KV2 Audio » Case Studies » The Ricardo Montalbán Theatre, Hollywood, CA

The Ricardo Montalbán Theatre, Hollywood, CA

Grand old theatre from the late 20’s, owned at one stage by the famous and eccentric billionaire, Howard Hughes. It was saved from demolition and decline in the late 90’s by debonair and svelte actor, Ricardo Montalbán well known for Fantasy Island, Wrath of Khan, and numerous other roles that filled both our film and television screens.

Knowing the struggle that most non-American and multi-national actors face in launching their careers in the US, he had the foresight and vision to build a foundation for up and coming performers and artistes. Through the theatre he provided them the opportunity to showcase their talents in Hollywood, gaining access to a vast arts community that exists there.

During the development of this cause, Mr. Montalbán’s son-in-law, Gilbert Smith, became involved to head up and lead the foundation. To this day, Gilbert continues to lead the foundation and drive the theatre passionately maintaining the legacy and vision of Ricardo. When The Montalbán decided to invest in a new audio system management wanted one that would satisfy the highest expectations of the most critical audiences.

The Montalbán is used for a very wide range of productions, from spoken word, plays, conferences, film festivals, film shoots, photo shoots to full blown music concerts. The need for a robust, powerful system that could be utilized for such a diverse range of applications was a key requirement in the specification. They looked towards KV2 Audio due to the number of recommendations he received about the brand when searching for a high quality and affordable system. Theatre Manager, Gilbert Smith said,

‘The decision to invest in KV2 Audio was based around the comments, word of mouth and growing respect for the brand that I continue to see and hear, first hand from engineers, performers and listeners alike’, said Gilbert.

The Montalbán system consists of four ESR215 full range column speakers and eight ES2.6 Subwoofers, four mounted centrally close to the ceiling just in front of the stage and two on the floor on each side of the stage. ESD36s were utilized for under balcony infill, and ESD15s for the upper balcony coverage. ESM12s and ESM26s were also utilized for stage monitoring. All control, alignment and amplification was done via KV2 Audio SAC2 controllers, SDD3 delay lines, Compex dynamic control and ESR3000, VHD3200 and ESP2000 amplifiers.

System setup: