Diana Krall's FOH engineer, Dave Lawler, was impressed with what he found at the facility when the jazz pianist and vocalist played at Dalhalla this past summer. "You're going to a very remote area and don't know what to expect, so to find a Meyer Sound system there was amazing. It's high technology in the wilderness; quite a contrast."
The primary house system at Dalhalla is self-powered, consisting of two Meyer Sound M2D compact curvilinear arrays of 12 cabinets each. "We knew that Meyer Sound was a reliable system," says Park, "and its being self-powered helps make it very efficient to run and convenient to set up." The arrays are driven from a Meyer Sound LD-3 compensating line driver, which provides EQ to compensate for air absorption of high frequencies on longer throws, ensuring consistent sound throughout the venue.
A group of three Meyer Sound 700-HP subwoofers on each side of the stage augments the line arrays. By arranging the subs one meter apart and applying delays for them progressively, a near-ideal cardioid pattern is achieved, eliminating bass buildup on the stage. "It works amazingly well," says Park. "Engineers who are visiting us usually walk around it several times, just to see how well it works. They are always very pleased with it."
Lake Siljan serves to separate the audience from the stage. "The distance from the stage to the nearest seat varies from 10 to 15 meters," Park explains. "That means frontfill is not that big a problem. The M2D arrays really give us great coverage." For some shows, however, Dalhalla employs six M1D ultracompact curvilinear array loudspeakers near the centre of the stage, in left-right pairs. "It's a luxury when you use the M1Ds. They make it a little bit nicer for those in the front rows."
(Jim Evans)
