The Cirkus theatre complex in Stockholm is among Sweden’s most significant entertainment venues, where a new restaurant is using an Alcons Audio loudspeaker system to complement its quality food, service and entertainment.
Located in Stockholm’s Royal Djurgården district, Cirkus opened in 1892 to house prominent circus companies. It has since evolved and expanded to host many different forms of entertainment, including theatre, musicals, dance, concerts, corporate events and television productions. It is currently owned by Pop House Sweden – a whose principal owners are Abba’s Björn Ulvaeus and investment banker Conni Jonsson.
Brollan Söderström of systems integrator Electrosound was asked to supply and install an audio system for the new Restaurant Djurgården, its performance stage, bar and the Ernst Rolfe VIP lounge. In keeping with the entire Cirkus experience, the emphasis was on the highest quality…
‘The restaurant has difficult acoustics – half of it has a glass ceiling and all of the internal architecture is historic, and therefore protected, so there was no chance to do anything to improve the acoustics of the space,’ says Brollan. ‘The customer trusted us to choose the right equipment and the super clear, high-resolution audio of an Alcons pro-ribbon system was the best solution to overcome such a difficult room.’
Brollan specified 12 Alcons VR8 compact 8-inch monitors plus 26 black and 15 white VR5 mini 5-inch monitors for the distributed audio in the restaurant, bar and VIP area, The white VR5s were manufactured using Alcons’ Architect Color Option (ACO), which allows loudspeakers to be supplied in any of more than 180 colours from the European RAL colour scheme. The compact size and different colour finishes of the VR5s enabled the audio system to blend into the décor, while delivering seamless sound.
Four QR24/110 modular 4x 6,5-inch line-source array columns and two double 15-inch BF302 MkII high-output subwoofers were installed for the performance stage, the audio also being routed to the main VR system. The system is powered and controlled by Sentinel3 and Sentinel10 amplified loudspeaker controllers.
The QR24 with 2 12-inch tall RBN1203 pro-ribbon drivers coaxially mounted in front of 4x 6,5-inch woofers, is designed for optimal intelligibility in even in highly reverberant spaces –the natural cylindrical projection of the pro-ribbon driver, minimises sound projection against reflective ceiling and floor surfaces.
‘This was the first time we had installed the QR24 and we were really impressed by it,’ Brollan reports. ‘The QR24 was the perfect choice due to its dispersion behaviour and extremely powerful and natural sound. It also has an ideal design for this quite narrow stage. The QR24 column with its special slim-design stand was unobtrusively mounted tight to the stage proscenium – an important parameter for architects involved in this restauration process.’
‘We placed our trust in Electrosound to choose the best solution and we are happy with their choice of Alcons,’ adds Cirkus CEO, Ingmari Pagenkemper. ‘The system has exceptional clarity, power and we are extremely pleased with the result.’
