The Princess Cruises ships Diamond Princess and Sun Princess have completed upgrades to their passenter services, integrating L-Acoustics’ L-ISA Hyperreal Sound and Immersive Hyperreal Sound into their onboard entertainment systems.
Taking a new approach to live sound, Princess Cruises is raising the onboard sound standard and has specified L-Acoustics L-ISA configurations, supplied by L-Acoustics Certified Provider, Norwest Productions. Seeking the means to offer exceptional guest experiences, company’s Entertainment Experience department began exploring immersive live sound, noting that live performance audiences are increasingly exposed to immersive technologies in other contexts such as cinema, gaming and VR.
‘Bringing a new level of guest experience is our foremost consideration,’ observes rincess Cruises Director of Production Operation & Projects, Mark Simons,.
The first demo of L-ISA took place at the company’s US offices in Westlake Village, California using L-Acoustics purpose-built L-ISA demo facility. The company realised that the technology would contribute to making shows sound more vivid and natural, ultimately making the audience feel more connected to the performance. The final decision to proceed with L-Acoustics L-ISA integration was made during the 2018 InfoComm exhibition in Las Vegas when the opportunity to compare the systems on offer from other manufacturers was extended. The ability of L-ISA to spatialise objects by controlling proximity and distance as well as smooth panning left to right was what made the technology stand out from other options. The company felt the technology could make listeners feel like they were in the heart of the action happening on stage.
The frontal Scene systems for both the Sun Princess and Diamond Princess installations use five arrays of six Kiva II ultra-compact modular line source speakers across the width of the stage. These are augmented with ARCS WiFo cabinets to widen the panorama with an Extension system, along with two SB18 subwoofers.
The Diamond Princess installation takes the system even further into the immersive realm with 12 X8 enclosures to create the surround system. The Sun Princess system was installed in August 2018 and the Diamond Princess installation happened at the beginning of 2019.
The results rival and even surpass West End and Broadway theatrical standards of production and immersion: ‘We are proud to be the first cruise line in the world to offer L-ISA technology onboard our vessels,’ concludes Simons. ‘Our early adoption of this transformative audio technology, currently used by world-class events, venues and artists, underscores our commitment to identify and act upon every opportunity to surprise and delight our guests.’
More: www.l-acoustics.com
