A prominent performing arts centre in the heart of Antwerp, hetpaleis offers arts experiences with a focus on young audiences. Stimulating children in their experiences as spectators, participants and artists, the venue makes high-quality productions accessible to a large, urban audience, and supports artists in their development.
hetpaleis recently upgraded its audio with L-ISA immersive audio by L-Acoustics, marking the first L-ISA installation in Flanders. When considering its option, the theatre contacted Brussels-based L-Acoustics Certified Partner XLR, building on successful collaborations from previous projects.
‘We immediately recognised the need to explore immersive, object-based mixing for our future sound system,’ says sound designer/engineer, Bob Hermans. ‘L-Acoustics emerged as the optimal solution, meeting our specific criteria for immersive audio while remaining within budget.’
The system needed to be 180° immersive, object-based,and expandable to 360° in the future. It had to be fully compatible with both LR and LCR mixing to meet existing requirements and perfectly suited to the venue’s aural and acoustic needs.
XLR accompanied the theatre’s audio team to L-Acoustics headquarters in Marcoussis, where the choice of L-ISA technology was solidified after a demonstration of its capabilities. The greatest challenge was the L-ISA configuration because of clearance limited by acoustic panels and space that had to be shared with the lighting. To use the limited height in the most efficient way, holes were drilled in the acoustic panels to allow steel wires to connect to each array individually, instead of rigging them all with a single lateral truss. This allowed five hangs of three L-Acoustics A10 boxes, without interrupting sightlines from the top rows of the balcony. Additioonally, the front of the stage is curved outwards making coverage of the outer seats of the first rows difficult. Nine 5XT spatial front fill boxes maintain the immersive element of the mix for these seats. A single X8 per side on the proscenium helps with coverage when a performance does not allow for front fill.
Low end is delivered by a horizontal array of four KS21i subs flown behind the sound system, providing coverage up to the balcony. Cardioid mode limits rear rejection, keeping the performers on stage comfortable.
The entire system is served by two LA7.16i amplified controllers, which take their audio via Milan-AVB from the L-ISA Processor II. The combination of A10 clusters and KS21 subs, with the LA7.16i amplifiers providing each cabinet with its own channel offered a solution that met the budget.
‘The ability to place objects, and for everyone in the room to actually experience that placement is just phenomenal,’ Hermans reports. ‘To me, the difference with conventional dual mono LR and LCR systems is very significant. We recently experimented with a Zactrack system that tracks actors’ positions on stage, and the L-ISA Processor automatically translates these positions to the system’s respective speakers, resulting in a very realistic listening experience. We hope to do this more often in the future.’
‘The feedback from the theatre’s team has been overwhelmingly positive. They are extremely satisfied with the power and distribution of the audio, and they are pleased with the non-intrusive installation that delivers such an immersive sonic experience,’ adds Nico Devroe, Area Sales Manager at XLR.
More: www.l-acoustics.com
