Ruby Diamond Concert Hall has been the beating heart of Florida State University’s College of Music since 1911. Acting as Tallahassee’s primary performing arts venue, it seats over 1,100 and hosts everything from full opera, touring artists, and ballet productions to graduation ceremonies, academic lectures, and classical concerts. That breadth of programming is precisely what made its sound reinforcement challenge so complex: the PA had to be powerful enough to serve amplified productions yet compact enough to retract completely out of sight into the stage’s acoustical shell when acoustic performances required an unobstructed stage and acoustic sound. As FSU prepared for its 2025-26 school year, a new L-Acoustics K3i system was installed to solve both problems at once.
“The theater is used for a lot of different types of productions,” explains Ruby Diamond’s Head Audio Specialist Mike Shapiro. “We needed a top-tier, rider friendly system that would deliver powerful, impactful performances for our amplified shows, but that same system also had to have the ability to be raised through our reflective acoustic shell, out of the way, for acapella, classical acoustic, and other non-amplified shows. The L-Acoustics K3i checked every box.”
The installation was carried out by Clark, an Atlanta-based integrator and L-Acoustics Certified Provider for installations (CPi), working from a system design modeled in L-Acoustics Soundvision software.
A Modern PA for a Hall with History
Ruby Diamond seats 1,172 and expands further when the orchestra pit is not in use. The venue’s retractable speaker system dates to a $38 million renovation in 2010, when motorized hoists were installed to lift the PA up through openings in the acoustical shell above the stage. It is a practical and elegant solution—when the speakers are needed, they descend into position; when they are not, they disappear entirely, leaving the stage and its acoustic environment untouched.
The physical installation was itself a feat of engineering. The existing hoist motors—the mechanisms that raise and lower the speakers through the shell openings—had to be removed, serviced, and reoriented to accommodate the new system. The openings in the shell are narrow, leaving almost no margin for error. “Our tolerances for getting the K3i to go up into the shell were tight,” says Brian Morrison, Business Development at Clark. “Our team did extensive analysis and measurement beforehand. In the end, we were able to position the PA for uniform coverage across the entire listening space and still get it to fit through the openings. The adjustability of the L-Acoustics boxes was critical to making that work.”
The retractable design also gives lighting designers freedom they previously lacked. For operas, ballets, and classical performances on Ruby Diamond’s wide proscenium stage, lighting rigs need to cover the space from multiple angles—angles that a fixed PA system would obstruct. With the K3i raised and out of sight, that constraint disappears.
Soundvision Provides a Comprehensive Design
The new system features left and right main hangs of ten L-Acoustics K3i per side, with a center-fill hang of one A10 Wide over one A10 Focus. Three KS28 subs are stacked on the stage below each K3i array, with six coaxial X8 spread out across the stage lip for front-fill. On stage, ten X15 HiQ wedges provide monitoring. LA7.16i amplified controllers drive the entire house rig, aside from the subs, which are LA12X-powered. Additional LA12X drive the X15 stage wedges. The system also features a Direct Out Prodigy MP for Milan-AVB distribution, paired with six L-Acoustics LS10 AVB switches.
One of the K3i’s most important attributes at Ruby Diamond is its full-range capability. Because the shell openings are too narrow to accommodate flown subwoofers, the system had to deliver meaningful low-end extension from the main hangs alone—and it does. For many productions, the bass from the K3i mains is sufficient on its own, with no subwoofers required at all. When concerts demand more impact, six KS28 subs, three per side, can be rolled out on L-Acoustics chariots for a ground-stacked LF solution.
A System That Looks as Good as it Sounds
Aesthetics are important in a classic hall like this, and the venue’s gorgeously muralled side walls meant that acoustic panels or other treatments were not possible. In order to avoid reflections, the system design leans into L-Acoustics Panflex technology, using the 90-degree asymmetric presets to direct energy away from the walls and from overwhelming suites and mezzanine boxes along the side walls, while the top two enclosures are in 70-degree dispersion configuration for far-field coverage.
Another unique aspect of the FSU project is the use of multiple mix positions, using a Milan-AVB network to let the venue’s AVID S6L console work from either the booth position or mid-house location. “We’ve got network connections and the L-Acoustics LS10 AVB switches there, so the FOH engineer can just roll the console out, plug into the network, and it’s as if they were still in the same spot and nothing really changes,” says Morrison. “If you’re doing a graduation, they just stay in the booth in the back; for music, they use the mid-house position.”
For Shapiro, the result speaks for itself. “The system delivers exceptional coverage and outstanding sound quality throughout the venue,” he says. “The consistency from seat to seat is remarkable, ensuring every audience member hears the performance as it was intended, regardless of where they're seated. That's exactly the experience we were hoping to create.”
For information on FSU’s Ruby Diamond Concert Hall, visit www.music.fsu.edu/about/facilities. Clark can be found online at www.clark.is.
Please visit L-Acoustics at www.l-acoustics.com.