Amadeus and HOLOPHONIX were chosen to design and install a new sound system for the Amphitheater d'O, part of the Domaine d'O – a multidisciplinary arts and entertainment complex in Montpellier, South of France. Because the open-air theater accommodates up to 1,800 people in a semi-circle of nearly 180 degrees, this presented an electroacoustic challenge for audience coverage and directivity control.
The Amphitheater d'O hosts four major festivals during the spring and summer seasons, including Le Printemps des Comédiens (a theater festival held throughout June), Folies d'O (a musical theater festival held in early July), and the Radio France Occitanie Festival (a music festival held throughout the month of July).
Over the 15 past years, the Amphitheater d'O has been equipped with various traditional front-of-house reinforcement systems, from Amadeus, L-Acoustics, d&b audiotechnik, Adamson, and other renowned manufacturers. All of them were line source-based, arranged in stereo or L/C/R configurations, and rented during the festival season. As a result, only a few people sitting in the ‘sweet spot’ could hear in stereo during live performances. More than 90% of the audience - especially in this Greek-style theater - hears mono and comb filtering.
Realizing that there was definitely no way to accurately locate sound sources unless the listeners were sitting in the center of the venue - regardless of the loudspeaker manufacturer - the sound team began to take an interest in sound spatialization systems. Texen, a long-time supplier of technical resources at the Domaine d'O, asked Amadeus and HOLOPHONIX to find a way to solve this audio problem and provide the best possible experience for the audience.
The Domaine d’O spatial sound reinforcement system designed and installed by Amadeus and HOLOPHONIX is composed of a nearly 20-meter custom-designed sound-ramp of speaker modules - each measuring 1460 mm - integrated into the front of the stage, with a line of eighteen point source C 15 speakers placed above it. These speakers are complemented with subwoofers made of four cardioid stacks of DIVA M² SUB NEO bass complements and two stacks of MAESTRO I infra-subwoofers.
All the Amadeus speakers are controlled by the newly released HOLOPHONIX Ultra processor.
We wanted the sound to come from the stage as much as possible. We wanted the sound system to ‘disappear’ in terms of perception and location. The main advantages of the new Amadeus solution installed at the Domaine d'O are the precision of the sound, the perfect coherence of the sound image for all the spectators, and the aesthetic discretion of the system.
says Nicolas Minssen, Technical Director at the Domaine d'O.
The key part in the system tuning was to get the best uniformity of sound quality across the amphitheater. This system brings a spatial experience to the Domaine d’O which had never been obtained before while keeping a great sound quality and uniform coverage for all to enjoy this new experience.
The Amadeus speakers, combined with the HOLOPHONIX solution gave the feeling of hearing the sound coming from the stage – which can’t be obtained using traditional L/R or L/C/R overhung systems
says Antoine Lenfantin, Technical Manager at Texen.
The design team paid careful attention to the seats positioned very close to the front edge of the stage and to the sound ramp speaker modules and those speakers placed at the top of the theater. Close to the stage – through HOLOPHONIX technology – the sound level of each ramp speaker module was adjusted to give the audience the same sound level, clarity, and spatial effect in that lower part of the theater.
For the top seats, the combination of the C 15 speakers with the DIVA M² SUB NEO carried enough punch to get that impact to the last seats without overflowing the lower seats with low-frequency energy. The cardioid configuration of the DIVA M² SUB NEO enabled us to limit the amount of low-frequency energy spilling onto the stage, offering increased acoustic comfort for the performers.
explains Adrien De Giovanni, PhD Acoustic Engineer at Amadeus.
The new spatial sound system for the Amphitheater d'O consists of:
Amadeus SR 1460 DO specially-designed sound ramp module : 14 pieces
Amadeus C 15 : 18 pieces
Amadeus DIVA M² NEO : 8 pieces
Amadeus MAESTRO I : 8 pieces
Amadeus C 12 R : 8 pieces
Powersoft 4K4 DSP+DANTE : 2 pieces
Powersoft 8K4 DSP+DANTE : 1 piece
Powersoft 12K4 DSP+DANTE : 4 pieces
