Cavatina Hall opens with L-Acoustics’ L-ISA
- Details
The six-storey multifunctional building counts over 9,000sq.m of A-class office space, a chamber music hall, and a recording studio. But the crown jewel of the building is the 1,000-capacity concert hall which boasts a stage with AV technology integrated into an extensive digital and analogue network, and L-Acoustics’ progressive L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal sound technology, delivered by Warsaw-based L-Acoustics certified provider distributor, Audio Plus.
The venue was created by Cavatina Holding, of one of Poland's largest property development companies. It is strategically situated in the multi-cultural Southern Poland city of Bielsko-Biała, an industrial and artistic hub nestled in the Beskidy mountains. Among the events hosted in the city is the historic jazz festival Bielska Zadymka Jazzowa, which now takes place in Cavatina Hall.
“We can confidently claim that Cavatina Hall is one of the best facilities of its kind in the world, combining commercial industry with the promotion of art in a unique and modern building,” explains Katarzyna Pytlarczyk, head of Fiducia Foundation, the administrator of Cavatina Hall. “The concert hall has been designed so that all types of music can be produced perfectly, and its acoustics make it possible to bring out the full range of colour during symphonic and chamber concerts as well as pop and rock performances.”
Every space in Cavatina Hall has been constructed to the highest standards, from the seating to the subtly concealed resonance boxes on the walls and balustrades and the automated sliding acoustic curtains. The choice to install L-Acoustics L-ISA technology is a logical consequence of this approach. “Because we are among only a few venues that have such a system, it puts us at the forefront of European venues," adds Marcin Smolik, Producer and Managing Director at Cavatina Hall. “The interest in the technology is huge. It is a treat for artists, and for the audience, it means quality.”
Due to its years of experience in high-profile AV installations, Audio Plus was appointed as the technical contractor. Briefed with selecting top-of-the-range technology and providing expert support throughout the complex design, the Audio Plus team, and its chosen suppliers and sub-contractors, were the sole contractors to work on the project from its inception until completion, thus ensuring the successful integration of the entire technical infrastructure.
"When we were invited to manage the AV installation, we knew this project would be exceptional. We knew this would be a place where we could design the sound technology of the future," recalls Sylwester Wojcieszek from SDST, who was responsible for the technology design. “During initial discussions, it was quickly decided that we would design a 360° immersive sound system to fulfil this desire, and the best one to fit that brief is L-Acoustics L-ISA technology.”
The specification ranks Cavatina Hall as a venue with one of the largest L-ISA installations in Europe, and one in which Audio Plus delivers the ultimate in audio fidelity. In total, 141 L-Acoustics cabinets are distributed in a 360-degree configuration.
The frontal system is based on seven hangs of six Kiva II and an SB15m spanning the width of the stage, with further low frequency delivered by four KS28 subs suspended above the audience in an end-fire arrangement. Eight 5XT serve spatial front-fill, while a further nine 5XT serve audio for the seats in the two balconies behind the stage. Two additional X8 cabinets are used as in-fill and six X8 cover the balconies, while 28 further X8, 14 at each balcony level, are placed as effect cabinets. The system is controlled by two redundant L-ISA Processors.
Stage monitoring is managed by a total of 23 cabinets including X8, X12 and X15HiQ. The entire system is powered by a combination of LA4X, LA2Xi and LA12X amplified controllers, which give a combined 108 kW of power. In addition, to serve events in other spaces such as the foyer or chamber hall, Cavatina Hall has a mobile Syva system, chosen for its aesthetic appeal and audio quality.
Overall, aesthetics was an important factor for Cavatina; even in a 1000-seat hall, the audio system is unobtrusive and, in fact, practically invisible. Significantly, Cavatina Hall is the first concert hall in Poland to take advantage of automatic object tracking, which allows the movements of musicians, actors, or speakers to be tracked and mirrored by the sound and lighting systems. Thanks to this, it is also possible to automate stage movements and even trigger multimedia actions automatically. The heart of the system is the TTA Stagetracker Core processor, which can communicate with the system's transmitters via a system of antennas. The event director has 32 Stagetracker Tag transmitters at their disposal, which they can assign to any musician or actor.
The concert hall boasts four of the latest DiGiCo Quantum 338 consoles, one for front of house and one for monitors. Signal distribution between FOH and the recording studio is via Optocore, with AuviTran convertors forming an integrated network. Signals to the studio or broadcast truck are via either Dante, MADI, or analogue, depending on the end devise. The Optocore/Auvitran system can handle up to 1856 digital signals. Analogue signals are split by a 96-channel analogue splitter, whilst Optocore can handle a further 96 analogue signals delivering the most complete, versatile way method of signal distribution.
