Amadeus and HOLOPHONIX have installed a 34-speaker system with HOLOPHONIX spatial control into the ‘Royal Theatre of Namur’ in Belgium. The concept was to offer the listening audience the best sound possible from every seat in the Italian-style theater, using HOLOPHONIX spatial sound technology and discreetly placed speakers without breaking the architectural theme of the ornate antique theater.
The previous sound system essentially consisted of two pairs of L-Acoustics Arcs installed on two DV-Sub speakers mounted on the stage frame, plus a few delays to open up the less well-served areas of the balconies. The venue is a magnificent listed Italian-style theater, restored at great expense during a project that lasted from 1994 to 1998 – gilt in every corner, coquettish velvet curtains, intricate moldings, bourgeois armchairs, frescoes under the dome, and all the decorum you can imagine. Our previous speaker system was nothing less than a punch in the face for this architectural masterpiece,
says Patrice Dhautcourt, Sound Department Manager at the Royal Theatre of Namur.
After visiting the Paris-based National Theater of Chaillot, and a few months after hearing an incredible concert at the Courtyard of Honor during the Avignon Festival – both using Amadeus speakers and HOLOPHONIX spatial processing – Patrice Dhautcourt was convinced this was the type of sound system for the Namur Royal Theater.
When the musician played the first notes – even though I was sitting halfway downstage left – I was absolutely certain that what I was hearing was the unplugged instrument, so impeccably natural was its timbre and location. At the same time, I was equally sure that this was not possible, as I know the sound level of a harpsichord, which is far too light to be heard by all listeners in these conditions. As an atheist, I was witnessing a miracle of technology. Off to the left, 30 meters from the source, my brain swore it was an acoustic concert, but I was wrong,
recalls Patrice Dhautcourt
The sound system for the Royal Theatre of Namur had to be as versatile as possible and capable of handling a wide variety of programs including theatre, dance, readings, one-man shows, concerts, etc.
We came up with two systems in one, both very different in their philosophy and very complementary in that they respond to very different demands, uses, and needs. In practice, these ‘two systems’ simply correspond to two presets in HOLOPHONIX that the users can easily recall and edit depending on the creative project which is featured at the theater,
stated Gaétan Byk, CEO of Amadeus and HOLOPHONIX companies.
The new Royal Theatre of Namur sound system consists of fourteen Amadeus SR 790 NMR sound ramp modules, each equipped with a two-way coaxial transducer with a 5.25-inch diameter woofer. These modules are mounted at the front of the stage and are used as a font-fill system. Six Amadeus C12 coaxial loudspeakers, each equipped with a 12-inch diameter woofer, form an upper 'line' or 'antenna' flown above the stage. They are driven by the HOLOPHONIX processor using a Wave Field Synthesis (WFS) algorithm.
Four Amadeus C15 triaxial loudspeakers, each featuring a 15-inch diameter woofer and two compression drivers, are placed in a stereophonic configuration on the 1st and 2nd balconies. Two Amadeus C12 coaxial loudspeakers are placed in a stereophonic configuration on the 3rd balcony.
Two Amadeus ABB 18 subwoofers, each with an 18-inch diameter driver, are positioned centrally under the stage and are used to complete the low-frequency response of the system below 70 Hz.
Six Amadeus ABB 12 bass speakers, each with a 12-inch diameter driver are placed on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd balconies to complete the stereophonic configuration and make each 'pair' of loudspeakers perfectly full range.
