Parma Cittàdella Musica celebrates with K-array
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The sound engineers accompanying the artists were impressed by the definition and linearity of the system; a characteristic that allows for focussing and refining individual sounds with even greater precision that works perfectly for venues where complete control is required.
The Parco Ducale is a historical park in Parma, covering over 200,000 m2, located in the Oltretorrente district near the Parma river. For the past three years, a concert area with a stage has been set up next to the palace and has already hosted performances by important artists in past editions.
The entire system was set up by Riccardo Garbuglio's Arcadia Rent, with the support of Klaus Hausherr, product specialist from K-array. In overseeing the project, Klaus assisted all the sound engineers during the festival, stating: "We opted for a relatively standard configuration, with an L+R made up of eight Firenze-KH7 units, ten Firenze-KS8 subs (double 21''), with additional KH7s in a horizontal position with the diffusion pattern rotated as reinforcement for the first rows" said Klaus
“Firenze-KH7 is a system that is as simple as it is effective, allowing for precise control over the polar pattern in situations where the loudspeaker is mounted horizontally. This can provide 30° vertical and 100° horizontal dispersion, or 100° vertical and 30° horizontal diffusion with the diffuser rotated.
"Having front-fills made up of the same units as the main system, even with the diffusion pattern rotated, offers a definite advantage in terms of sound coherence and simplicity of system set-up," states Klaus.
At the venue, shows were staged with both seated and standing audiences and, precisely for this reason, a sub configuration was conceived from the outset that would provide powerful, homogenous and wide enough coverage to serve de-centralized areas of the venue.
"We were able to open the spread of the subs up to an angle of 110°, while maintaining excellent pressure throughout the venue. In concerts where there were seated audiences, it was also necessary to provide adequate coverage in the areas to the edges of the stage, which are not always easy to serve," adds Klaus. "In the areas to the side of the stage, the two Firenze-KH7 side-mounted loudspeakers turned out to be very convenient: with only one box on each side and two cables - signal and power supply. This brilliantly solved the side problem.”
Weight is one of the elements that has to be taken into consideration when choosing a system for sound reinforcement. If contained, it can offer tangible advantages. "To hang each of Firenze-KH7's eight-element clusters, we used simple motors of 500kg capacity each, keeping the overall weight low enough to obtain approval from the Supervisory Commission to use the stage roof directly as an anchor point, which, moreover, underwent a major structural change just two days before assembly.
"I run the whole system with one signal for the left, one for the right, one line for all the Firenze-KS8 subs, and then one line for the three fronts and two for the sides, for a total of ten OUT lines. In addition, I reserve a final line for the management of another group of subs, not mentioned so far, which have the sole function of rear cancellation to recreate a cardioid configuration. A Galileo processor with six INs is used for control, so as to satisfy the requests of all guest sound engineers who wanted to use separate management systems.”
