Considered to be one of the best regional theatres in the Czech Republic, the 800-seat City Theatre Zlin offers its own repertoire as well as numerous performances by visiting theatrical groups. Installation company Musicdata was asked to take on the renovation project, starting with the specification of a system that would work for all the theatre's productions, from amplified drama to opera and musicals to live bands.
There were considerable installation challenges, starting with the restrictions on positioning the loudspeakers. Lighting engineers insisted that the new cabinets could not interfere with the existing light positions, and therefore must be installed in the limited space in front of the curtain. A new flying system had to be built to allow the main arrays to sit below the CD12 subs, and still achieve the required angles to the auditorium.
The extensive reconstruction of the PA system in the main auditorium began with the specification of a Nexo Geo S8 main PA, consisting of left/right arrays each with seven S805 plus one S830 modules. Three CD12 cardioid subbass cabinets were also flown each side of the stage. For productions needing more SPL, the system has been enhanced with PS8 front-fills and additional RS15 subs. The system is powered by Camco Vortex 6 amplifiers, with the new D-Power amps in a separate mobile rack serving the front-fill / sub bass.
The theatre's technicians have been using an Innovason SY48 digital console with an EtherSound stagebox for three years. The advantages and quality of Ethersound are well-appreciated in Zlin, so they were keen to add the new PA system to the network. Auvitran's AVM500-ES network matrix was specified, providing routing for 320x320 audio channels and enabling bidirectional star architecture in the system. The AVM500-ES also gives the theatre the option of extending the EtherSound network to achieve 64-track recording capability.
The whole PA system can be controlled from the sound engineer's position. Signal is converted from analogue on the stage, using high-quality converters: it reaches the amplifiers without any further conversions in the system so there is no loss of quality. All PA system processing is handled by the Nexo NX242-ES4, which includes full network or local remote control management of channel assignment.
(Jim Evans)
