Clair Brothers Central to QLD School Music Centre

Saint Stephen’s College is an independent childcare to year twelve campus on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, that strives to be the best at every level. This extends beyond education to the physical facility itself so, when the opportunity arose to build a $6.8 million, state-of-the-art Centre of Music Excellence for its students, the instant choice for the new sound system was a Clair Brothers system.

This recent installation represents the second for Clair Brothers at Saint Stephen’s. Tony Marshall, event producer at Saint Stephen’s College, explains: “I worked in the corporate events and entrainment industry for many years and have used Clair Brothers products many times. The sound quality is always outstanding. I truly believe that when you hear people take the time to comment on how great the sound is at an event, that you know you have a winner. So, when the time came to upgrade the audio system in The Goda Firkins Auditorium at Saint Stephen’s College, Clair Brothers was my first choice. And of course, they were my first choice for sound at our new music centre, as well. The results have already been noticed by everyone.”

The building, used by more than 350 students, is comprised of a 220-seat recital hall, rehearsal studios, classrooms, specialised instrumental teaching spaces, a percussion studio and flexible learning areas. This system, designed to both support a wide variety of musical performances and to retain the aesthetically-pleasing look as part of the recital hall’s architecture, consists of four (two per side) Clair Brothers CAT115’s (Curve Array Technology) along with two CB-D40 amplifiers and Wedge-Ps for stage monitors. 

“The Music Centre has a ceiling height of over nineteen feet, with a large HD projection screen on the backstage wall. The aesthetics and vertical system height/visual footprint were important to keep to a minimum without compromising any audio quality and coverage throughout the venue. The Clair Brothers CAT115 was the perfect system solution, delivering precise vertical and horizontal dispersion sound throughout the audience seating area and bio booth, with no site-line issues from the upper seating level to the stage and HD projection screen,” said Mr. Marshall.

The CAT system is a full range system (frequency response +/- 2dB 39Hz-20kHz) that doesn’t require any subwoofers for general day to day performances. However, with the programmed system LAKE presets, it allows for the addition of CS18s for concerts, rock musicals and special effects. The CAT115 is two-way bi-amp, and to allow complete flexibility for gain shading of the bottom cabinets to suit different stage configurations the two CB-D40 amplifiers provide each speaker component with its own amp channel, LAKE processing, level control and limiting. The Wedge-P stage monitors were the right fit for the centre’s stage being very low profile and producing headroom for demanding artists and rock concerts.

Explains Wayne Grosser, Clair Brothers’ expert audio consultant in Australia, “Fortunately, the new room presented no ceiling height challenges as I worked in tandem with Tony from the very beginning of the project to ensure the correct long-term system solution was designed for the center’s audio needs. The CAT system was the perfect fit for the application.” Mr. Marshall adds, “Wayne made sure to design and install the system to include multi-send foldback and the ability to add subs when required because our sound system must be able to handle a wide variety of performance types – from simple playback with a vocalist and a piano, to choral groups, string ensembles, orchestras and jazz, funk and rock bands. Thanks to Wayne for designing such an incredibly versatile and flexible system for Saint Stephen’s.”