Abstract
The Capitol Theatre in Yakima, Washington, is an opulent and luxurious representation of the theatres constructed early in this century for the great Pantages Vaudeville Circuit. In 1975 a tragic fire gutted the theatre, and central Washington lost its only major performing arts facility. The theatre's structure survived the fire, however, and a concerned public has raised the funds required :for full restoration. While the original theatre may have been a model showcase for its day, the acoustics were something less than optimum by contemporary standards. In particular, a large, high dome just outside the 36‐ft prosecenium, and over one‐half the main floor seating under a huge first balcony, left many seats with weak, dry sound. Because architectural solutions were inconsistent with an accurate restoration, electro‐acoustical methods were employed. A distributed sound reinforcement system has been designed to provide “early reflections” for all seating areas and selectable amounts of added reverberance. System design features will be described in this paper, as well as other theatre acoustical characteristics. Since the theatre is scheduled to open 2 November, a report on the actual performance of the system will hopefully be made when this paper is delivered.
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