Southampton's Mayflower Theatre is the largest capacity theatre in the south of England, with its near 2,300-seat capacity enabling it to host a huge range of productions, from major touring musicals to comedians, and everything in between. The Mayflower Theatre recently took the decision to invest in its own delay speaker installation. Following advice from Orbital, a 24-way delay system was installed, using d&b audiotechnik E6 loudspeakers, together with D6 amplifiers and a R70 remote interface. The first production to benefit from the new delay system was an in-house production of Bugsy Malone (starring 220 children), followed by the world première of Music & Lyrics' Fiddler on the Roof, which opened at the Mayflower Theatre in September.

Over 1200m of cabling was installed this summer, with every loudspeaker individually patchable to allow maximum flexibility and future expansion if required. The theatre also required an additional four of the E6 speakers to form part of a compact and discrete mobile system that could be deployed elsewhere around the venue's function rooms and bars when needed. These are backed up by a pair of d&b E12X subs, supplied by Orbital for the purpose. These four extra speakers can also be deployed elsewhere in the main auditorium to supplement any sound system further as front fills, or side fills etc.

James Chant, Senior Technician at the Mayflower Theatre, explained:
"Being the highest-capacity theatre in the south of England, we are on the tour schedule of all the large-scale musicals. Whether for visiting shows or in-house productions, our technical facilities have to match up to the best. Audiences have come to expect the highest production standards, and we took the decision to invest in our own delay system, in order actively to tackle some customer comments regarding the sound coverage in our venue. Having our own delay system means we can also save considerable get-in time for each show (in some cases, up to several hours). Orbital demonstrated several loudspeakers to us before we settled on the E6. We installed the speakers in locations based on advice from Orbital, who came along and fine-tuned the delays. The loudspeakers are distributed throughout the theatre's 3 levels of seating, 12 covering the rear stalls, 6 over the rear circle and a further 6 in the balcony.

"Everybody that has come in and used the new system so far has been very impressed with the quality of sound and the vast coverage. As a charitable trust that receives no subsidies, we rely solely on income from our customers, and have to be very savvy about where and how we spend our money. Over the last two years, we have started a considerable investment in upgrading or replacing our outdated 1980s technical equipment, and following the excellent feedback we are receiving, we certainly feel we have purchased the right product for our venue."