The Novo, a 2,300-capacity venue in downtown Los Angeles’ L.A. LIVE entertainment complex, has completed a sound system overhaul, installing an L-Acoustics K2 rig with KS28 subs and a comprehensive network of A15i fills. Opened in 2008 and rebranded in 2016, The Novo has hosted well-known musicians alongside corporate galas and private events. Some years the venue hosts more than 200 productions, making reliable, high-performance audio an operational necessity.
[Making Music in a 'Worldwide Classroom']
“I was impressed with the sound and with the difference the L-Acoustics rig made in our other venues, so L-Acoustics was the A-1 choice for me at The Novo,” explained Ramsey Fauset, The Novo’s director of production, who came to The Novo five years ago from the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, another Goldenvoice venue, where RAT Sound installed an L-Acoustics K3 professional sound system.
Even coverage throughout the space posed a challenge to this project, as The Novo’s balcony sits unusually close to the stage. “Sitting up there is great for the visual experience, but it’s also very near the stage, so some seats sit right in the firing line of an array,” said Fauset. He evaluated arrays from several brands before the L-Acoustics Applications team and Certified Partner integrator (CPi) RAT Sound Systems entered the picture. After several design iterations in Soundvision, he said, “Given that balcony design, we moved forward with K2.”
The main arrays at The Novo now comprise 12 K2 per side, with eight KS28 subs flown in a cardioid configuration behind each K2 main. The design called for more than a dozen A15i for fills and delays to cover above and below the deep balcony and the center of the general admission floor area. Two A15i Wide are flown left and right over center stage with a single left and right A15 Focus firing into the front-center from the stage sides. Two A15i Wide per side act as low out-fills for the main floor. Five A15i Wide are distributed across the under-balcony ceiling while four A15i Focus per side provide over-balcony delay coverage.
“There’s an almost scary amount of headroom now,” Fauset added, “which is so refreshing after pushing our old system to the very brink of its abilities for so long.”
L.A.-based Goldenvoice is the regional affiliate of AEG, booking venues across Southern California and beyond, including the Coachella and Stagecoach festivals. The Novo design calls for all subwoofers to be flown, mimicking the approach the promoter has been using at its festivals for some time. Fauset, a longtime Goldenvoice employee notes that he initially felt surprised to not see any subs on the ground. “We do lots of sub-heavy programming,” he explained. “And we’re also running the rig full-range without subs on an aux, which sometimes gets some frowny faces—until we turn on the rig, and it sounds remarkable.”
The venue also upgraded its monitor package with seven coaxial X15 HiQ and nine X12 wedges, plus side/drum fills comprised of two A15 Focus over two KS21 subs per side. The entire house system is powered by LA7.16i amplified controllers, except for the KS28 subs and monitors, which are driven by LA12X. The sound system overhaul was rounded out with an upgrade to two new DiGiCo consoles, a Quantum338 at front of house and a Quantum225 at the stage monitor position.
“They wanted no gaps in coverage anywhere,” said Adam Figueroa, department head, sales and installations at RAT Sound Systems. “It’s an interesting space. Their old rig was split, with subs in the middle of the arrays, because the balcony is so large. We brought the K2 rig way down to get a strong image on the floor, which is why we needed those A15i Focus over-balcony fills. And now they have consistent coverage.”
The high channel count of the LA7.16i amplifier controllers allowed granular tuning throughout the challenging space. L-Acoustics was also a top choice for Goldenvoice’s management, which has been standardizing sound at many of its venues with the brand, including, in addition to the Fonda, L.A.’s Shrine Auditorium, Fox Theater Pomona, and the Regency Ballroom and Warfield Theatre, both in San Francisco. “My bosses talked about making our equipment rider-proof,” Fauset reported. “I’ve been looking at riders for two decades, and since the K Series came out, it’s almost always the top choice.
“The headroom alone is something to celebrate,” Fauset said, “and the fidelity, the musicality, the realism—everything people have come to expect from a K Series rig. It’s a real step forward for the venue.”
