Requiring a major improvement in intelligibility over its previous system, the Turkish Parliament building in Ankara took the opportunity of installing a new audio system to enable any member of the Parliament to be able to easily identify who was speaking and from where – even during the most heated debates.
A former Tonmeister, Yakup Bayraktar is Technical Manager of the Audio Department at the Parliament and has been at the Grand Assembly for 17 years: ‘The old system had falled short of modern standards – intelligibility was so poor it could become uncomfortable and tiresome for our members,’ he aconfirms
Winning an open tender, the task of designing and installing a new system fell to one of the country’s leading providers of professional audio, Atempo: The task fell to one of the country’s leading providers of professional audio, Atempo. ‘We first became involved at the start of 2013,’ says Tayfun Konuralp, who heads the company’s Ankara office. Atempo proposed a solution using a Salzbrenner Stagetec Nexus audio matrix and a mix of d&b audiotechnik loudspeaker systems.
‘The debating chamber is a fan-shaped auditorium seating 500 Parliamen members, with a central main platform from where the speaker of the house manages the sessions,’ Konuralp explains. ‘In essence, this is a two-system solution – there is a front-facing system of LR d&b Ti10Ls so that the platform can address the whole house. The second system is distributed, a set of ceiling clusters, using individually amplified d&b 10S loudspeakers arranged to face downward and in a cross formation to give 360° propagation.
‘The key to this system is the Nexus matrix system management that can localise sound to the region of any Parliament member who is talking, relative to the rest of the chamber. Naturally, that’s quite a complex and variable timing structure for such a broad coverage area, so selection of the loudspeakers, particularly in terms of pattern definition, was crucial. As the d&b distributor in Turkey, we have learned that the product range conforms very precisely to their published data. I would not attempt such a sensitive installation with any other product – you need to know the system can deliver exactly what it says it can on paper.’
Parliament normally goes into recess for three months across the summer, but the installation coincided with the presidential elections: ‘Which cut install time in half to just six weeks,’ said Konuralp. ‘We worked almost around the clock, assembling three teams working six- to seven-hour shifts. Fortunately we have strength and depth in our audio teams so all three were in house staff. Even so that’s a big commitment of resources and we needed every minute of those six weeks.
‘The Ti10L line array systems were commissioned immediately so the inauguration of the President could take place,’ he continues. ‘The more complex testing and commissioning of the localisation system took place immediately afterwards, in the two week gap before the official opening of Parliament. At the same time as the localisation system was in test, we initiated training sessions for the Parliament’s own technical team under Yakup Bayraktar. He has a very good team with a deep understanding of the physics of sound reinforcement and they recognized the operational concept of localisation easily. This is the first and only such audio installation in a debating chamber with localisation in Turkey. In fact, such systems are pretty unusual as far as we understand – there is one in the Berlin Parliament we know, and maybe one or two others elsewhere. Mr Bayraktar’s team engaged with the process very quickly and soon took control. We have been impressed by their ability to operate what is a complex system, professionally and effectively.’
‘All the problems of the old audio system have been solved,’ Bayraktar says. ‘I would like to congratulate Atempo for the very professional job conducted in this project. Despite the busy schedule, they completed the installation of the whole system without interrupting the daily activities of the Parliament.’
