The installation is the result of an out of the blue phone call with an invitation to the opera in Verona for the Royal Opera House's head of sound, Steve Zissler.
"I was asked if there was anyone I knew that I'd like to take to Italy to see the opera and listen to some sound systems," says Jamie Gosney from Stage Electrics, who designed the system at the Royal Opera House. "I hadn't been at Stage Electrics very long, I didn't really know anyone then and I didn't even know the K-array products that well. But Dave Wooster, [now part of 2B Heard, K-array's new UK distributor], had already said that the K-array products were perfect for opera."
That particular trip was not to be, but it wasn't long after that Stage Electrics took a KR402 system to the Covent Garden theatre for Steve to hear.
"They thought it was just the sort of system they'd been looking for," says Jamie. "We didn't know what results we'd get in the venue, but with just that one portable system, we could hear it wherever we went. It was pretty amazing."
After discussions with Steve and his team, Jamie and Dave put a series of designs together. "We'd send them to Steve and he'd say, 'Ah, right, but can we do this?'" Jamie recalls. "And we redid it until we got it to the point that everyone was completely happy with."
The first opportunity to put the system through its paces came when Anthony [of Anthony and the Johnsons] played the Royal Opera House with a small orchestra.
"Anthony's engineer, Kevin Pruce, saw at the K-array and I noticed a look cross his face," says Jamie. "I knew he was worrying about it, so I said, 'why don't you just put some music on that you know and walk round the building?"
Kevin walked the entire venue, along with system tech Mark Isbister, and decided they were more than happy to use it. "I knew then that it was going to work," says Jamie. "They did the gig that evening and it was just mind-blowing. And he was running it really loud, which proved that the K-array system can handle anything."
It was only a short while after that that Steve put the order in for the final system, which comprises the aforementioned KP102, precisely colour matched to the gold of the proscenium arch - "Everyone said they looked pink when they were first done," says Steve, "but in actual fact, they're a perfect match" - with 24 KKS50 Compact Sub-Bass in six clusters of four subs, three clusters each side, eight KK102 front-fills built into the new thrust stage, two KA84 four channel amplifiers powering the main proscenium L/R system, a KA84 four channel amplifier powering all six sub bass clusters and a further KA24 four channel amplifier powering the front-fills."
(Jim Evans)
