Visitors to Telstra’s Customer Insight Centre (CIC) in Sydney now benefit from the use of a A Meyer Sound Constellation acoustic system in the 300-seat theatre that hosts the company’s meetings, concerts and multimedia presentations. The installation provides Australia’s largest telecommunications and media company with the acoutic flexibility to host this variety of functions in the same space.
‘The theatre helps us to engage customers in a way that provides more impact than watching a PowerPoint presentation in a meeting room,’ explains CIC General Manager, David Woodbridge. ‘In conjunction with our 4K LED screen, the immersive soundscapes created by Constellation allow us to adapt the space to best showcase Telstra’s capabilities.’
The CIC theatre has been busy with activity in the months since opening, hosting internal corporate meetings, product launches with key customers, concerts by pop groups and chamber orchestras, broadcast and webcast events, and presentations by global luminaries including Oliver Stone and Steve Wozniak.
The Constellation system is programmed to create a variety of adjustable acoustical environments that include a cathedral-like reverberation for choral concerts, a full cinema surround mode, and a crisply supportive conference mode that allows everybody in the theatre to hear and understand each other without the use of local microphones.
‘On one level, Constellation does present a wow factor,’ Woodbridge says. ‘We bring people in when Constellation is on, and they’re immediately impressed by the natural acoustical environment. Then we turn it off and you can see their jaws drop. Beyond that, the system reflects well on Telstra as a technology company – our business started with sound and voice communication, and Constellation demonstrates that we’re still working at the forefront of digital audio.’
The system was conceived and designed by Arup under the direction of Nathan Blum and Ben Moore. Downstream and Lend Lease were the design and executive architects, respectively, and uses 22 miniature microphones installed throughout the room to capture the room’s acoustic and create natural acoustical environments using the D-Mitri digital audio platform’s patented VRAS algorithms. The processed sound is then delivered via 22 UPM-1XP, 19 Stella-8C installation, ten MM-4XP self-powered, and 15 HMS-5 surround loudspeakers, as well as eight UMS-1XP and two MM-10 subwoofers. Meyer Sound’s Wild Tracks multichannel playback and SpaceMap multichannel panning software provides immersive effects.
On-stage amplified performances in the theatre rely on a Meyer Sound direct reinforcement system of four JM-1P arrayable, four UPJunior VariO, two UPA-1P loudspeakers and a 1100-LFC low-frequency control element.
Telstra’s 3,600-sq-ft CIC also impresses visitors with the world’s first 360° interactive, ring-shaped screen, a 4K-ready broadcast studio, collaboration areas and hands-on technology demonstrations.
More: www.meyersound.com
