The Stadthalle Bielefeld (the Bielefeld Convention Centre), with its highly modern design, has made a name for itself in Germany as a first-class congress and events centre, and has become the focus of the cultural scene and events infrastructure in eastern Westphalia.
The eye-catching all-white structure has a semi-circular façade facing the city centre. Through its extensive glass frontage, the hall's light-flooded interior foyers and galleries is in full view of people passing outside, making the movements of all visitors inside part of the character of this public building.
The Centre can accommodate up to 4,500 people, staging a wide range of events in two auditoria. The smaller of its two halls, capable of seating nearly 800 people has just been renovated, and Bielefeld City Council took the opportunity to install a new sound reinforcement system.
Over the course of 2007, Lutz Lessmann, the technical director of the Bielefeld Convention Centre, and his colleague Peter Fischer, examined four different system designs for the hall. Their criteria asked for excellent coverage throughout the hall, with consistent SPLs and outstanding speech clarity. There was also a requirement for the implementation of a full digital audio network.
Kalle Hogrefe, from Paderborn-based company Sound Linear, actually drew up two alternative designs, together with Norbert Sangermann from Camco, distributor of Nexo in Germany. One proposal featured the tried-and-tested low-profile Nexo Geo S8 line-array cabinets, but Bielefeld was to choose the other, featuring the new Geo S12 system.
The installation was carried out by Sound Linear, linking the main sound reinforcement system and the existing near-field speakers via Ethersound to the digital mixing desk, another new purchase. A Nexo NX242-ES4 was installed as the controller, while the near-fields, powered by a newly-installed Camco Tecton amplifier with an integrated UCA module including Ethersound link, were equalized, limited and delayed by an FIR filter set.
(Jim Evans)
