Introduction to Alcons Audio at Soundcheck Nashville- May 3-5, 2016
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Alcons Takes the Stage at USITT in Salt Lake City
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Visit us on booth 805
The annual USITT Conference and Stage Expo combines trade show opportunities and atmosphere with education and training but, what sets this show apart is their focus on students. We at Alcons Audio believe in our future theatre professionals and are proud to support a show that caters to their success.
Experience the Alcons pro-ribbon difference during the Keynote Address & Annual Meeting Wednesday, March 16 at 9:30am-11:00am, in Grand Ballroom B and, throughout the show during select events and sessions; Or stop by the Alcons Audio booth to arrange a personal listening session during the show.
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Please use our free entrance code key AA805
From the most complex performing arts spaces and theatres to the highest power concert and club sound reinforcement, Alcons technology delivers a 1:1 undistorted linear response, unprecedented headroom SPL and life-like imaging.
We invite you to be our guest in Salt Lake City to see, hear and learn why Alcons Audio systems are the secret weapon in the accomplished sound designer’s toolbox.
Alcons Audio pro-ribbon technology
ALControl™ is Alcons’ proprietary software program, to configure, control and monitor individual or multiples of Sentinel amplified loudspeaker controllers, that can be accessed from anywhere within a network; With a very quick set-up and fully-intuitive operation. More about ALControl™ >>
The LR7 micro line-array measures only 7″ tall by 14″ wide, with the industry’s best “size/weight-to-throw” ratio, suitable for A/V projects, where very compact form factor with perfect line-array projection and imaging are required. More about the LR7 >>
The RR12 point-source array has been developed as “building block” to create tight-packed arrays for razor-sharp controlled, seamless sound coverage in the widest variety of audience areas, where a line-array solution is not demanded. More about the RR12 >>
The BC332 cardioid subwoofer is the subwoofer solution in acoustically challenging rooms. The front and rear woofers cancel the sub frequencies behind the cabinet, reducing the reverberant field, greatly improving the system’s low frequency response accuracy and impact. More about the BC332 >>
Alcons Audio’s North American division is rapidly growing with a variety of new success stories and ambassadors. Whether it’s Broadway musicals, corporate AV, cinemas or dance clubs and music venues, Alcons is truly setting new standards for excellence in audio.
Recent Alcons “Ambassadors” in the USA include Hamilton the Musical Broadway New York NY, Club Verso San Francisco CA, Bright Star on Broadway NY, These Paper Bullets the Old Globe Theatre San Diego CA., Faulkner Performing Arts Center University of Arkansas, St Patrick’s Cathedral Manhattan NY, Hobart William Smith College Screening Room Geneva NY, St Jude’s Hospital Memphis TN; But also Hamburg State Opera House Germany, Finnish National Theatre Finland, Soldier of Orange the Musical the Netherlands.
Alcons LR7 pro-ribbon line-array amplifies the Altonaer Theater in Hamburg
Altonaer Theater Chooses Alcons
Literary text and historical materials are the trademark of the Altonaer Theatre, at home today in the center of Altona after an eventful history. As part of a modernization of the premises, a new sound system was purchased. Alcons could convince with his proven LR7 pro-ribbon line-array across the board here.
The requirements for a new house system were – as usual in the theater – quite complex. First, the entire auditorium should be provided with an even sound coverage, without requiring additional speakers and delay lines. Needless to say, speech, music and effects as part of a play must be transmitted very well. However, because the Altonaer Theater also plays music theater and musicals, additional emphasis had to be placed on an excellent intelligibility.
Given these specifications it soon became clear that only one line array could achieve the desired uniform sound quality. As a result, two systems have been set up and calibrated. Protones event technology from Lüneburg was responsible for the technical service of the project.
Andreas Meyer-Delius, technical director of the Altonaer Theater, explained the further decision-making process: “Both systems achieved a uniform sound coverage and met our pricing expectations.”
The Alcons LR7 line array – a strong performer, with an impressive track record in theatre applications.
