Lamport Auditorium — Systems Renewal

Where things stand

Everything below comes from a walkthrough of the room and its equipment rack. It is worth reading before you open the estimate tools, because two of these findings drive nearly every number in them.

The room

Built in 1928, roughly 1,012 fixed seats across the orchestra and balcony, under a plaster fan vault. The furthest seat sits about 150 feet from the stage.

The daylight

Both side walls are full-height leaded art glass, and they cannot be covered. That single constraint drives the projector specification more than anything else, and it is why the estimate tool shows you a live daylight preview rather than just a price.

The existing system

Engineered by Cerami & Associates and installed by Real Time Services. It was well designed for its time and has simply aged out. The projector is a discontinued four-lamp Sanyo at 1024×768, and the signal path behind it is analog throughout.

What is worth keeping

The steerable loudspeaker arrays at the proscenium were properly specified for this room and are retained in every configuration. Reusing them, along with the existing conduit, is the single reason a complete system fits inside the budget.

One compliance item

The existing wireless microphone receivers appear to sit in a frequency band the FCC reallocated. Operation there has been prohibited in the United States since July 2020. Replacement is included in every configuration, and the band should be confirmed from the labels during the survey.

Why Kane PC

Rather than list credentials, here is what the work on this room has already produced.

We surveyed before we specified

Every figure in these tools traces to something photographed or measured in the room — the contents of the rack, the throw distance, the position of the arrays, the glass on both walls. Nothing here was assumed from a floor plan.

We flag what nobody asked about

The wireless microphone finding was not part of the brief. It surfaced because the equipment was inspected properly, and it matters more than most of the upgrade — a public event venue should not be operating in reallocated spectrum.

We reuse what still works

The straightforward proposal would replace everything. Instead the loudspeaker arrays, the amplifier rack, the conduit and the tie panels are retained wherever testing supports it. That decision is worth roughly a hundred thousand dollars against a rip-and-replace scope.

We stay after the install

The outgoing system did not fail. It faded — lamps dimmed, a platform went end of support, a frequency band was sold out from under it — and nobody was watching. We monitor this room the way we monitor an endpoint fleet, and the portal above is how you see it.

What happens next

The estimates are honest about being budgetary. Five field measurements turn them into a firm proposal.

Step one

Half-day survey

Two technicians with a laser measure, a light meter and an RF scanner. We identify the loudspeaker arrays, read the wireless bands, measure the actual throw, confirm the conduit and check ambient light at the screen.

Step two

Firm proposal

Confirmed parts against live distributor quotes, with the array-reuse contingency stated as its own line rather than buried, and the funding path settled — federal money changes the labor basis.

Step three

Coordinated design

Audio-visual and lighting drawn together even though they are funded apart, so the cable runs happen once. In a 1928 masonry building that is the largest saving available.

Send us a configuration

Build whatever combination makes sense to you in either tool and send it across. We will confirm parts and pricing and come back with a firm number. Nothing is committed by doing so.

Audio-visual estimate Lighting estimate

A 1928 room, brought up to date