of other country music giants graced its legendary stage.

After the Opry moved to the larger venue at Opryland USA in 1974, the Ryman continued in a limited role as a performance venue until its recent refurbishment. Not only was the structure refurbished in the $8.5 million project, but a high end audio system was installed to meet an ever widening list of needs. The design and installation of the new Ryman Auditorium audio system features new technology developed by AD working with leading manufacturers from the sound industry.

All of the room's 2,000 seats, arranged in a "rectangular arc" configuration twice as long as it is deep, provide a intimate view of the stage. About half of the seating, comprised of the original oak church pews, is concentrated in the balcony level. A significant portion of the lower level seating is shadowed rather severely by the balcony. From a concert sound point of view, the new system needed to offer stereo capability. The result is a system with very sophisticated routing in terms of typical concert systems, and one that is very powerful in comparison with typical theatrical systems.

Based upon testing that included thorough computer modeling and in consideration of the strict aesthetic guidelines dictated by the building’s landmark status, the design team proposed a main loudspeaker design comprised of three large full range clusters flown above the stage proscenium in a left/center/right configuration.

For stereo, the goal is to assure that any line of sight seat in the room receives close to equal energy from each of the loudspeaker clusters. The three clusters are almost identical in terms of coverage, meaning that the mix and image remain highly stable throughout all seating areas.