The Altonaer Theater decided ultimately for two flown arrays of 5 Alcons LR7 each. Under stage 2x BF302i were installed as low frequency support. Alcons ALC2 and ALC4 with DDP ™ (Digital Drive Processor) were used for system drive and amplification.
The Alcons LR7 pro-ribbon line-array has proven itself in many theaters. Despite extremely compact dimensions of 359mm/14.1-in width and 173mm//6.8-in height and the lightweight (8Kg/17.6-lb), the system convinced with all the features that you would expect from an Alcons system: uncompressed, high-performance and uncolored sound, with at the same time exceptional speech intelligibility, precise dispersion control and a high SPL.
“The sound and vocal intelligibility of the LR7 was immaculate and significantly better than that of the comparative system,” said Meyer-Delius. “In addition, the Alcons system has a uniform signal transmission in all frequency ranges, without the so-called “beauty dent” in the 1000 Hz range. This gives the engineer greater freedom in the sound scaping. ”
Dirk Dechring, project manager of Protones event technology, about the decision for the Alcons LR7: “It is a discrete system that provides a very high speech intelligibility. So the theater production is in the foreground, not the technology. ”
“Overall, all parties stood by their decision, and after one year of operation, our impression remains very positive”, Andreas Meyer-Delius looks back with satisfaction.
The Altonaer Theater brings literature to the stage. Hardly any other theater is so representative of his district and has at the same time such a strong charisma on Hamburg’s urban area.
Stage successes such as “Mephisto”, “Schiller’s complete works … slightly shortened” or bestsellers such as “Measuring the World” and “the hundred-year-old man who climbed out the window and disappeared” have achieved cult status. Successful authors and stage versions specifically created for the theater underline the quality of the house.
Kulturhaus Dornbirn Opts for an Alcons Pro-Ribbon Solution
Since 1982, the Kulturhaus (“culture house”) Dornbirn, Austria is a popular event center for the entire Vorarlberg region. After an extensive planning and implementation phase, which was administered already in 2013 by the company Tonplan from Dornbirn, the final step of the installation of an Alcons sound system in the main hall of the cultural center took place in 2015.
The sound department of the Kulturhaus Dornbirn, under the direction ofThomas Bischofberger, installed a sound system for the main stalls area consisting of four pieces Alcons QR24 line-source column (two 12″ pro-ribbon tweeter, four 6.5″ woofer), which is particularly suitable for installations in difficult acoustic environments.
As centerfill four pieces Alcons LR7 micro line-array (4″ pro-ribbon tweeter, one 6.5″ woofer) and an Alcons VR12 (6″ pro-ribbon tweeter, one 12″ woofer) have been installed. Four pieces Alcons VR8 (4″ pro-ribbon tweeter, one 8″ woofer) act as side-fills, two of which are specifically for the gallery. For stage-lip nearfill four times Alcons SR9 (one 4″ pro-ribbon tweeter, two 5″ woofer) are used.
The systems are driven by one Sentinel S10 and two Sentinel S3 amplified loudspeaker controllers. The signal is distributed via a XilicaNeutrino A1616ND and Xilica Rio R1616N audio matrix with Danteconnection to the Yamaha CL5 / CL3 consoles.
The Sentinel amplifiers are used with the factory presets for the various speakers. The Alcons Sentinels feature a remote IP connection, which also makes it possible to view and edit the current status of each individual output stage via ALControl.
Thomas Jochum, sound engineer of the cultural center, explains the decision for Alcons: “Decisive for our choice were the pro-ribbon transducers of the Alcons systems. These have a superior sound characteristic in the high frequencies, which is very beneficial for our house, as many events are very speech-emphasized.”
Also, in the more difficult acoustic environments Alcons convinced: “The pro-ribbon components of Alcons enable us to get control over the difficult acoustic conditions in the hall with the QR24 line-source columns,” Jochum continues. “From the first listening tests, the system shined with optimal coverage without any audible level differences, an excellent sound stage — even at high volumes, the pro-ribbon tweeter still sound pleasant — and the excellent combinability of different speaker types. All in all, a no-compromise solution for our requirements.”
