Riviera Theatre, Chicago

Context

The Team

L Series Debuts as a Permanent Fixture Inside Chicago’s Riviera Theatre

Chicago’s Riviera Theatre, a 2,500-capacity venue, boasts a rich and storied history, dating back to 1917 when it was built as a lavish French Renaissance Revival-style movie palace. The venue’s second act began 50 years ago, transforming into a cornerstone of Chicago’s live music scene and earning its place among legendary venues like the Fillmore in San Francisco. A significant restoration effort has been underway to return the century-old theater to its original grandeur. As part of this project, a crucial upgrade was necessary to keep pace with the demands of modern live music.

The Challenge

With the theater’s architectural renovations nearing completion, the focus shifted to the sound system. The existing setup was no longer sufficient to provide a premium concert experience, especially as the venue undertook its ambitious restoration. The team at Jam Productions, with a long history at the venue, required a modern, high-performance sound system that would deliver remarkable audio quality while respecting the completed architectural restoration. The installation presented a specific rigging challenge: the plan was simplified to a single-point hang per side, and the system needed to be lightweight and versatile enough to work within the building’s existing constraints without requiring structural modifications.

The Solution

Jam Productions turned to Allied Productions, a trusted partner with a proven track record of successful L-Acoustics installations, including the world’s first L Series system at Minneapolis’ iconic First Avenue. This history of success made deciding to work with them and install an L-Acoustics L Series loudspeaker system an easy one. Allied Productions designed a cutting-edge system specifically tailored for the Riviera Theatre, consisting of a main array featuring two L2 enclosures, each flown over a single L2D, sonically anchored by 11 KS28 subs. To ensure comprehensive coverage, four A10 Focus enclosures were used for front-fill, and four A15i Wide and five A10i Wide enclosures were ceiling-mounted under the balcony for distributed delay fills. The entire system was powered by a combination of LA7.16 and LA12X amplified controllers, all running on a redundant Milan-AVB network. The lightweight design and versatile rigging options of the L Series were key to overcoming the structural challenges, allowing the system to be installed without affecting the recently completed architectural work.

The Result

The new L-Acoustics system immediately impressed, with its first show featuring a Dweezil Zappa concert just three days after calibration. The sound quality was exceptional, with sound distribution predictions being nearly perfect, showing less than one decibel of frequency response variation from the front to the back of the venue. The system’s cardioid drivers also significantly reduced noise bleed onto the stage. Beyond the technical performance, the elegant design of the L2/L2D enclosures allowed the equipment to visually blend in, keeping the focus on the performers. Both the Riviera Theatre team and Jam Productions expressed immense satisfaction with the coverage and overall sound.

Project Photos