Flato Markham Theatre Marks 45 Years with Major Meyer Sound Upgrade
In tandem with Flato Markham Theatre’s 45th anniversary, the venue is celebrating a major investment in its audio infrastructure, a recent upgrade to its PA system to better serve incoming productions and audiences alike.
For Chris MacBride, Senior Technical Supervisor and Head of Audio, the upgrade is the latest chapter in a decades-long relationship with Meyer Sound and GerrAudio. “I started out here as a co-op student, and I’ve been here in some capacity for 30 years,” MacBride says, adding that, “the building’s had a Meyer Sound system since it opened. It’s grown over the years, but it’s always been Meyer.”
The previous PA was installed in 2011 in partnership with GerrAudio and Meyer and consisted of UPQ-1Ps and -2Ps for left and right mains, an 11-box MINA line array as a centre cluster, Meyer M1Ds as front fills, and 700HP subwoofers; all driven by one Galileo 616.
Although the system served the venue very well, MacBride notes, it was time to look to the future and upgrade. Originally planned for 2021, the project was delayed by the pandemic. But, as soon as performances and rentals were fully back online, the theatre began evaluating its options in earnest.
“We were at the point where we could go from being pretty good to making it better,” MacBride explains. “And we thought, if we’re going to improve, let’s really improve.”
Staying with Meyer Sound was an easy decision given the venue’s experience with the gear, its long-term reliability, and the theatre’s relationship with GerrAudio. “Gerr’s got better customer service than pretty well any other distributor I’ve worked with,” he says. “Once you have one of their products, they make sure you’re happy with it.”
Working closely with Gerr and Aligned Vision Group, the design was predicated on ensuring coverage and clarity throughout the venue, as well as providing additional headroom, addressing low-end buildup in under-balcony areas, and a lack of low-end along the side walls below the venue’s box seats. “We thought it’d be great to have a bit more, instead of always pushing the 700s to their max, being able to go, we’ve got a whole lot of headroom. So that’s when we reached out to Gerr and said, ‘What’s going to work really well here and improve everything? What’s going to give us the really great sound quality our clients are already used to without going overboard?’”
The answer was a system comprised of Meyer Sound ULTRA-X80 and ULTRA-X82 loudspeakers for mains (left and right), a 12-box LINA line array as a centre cluster, three 900-LFC subwoofers per side in a cardioid configuration, and the pre-existing 700-HP subs repurposed and flown for further low-frequency support.
Additional system elements include under-balcony coverage from Meyer Sound UP-4 Slims and Meyer ULTRA-X22s – replacements for the venue’s original UP Juniors that offer expanded coverage in the theatre’s upper seating areas. Flato also upgraded its monitor system with MJF-210 wedges to complement the existing Meyer monitors installed in 2011.
Originally, they’d planned to replace their UPQs with the latest UPQ iteration, a new LINA line array for the centre cluster (with an additional element for better coverage “down to the first row), but as more Meyer technology was released, those plans changed.
“The ULTRA-X80s got released, so I talked to Gerr. We had the room, budgetarily, to go with the X80s instead of UPQs. So we went with an X80 and an X82 per side as the main left and right. And I’m very happy that we did that.”
A key part of the upgrade was adding more processing power and I/O via two Meyer Sound Galaxy 816s. “With the extra outputs, we’re sending a separate signal to every box in the rig, except the line array, which is in pairs,” MacBride explains.
“So, when the system was tuned, every box could be delayed and EQ’d precisely instead of averaging across multiple cabinets. That made a huge difference.”
Since the final tuning in Fall 2025, the upgrade has earned high praise and positive reviews from incoming engineers, performers, and audiences. “People are saying, ‘I was here last year, and it didn’t sound this good. What changed?’” MacBride says, chuckling.
MacBride’s assessment of the process, from specification and design through to the installation by Aligned Vision Group, is equally positive. Although the theatre had allocated up to five weeks based on past upgrades, Aligned Vision Group completed the work far ahead of schedule, he says: “They came in incredibly organized,” says MacBride. “Their PM, Chris Cougler, said a week and a half to two weeks, and I didn’t believe it—but they were ahead of schedule.”
“The theatre had some aggressive timelines,” notes Paul Forbes, Business Development for Aligned Vision Group. “And they had a few different projects and several contractors working at the same time as we were. We were trying not to get in each other’s way, but aimed to finish on time and wrapped ahead of schedule, which was perfect for everyone.”
Aligned Vision Group also engineered a custom rigging solution for the centre cluster, which previously had been dead hung, with no way to lower it for service. Consequently, Aligned Vision Group designed a rigging frame that could be bolted to the building structure, “so the array could be picked up on a chain fall,” explains Guy Wallace (Project Management – Aligned Vision Group). While it wasn’t an element that was part of the project, “It sped up the installation, and after the array was in place, we left the custom frame so the theatre staff could lower and raise the cluster for future servicing if required.”
In addition to the subs, some pre-existing UPQs were also repainted and redeployed as side fills, with the remaining line array elements slated for trade-ins to help Flato finance future needs. “Every piece of gear either stayed in the building or is going to get us something else we need,” MacBride says.
There are plans for additional upgrades down the line, he adds, specifically upgrading their existing Clear-Com system to Clear-Com’s Arcadia platform. But, for now, the venue’s staff, clients, and incoming performers and tech are simply enjoying the results of a carefully planned collaboration between trusted partners.
As MacBride said earlier, the new system ensures that moving forward, audiences and performers alike will experience the same class-leading clarity, consistency, and musicality that have defined the venue’s efforts since the very beginning, 45 years ago… “Only better,” he says, emphatically, emphasizing the partnership between the Flato, Meyer Sound, GerrAudio, and Aligned Vision Group. “They’re the dream team,” MacBride concludes. “Absolutely.”