The installation and calibration was carried out together with the company Pro Performance Wolfgang Sauter, which is an established distribution partner for Alcons products in Austria.
The Kulturhaus Dornbirn offers a wide range of cultural events: In addition to orchestral and jazz concerts, theater and dance performances, and cabaret, conferences, and balls take place. The new Alcons sound system supports the demands of the diverse program in an optimum manner.
More info can be found on Kulturhaus Dornbirn at http://www.kulturhaus-dornbirn.at.
www.alconsaudio.comAlcons brings pro-ribbon sound to CEDIA
For the first time ever, Dutch audio innovator Alcons Audio will be showcasing its pro-ribbon sound system innovations at the upcoming CEDIA show in Dallas.
The CEDIA Expo forms a perfect platform for Alcons to display its evolutionary sound system solutions for Home Theatre, based around its proprietary multiple-patented pro-ribbon transducer technology.
A fast-growing, recognized supplier of reference quality sound systems for cinemas and screening rooms, as well as for performing arts theatres, houses-of-worship and large-scale concert sound reinforcement, Alcons now brings its renowned pro-ribbon sound quality to Home Theatre applications.
The pro-ribbon transducer technology, in which the company’s R&D department has a 30-year background, enables a unique sound experience; Combining an uncompressed 1:1 natural, crystal-clear response with life-like imaging at an unprecedented dynamic sound pressure headroom with up to 90% less distortion.
David Rahn, Alcons Audio USA national sales manager: “with the incredible success of Alcons C-series cinema systems around the world, among which one of Europe’s largest immersive sound installs at Berlinale Palast, as well as Lucasfilm Singapore, Walt Disney Germany, but also NBC Universal screening rooms in UK and China, it was time for us to bring our professional pro-ribbon sound to the Custom Install market. It’s a great opportunity to get the right people in front of Alcons’ unique premium sound experience and to demonstrate why Alcons is currently seen as cinema market’s most-innovative loudspeaker brand .”
Alcons Audio is present at booth 1310 in the demo theater of Barco Residential/Display Development, demonstrating an AURO 11.2 system, co-designed by Barco Residential Integrator CINERAMAX of Miami.
The immersive system is designed with Alcons’ Cinema Reference Monitor Systems for screen and surround channels, driven and controlled by Alcons’ Sentinel 4-channel amplified loudspeaker controllers with an all-digital 96kHz/24-bit AES3 signal distribution and processing.
More info on booth 1310, or on www.alcons.audio
Sentinel keeps an eye out on Alcons systems
New controller platform powers and controls Alcons pro-ribbon systems
The remarkable audio quality of Alcons’ pro-ribbon technology is making significant inroads in the professional sound reinforcement market. But in order to get the very best from their systems, every component of the signal chain has to consistently deliver. It is with this in mind that Alcons has developed Sentinel, a range of amplified loudspeaker controllers that precisely match the requirements of its loudspeakers.
The genesis of Sentinel came from Alcons engineers doing thorough, calibrated 1:1 listening tests between the company’s current ALC series amplified loudspeaker controllers and the products from various leading amplifier brands.
“We compared sound quality on stereo imaging, depth, width and resolution,” says Alcons co-founder Tom Back. “Most people in the pro audio world would think that each amplifier of a given rating is the same, but we found that there are large differences between each model and the various technologies used.”
“Of course, we did further testing on output, thermal behaviour, user interface, integrated processing platforms and serviceability, which also revealed lot of differences. Overall, with such high-resolution transducer technology as Alcons pro-ribbon, the differences were too big for us to ignore.”
The company could have made an OEM agreement with an existing amplifier manufacturer, but to achieve a unit that would allow its systems to deliver everything modern audio professionals demand with absolutely no loss of audio quality, Alcons decided to develop its own, proprietary platform.
The Sentinel features 4-in/4-out input matrix routing, with internal 96kHz sampling rate.
Due to the custom-designed sample-rate conversion, Sentinel accepts any signal between 44.1 up to 192kHz digital AES3 format.
The future-upgradable powerful DSP engine enables minimal latency during processing of even the most complex (IIR, FIR) algorithms.
