AV Case Study: Thebarton Theatre
A 2000-capacity theatre in South Australia upgrades its house PA to dBTechnologies VIO.
9 July 2026
The Thebarton Theatre in Torrensville, South Australia, similar to other auditorium performance spaces today, hosts all kinds of productions. However, it’s fair to say the “Thebby” (as it’s known) is synonymous with live music and touring bands. Over the decades a who’s who of Australian musicians and plenty of international artists have graced the stage and wowed their audiences.
A key factor is the venue’s size. With a capacity of 2000 it’s an ideal mid-level hall that any act worth its weight in salt should be able to fill without taking out a second mortgage and then sweating on ticket sales to break even. It’s not a pub – and it’s not an arena.
It’s been in place for almost a hundred years and like many historic or heritage buildings has had periods of being up and down in popularity, the latter sometimes threatening total closure. It was in 1980 when the wrecking balls were poised to swing that it was saved by a family-owned business and the Thebby became what it is now – an iconic live performance venue.
The auditorium includes an upstairs Stalls seating area, balconies on either side, and the large flat-floor General Admission area in front of the stage. The ceiling is a series of vaulted arches – in 1927 no architects were considering hanging line arrays above the stage. The seating can be removed or rearranged to suit (it’s even hosted a boxing ring and a dog show), and arguably from a technical point of view the venue has to be more flexible and versatile than most. Even so, it’s often those famous and up-and-coming music acts that cite the Thebby as their preferred venue. We’re talking loud and raw, and SPL levels perhaps best not mentioned…
ALL ROUNDER
When the time came to refit the in-house PA system, it called for some careful thinking.
The theatre has always had what you might call a reasonable sound system of course, but more and more the management had been seeing productions either rock up with a very large truck full of their own gear, or they’d commission a local hire company to provide a system capable of delivering full, loud coverage and keeping 2000 sweaty punters happy.
The question was about how the theatre might meet modern demands – or if indeed it should at all?
The problem was handballed to Andrew (Andy) Gayler of AJS Productions. Andy took a practical approach – one that differs to a lot of thinking. An option could have been to spend a large budget on a top-end PA and no doubt achieve an excellent result that catered for everything. However, some of those touring acts are still going to ask for it be put aside in favour of their preferred flavour of PA, while other productions simply didn’t need that kind of firepower hanging from the truss.
Andy says, “I proposed a cost-effective system that would be fit-for-purpose at least 80% of the time. Something compact and capable of covering the whole space easily and clearly, with plenty of headroom, and yet can be quickly de-rigged and put back together again after a larger system needs to be brought in. The Thebby has for the most part been a ‘stacks and racks’ venue anyway – except it’s not racks so much anymore because everything is active and self-powered.’
Andy mentioned foldbacks and monitoring as another example.
“So many acts are bringing full in-ear monitoring now with a digital mixer pre-configured. All they need is a power outlet. It’s getting harder to justify in a venue like the Thebby spending money to have, for instance, a dozen powered, new wedges in the storeroom when so often they won’t get used.”
PERFORMANCE READY
Andy got in touch Corey Sleeman at National Audio Systems who proposed a dBTechnologies VIO design. This immediately ticked all the boxes for the Thebby. It came within an affordable budget and more than delivers impressive sound levels and coverage throughout the room. The configuration is eight VIO L1610 units flown and three VIO S218 subs floor-stacked per side, plus front fill using VIO X206. Due to architectural constraints there simply couldn’t be an overhead centre fill, but it essentially wasn’t needed. The system is managed via RDNET Control 8 and AuroraNet software.
Time was tight for the system design and installation despite that the theatre had been closed for almost two years for refurbishments. The new PA was squeezed into the last eight weeks.
“NAS was a great help with the planning and commissioning of the system,” says Andy. “And everything was in stock – which might seem an obvious thing, but it wouldn’t be the first time a project was stalled or over time because components aren’t available. NAS made sure it was all ready to go.”
EN-VIO-BLE
The dBTechnologies system is the heart of the theatre’s sound, and the rig’s excellent performance gives the venue a cost-effective solution to cover off the majority of shows. The Thebarton doesn’t have a large inventory of in-house equipment. Touring shows are presented a choice of hire companies for out-sourcing other consoles, extra lighting, crew and so on, with AJS Productions included, and the dBTechnologies VIO system is proving more than capable for most acts. It certainly packs a punch.
Talking of which, thanks to AJS Productions, National Audio Systems and dBTechnologies, the audiences at the Thebby will enjoy excellent sound and they can call off the wrecking balls for another forty or so years.
AJS Productions: ajsound.com.au
NAS (dBTechnologies): nas.solutions
RESPONSES