The Lighthouse installs d&b system
- Details
The venue was originally conceived as the home of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and has adequate acoustics for classical performances, but the increase in speech orientated material performed there in recent years meant a new system was needed to improve speech intelligibility.
Jake Sutton, technical manager at the Lighthouse explains: “The system we had in place was really only suitable for public address and simple amplification for events. We augmented this for music and other performances that required more audio support but it was very hard work to get an acceptable sound. Our main issue was lack of direct speaker coverage and uniformity of sound across the whole auditorium. We, alongside theatre consultants Charcoal Blue, invited three PA companies for a speaker shoot out in the concert hall.
“The guys from d&b really understood our challenge. They talked us through the various options and advised on best performance. It was a really smooth outfit from the moment they pulled up to leaving the venue.”
The project was tendered out to Complete Production Solutions (CPS) who have a long association with both Lighthouse and d&b. Based on the venue’s requirements d&b suggested a system of primarily Y-Series arrays, driven by 30D and 10D installation amplifiers.
Adam Hockley of d&b GB’s Technical Sales team says: “The new system needed to be able to handle every programmed event from spoken word to live contemporary music, so our approach was a line array which exhibits greater vertical directivity and a higher output than the point source alternative.
“Using ArrayCalc, we calculated that an array of Y-Series loudspeakers, with a combination of the narrow dispersion Y8 and the wider dispersion Y12 cabinets at the bottom of the array, would allow us to deliver broadband signal to the entire audience area with minimal level variation.
“The eight deep Y-Series array achieves vertical pattern control to around 170 Hz whilst the dipolar driver arrangement gives us horizontal pattern control to 500 Hz. This means that we are delivering as much of the energy to the audience as possible with much less hitting the ceiling and side walls and being reflected back into the audience. This later arrival usually adds to the reverberant field and would have a detrimental effect on speech intelligibility.”
The Y-Series arrays were supplemented by E-Series’ E8 frontfills which help to cover the first couple of rows of the audience whilst also bringing the audio image back down onto the stage from the flown arrays for those sat nearer the front of the auditorium.
“No full range system is complete without subwoofers to deliver the real low end; here it was requested that the subs be stacked left and right on the stage, so we suggested V-SUBS as the max SPL of a V-SUB is higher than a Y-SUB. This means we require fewer V-SUBS to achieve the appropriate level, to combine with the Y-Series tops.”
The new installation has been hard at work since completion. Sutton concludes, “It was great to work with the teams from CPS and d&b - people who were as enthusiastic as we were on getting the very best result.”
(Jim Evans)