DSP features include parametric equaliser (incl. shelf, notch, high/low-pass) and delay per channel, factory presets for all Alcons systems and configurations a.o.
The “linear” preset enables the Sentinel to be used with third-party speakers, while maintaining full DSP functionality.
The 4 independent, patent-pending Class D amplifier stages and 2 redundant switch-mode power supplies all feature a microcontroller, allowing all parameters to be monitored and guided via the internal communication network. This means maximum operating efficiency (even with one power supply shut down) and extensive status/application logging can be maintained at all times.
The modular construction not only facilitates future hardware upgrades for i.e. more powerful processors (if future needs be), but also offers easy “in-the-field” servicing, bringing potential downtime to an absolute minimum.
The Signal Integrity Sensing™ (SIS) circuit dynamically compensates impedance effects in long speaker cables and connectors, resulting in a tight sub and bass response, matching the fast-transient response of the pro-ribbon mid-high frequency reproduction. This circuit doesn’t require any manual presetting, but operates dynamically, on SIS™ pre-wired systems.
The Sentinel is operated by a Linux-based main controller, through a large, intuitive colour 480 x 272 pixel TFT touch screen and RGD-LED rotary encoder.
Remote control requirements are served by ALControl™, Alcons-proprietary ALC control software protocol, to control individual or clusters of Sentinels, to be operated from both Mac and PC platforms; Also control from mobile devices is possible through a VNC app.
Spare module slots and two RJ45 connectors enable optional audio-over-network control.
Sentinel comes in a 2u rack mount package in two formats: 4x 750W (Sentinel3) and 4x 2500W (Sentinel10) output, weighing just 8,8kg/19.4lb and 11,6kg/25.5lb respectively.
“The main focus in the development of the Sentinel range was to obtain an ‘audiophile-grade’ signal path and a surplus of headroom under any circumstance, to get the maximum performance out of Alcons sound systems,” says Tom. “It is designed to offer the highest possible sound quality and most realistic sound experience, at any sound pressure level, in any application.
“It has meant that our R&D path took longer than the ‘short cut’ of an OEM agreement, but it has definitely paid off. We can truly say that the combination of Alcons sound systems and the Sentinel platform raises the bar for maximum obtainable sound quality in sound reinforcement. It sets new standards of Hi-Fi sound at concert SPLs. And, most importantly, it’s a future-proof investment!”
For more information visit: www.alcons.audio
Alcons background information;
Alcons Audio is a Dutch manufacturer of professional sound systems for quality-conscious clients in the cinema, installation and rental/touring industry.
The Alcons Audio team continuously strives for obtaining the most natural possible sound reproduction at any SPL with utmost day-to-day consistency and reliability. This is achieved through a tameless curiosity combined with a fearless drive to develop and implement unconventional technologies and techniques. Alcons’ multiple-patented high-power pro-ribbon technology is just one example.
Recent Alcons ambassadors include: Walt Disney Germany, St. Patrick’s Cathedral New York USA, National Theater Finland, Lucas Theater Savannah GA USA, Hamburg State Opera house Germany, Lucasfilm Singapore, The Music Room Dubai, NBCUniversal Pictures China, Seoul History Museum Korea, Jazz at Lincoln Center Qatar, Red Bull’s Hangar-7 Austria, Volkswagen Gläserne Manufaktur, a.o.
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alcons audio – evolutionary audio systems
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SIA Acoustics Helps Shape the Sound in eTown’s New Performing Arts Facility
FOH Magazine July 2012 Issue
Installations
eTown Hall, Boulder, CO
Written by Sam Berkow
Thursday, 12 July 2012 21:30
The finished stage, as seen during opening sound check.
SIA Acoustics Helps Shape the Sound in eTown’s New Performing Arts Facility
It starts with a phone call… or an email. “I want to build a studio or a sound stage or even a concert hall.” Usually, it’s the owner, just starting out and wondering how to move forward. Sometimes, it’s an architect or even a construction manager, hired on and wondering how to turn a mostly amorphous vision for a facility into drawings and either a new building or a renovation of an existing space. Some discussion of the project’s program, what the facility’s intended to do, and its space requirements, budget and goals — both operational and initial capital needs, as well as potential cash flow — will quickly reveal how realistic (or unrealistic) the concept is. These calls come often. Sometimes there is a second or even third call. Some of these turn into real projects. It’s all part of the life of an acoustical consulting firm.
