David Conner is the centre's audio department head: "We have just completed a significant investment in the Perelman cinema system, this is now full 4k specification, a 32,000 lumen Barco projector, 40ft wide Stewart Filmscreen, and a bespoke 7:1 audio system using d&b audiotechnik V-Series and E-Series, designed and implemented by Pete Cosmos at systems integrator, Acme Professional.
Seating 650 and with two shallow balconies above the stalls/ orchestra, Cosmos considered the room to be generally sound reinforcement friendly: "It has a variable acoustic and can be softened for cinema sound reinforcement. We had already installed a surround sound system using d&b E8 loudspeakers, but to complete the system some weight was needed from the screen, this was to be the final piece of the new Perelman audio system."
But the Perelman specification would have to be flexible. "There was also a secondary need," explains Cosmos. "Whatever main stage system we devised, it had to be able to redeploy to the neighbouring Verizon Hall for use at events there. We looked at both requirements separately, developed a number of solutions, and then looked at where the two agreed. The d&b V-Series, the 120° horizontal directivity of the V12 in particular, filled both those needs absolutely. While the Perelman didn't require high levels, we typically run at minus 12dB, Verizon Hall is a much bigger beast."
For the Perelman cinema system Cosmos adopted a quite radical approach. "We take the AES film stems right off the movie sound track at 48 kHz, into a Midas console. That upticks them to 96 kHz and then they are distributed via the d&b R1 remote network straight to the D80 amplifiers.
"The beauty of the V-Series is how it performs when the three high stacks are fully open at 14° splay, giving each compact system 42° of vertical dispersion. For this situation that's when they sound their best, and it also suits our design thesis, which is to place the sound reinforcement system as close to the natural position of sound origin as possible."
(Jim Evans)
