[SML] floor pockets or drop boxes

[Jeff Forbes]

On Jul 29, 2023, at 5:00 AM, stagecraft-request at theatrical.net wrote:
> 
> This is great input. Keep it coming. Thank you!

The Newmark Theatre in Portland has what I’ve always thought was a pretty workable setup. Wall boxes left and right on either side of the proscenium. Wall boxes left and right on the upstage wall. 
A full length cable trough on three sides with built in floor pockets. And a number of years ago all of the old drop boxes were replaced with SOCA ports on the bridges. A lot of these get used to power overhead electrics since only the 1E has a built in raceway, but the rest can drop down to power booms. So a typical set up might have Boom #1 going to the DS wall box, Boom #4 to the back wall boxes, and SOCA dropping down to Booms 2 and 3. The sections of cover over the trough are only about 4’ long with notches cut into each end in order to easily grab and remove the cover, or pass cable through. So even when using the floor pockets most of the cable is buried under the floor. 

But the wave of the future looks like wireless dmx. The latest City Theatrical newsletter had a case study on Belmont University in Nashville. Their booms are all hung with Source 4 Series 3 LEDs that have Multiverse DMX/RDM receivers built in. So one overhead cable to power them and nothing on the floor at all. Kind of mind boggling. 


Jeff Forbes
jforbes1956 at gmail.com