Home to a diverse range of cultural events ranging from rock concerts to theatre, ballet and opera, the Performing Arts Centre (Musikhuset) in Esbjerg (Denmark) sees around 150,000 visitors a year – yet lacked a medium sized venue for theatre until recently.
Its new, modern 500-seat theatre is designed by Jan Utzon and his father Jørn (designer of Sydney’s Opera House), but that was only the first step: ‘Choosing an appropriate PA system was more difficult than first envisaged,’ says Paul van Zijl, in-house sound technician. ‘Many modern theatres today have big line array systems, flown high above the proscenium and this was just not an option for us.'
Together with facility manager Christian Søvad, the crew took from Utzon’s design philosophy, and placed people in the centre of the decision: ‘These flown systems detract from the total theatre experience, not just aesthetically but it also places the sound source high above the audience. We wanted a sound system that could be built into the sides of the proscenium, hidden from view and covering the whole hall including a balcony’.
Remembering a visit by a Dutch production crew that used Alcons instead of the in-house line array in the main hall, they contacted distributor Ascon Trading with technical specifications of the theatre for analysis, and the Alcons Q-series of line-source array columns was judged to be best suited to the installation. ‘We were a bit sceptical when Ascon Trading confidently recommended a system from our technical specifications, this was after all not the easiest installation – we wanted a permanent installed, non-flown and invisible PA system,’ says van Zijl, adding that scepticism quickly turned to disbelief when the four QR36 pro-ribbon line-source columns, two BF302 double 15-inch subwoofers and four Alcons ALC amplified loudspeaker controllers arrived in Esbjerg. ‘The QR36´s proved to be perfect in the ability to be recessed into the side of the proscenium: two for the floor and two above these for the balcony, along with the BF302 subs neatly hidden from view underneath the proscenium,’ he says.
After the installation, the system was aimed and tuned to deliver a crisp and clean sound to the audience, without unnecessarily exciting the room, which was done by Ascon Trading in conjunction with Alcons’ system tech Niels Janssen. ‘The tricky part was to give full sound coverage to the balcony, while not reflecting of the front wall of the balcony itself,’ says Mikael Sørensen, consultant for Ascon Trading. ‘We knew from the computer simulations that it should work, but actually hearing it was so convincing, to be able to cover the hole balcony with just two boxes was a big eye opener.’
‘Previous experience told me that we were in for a long day, but to my utter surprise we were done in time for lunch’ says van Zijl. ‘We can with confidence say that with the QR36 we have a highly transparent and pleasant reproduction over the complete frequency spectrum, without nasty reflections, putting our audience in the middle, in true “Utzon style”.’
More: www.alconsaudio.com
