Europe - Amadeus and Holophonix have installed a 34-speaker system with Holophonix spatial control into the Royal Theatre of Namur in Belgium. The concept was to offer the listening audience the best sound possible from every seat in the Italian-style theatre, using Holophonix spatial sound technology and discreetly placed speakers without breaking the architectural theme of the ornate theatre.
“The previous sound system essentially consisted of two pairs of L-Acoustics Arcs installed on two DV-Sub speakers mounted on the stage frame, plus a few delays to open up the less well-served areas of the balconies,” says Patrice Dhautcourt, sound department manager at the Royal Theatre of Namur.
“The venue is a magnificent, listed Italian-style theatre, restored at great expense during a project that lasted from 1994 to 1998 – gilt in every corner, velvet curtains, intricate mouldings, bourgeois armchairs, frescoes under the dome, and all the decorum you can imagine. Our previous speaker system was not up to the job.”
After visiting the Paris-based National Theatre of Chaillot, and a few months after hearing an incredible concert at the Courtyard of Honor during the Avignon Festival – both using Amadeus speakers and Holophonix spatial processing – Dhautcourt was convinced this was the type of sound system for the Namur Royal Theatre.
The sound system had to be as versatile as possible and capable of handling a wide variety of programs including theatre, dance, readings, one-man shows, concerts, etc.
“Built in 1863, the Théâtre Royal de Namur is Italian in its architecture and acoustics. The audience area is horseshoe-shaped,” says Francesco Papaleo, technical engineer at Holophonix. “Faithful to the principles inherited from the 16th century, its acoustics aim to naturally amplify the sources present on the stage and in the orchestra pit. They are naturally amplified by the arch of the proscenium, and in the auditorium, by the resonant warmth of the wood and the reverberant finesse of the stucco,”
“In designing and tuning the sound system we have always tried to take advantage of this architecture, playing with the acoustics, rather than against them,” adds Francesco Papaleo.
“We came up with two systems in one,” says Gaetan Byk, CEO of Amadeus and Holophonix. “In practice, these ‘two systems’ simply correspond to two presets in Holophonix that the users can easily recall and edit depending on the creative project which is featured at the theatre.
“The first system is very ‘traditional’ in its design. It consists of three levels or ‘floors’ of speakers distributed over the height, each point of diffusion being perfectly broadband up to 40 Hz. This purely stereophonic system is coupled to a front-fill sound ramp, which is controlled according to the laws of Wave Field Synthesis via the Holophonix processor. This system offers lower localization quality, but remarkable spectral precision, pressure level, and coverage. It's also extremely easy to use, enabling host companies to work in the traditional left/right mode.”
Gaetan Byk continues, “The second ‘Spatial FOH’ system is much more innovative and offers advanced localization capabilities. It consists of a six-speaker high line with six Amadeus C 12 speakers and a 14-speaker front-fill low ramp. Lateral subwoofers and infra-bass reinforcements can be added as required. These two lines are naturally driven by Wave Field Synthesis busses via Holophonix for perfect sound field re-creation.
“This system is further optimized for object mixing, finely reinforcing acoustic sources while maintaining their localization properties. Perceptively, the diffusion system ‘disappears’ completely, to the benefit of the acoustic sources present on the stage.”
“We now have a system that propels us into the league of the most sonically ambitious creations,” says Patrice Dhautcourt.
