West Point Theater Recruits New Console

West Point, NY (February 26, 2025)—United States Military Academy at West Point has trained United States Corps of Cadets for centuries, as generations of officers-in-training have passed through its halls. There’s more to the campus than just classes, however, as exemplified by The Eisenhower Hall Theatre—colloquially known as Ike Hall­—which seats 4,400 and has hosted acts like Elton John, Gabriel Iglesias and Luciano Pavarotti, in addition to the West Point Band, touring theatrical productions, and musicals over its 50 years. Ensuring the facility stays in step with the times, the venue recently acquired a new DiGiCo Quantum338 audio mixing console at front-of-house.

“We were just looking to upgrade the theater into the next century,” says Kiehl Morris, Ike Hall’s Audio Visual and Theatre Specialist. “We were also looking to incorporate Dante and running fiber throughout the theater.” Morris also works at nearby Bethel Woods Performing Arts Center, where he initially became familiar with the desk, noting, “I brought the Q338 to the table; our people liked it, so we went with it.”

Learning that the Quantum338 could also handle monitors from its location at FOH and that it integrates with KLANG’s immersive in-ear monitor mixing system, which is earmarked for the next round of upgrades at Ike Hall, were points in the DiGiCo’s favor, Morris says, adding that they purchased the new console from Washington Professional Systems.

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Morris and technical director James Voltaire installed the Quantum338. The new console drives an EM Acoustics Halo line array system configured with two main left/right hangs and a center cluster, together with three delay clusters covering the two balconies plus under-balcony delays and front fill. More than a dozen stage monitors as well as side-fills can also be controlled from the FOH position.

The implementation of a Dante network at the venue was additionally spurred by the purchase of a Shure Axient digital wireless microphone system, which integrates with the Quantum338. “Incorporating the DiGiCo console with our new Shure Axient over Dante gave us significantly more gain control than we had previously. Our gain structure is much better now,” Morris reports.