Almost five years ago, Nick Forster called my company, SIA Acoustics, sharing the vision that he and his wife Helen had to convert a 17,000 square-foot former church in the middle of downtown Boulder, CO into eTown Hall. Housing eTown, the nonprofit organization behind eTown, the public radio program that has aired since 1991, the facility would include a performance space for the show’s live performances, master classes and interviews. It would also provide a community gathering space while housing the eTown offices and a serious recording facility with a suite of post-production rooms. Clearly, this was a vision they had been developing for some time.
eTown, now broadcast on more than 300 (mostly public) radio stations, has always had the mission to use the power of music for positive social change. Along with music, eTown gives artists an opportunity to discuss their ideas regarding community and current social issues. eTown is now also a fixture on the iTunes store podcast download area.
Getting Started
By the time Nick’s call reached our offices, he was attempting to purchase and permit an old church located just off the town’s main pedestrian mall. The challenge was to address the acoustics of the existing spaces and provide acoustic isolation, while making it all fit into the existing building shell. Additionally, there was a strong desire to be “green,” using as many recycled materials as possible and create an energy efficient space. Of course, it all had to be done on a tight budget of a non-profit organization.
“Helen and I want eTown Hall to be both a great place to create music and a real community center,” Nick said. “After all those years of talking about and learning about environmental issues, we had to make it a really green building — but not just a showplace for the latest gadgets. We want eTown Hall to be the greenest performing arts facility in the country”
Luckily, we started on the right foot. By coincidence, I had met Nick years before, when his acclaimed bluegrass band, Hot Rize, had come to NYC to play a show with John Hartford. Also, I’m a fan of many of the bands featured on eTown, such as Los Lobos, Lyle Lovett and Taj Mahal.
During the first few meetings, on larger projects especially, clients and consultants spend considerable time interviewing each other. This is much more of a two-way process than many would guess. Particularly in the early phases when a design is taking shape, clients and designers spend a lot of time working together. Without good chemistry, that time is less fun and the project is often less successful. The hope is that each side will feel some chemistry, mutual trust and a connection that will allow for productive, honest and focused discussions about the project’s issues.
Before Nick called us, eTown had engaged an architectural firm, Wolf-Lyon, to help with the plans and guide the project through the design and permitting process. This is later than we, as the acoustical designer, would like to get involved. Project architect Jim Walker began by studying the existing building and found it wanting in many areas. “The environmental ethos of eTown dictated that we explore every possible angle to reuse and salvage the existing building and materials within,” Walker recalls. “This posed a challenge, given the condition of the existing facility, with both structural and mechanical systems highly compromised. The building also had nine different floor levels, making for difficult accessibility.” Nick, however, knew that the location and overall layout made the project worthwhile, despite the obvious challenges.
The stone construction of the 87-year-old building was extensively reinforced with steel beams, such as these surrounding the proscenium opening.
Problems and Solutions
Three problems were immediately apparent. In order to expand the existing stage opening and still use the original structural stone wall as the proscenium, the facility would need a new internal steel support structure. Further, the main floor of the main sanctuary and the roof of the performance space were structurally compromised, and would not be capable of supporting the loads required. Lastly, eTown had to raise the money to pay for all of this. To address these issues, the project was split into two phases. Phase one would transform the church’s former offices into eTown’s offices, adding 11 offices, three editing rooms, two dressing rooms, a conference room and a “Green Room” for artist hospitality. Phase two would finish the 200-seat performance space, the studio and a community room, which would be named the “Bohemian” room. “The eTown offices are in a space that is filled with natural light and great energy, making it a comfortable and productive place to work,” adds Helen.
Our role as acoustical consultant is to work with the architect and owner to help them understand the challenges that lay ahead. Nick was clear that eTown needed a full recording studio with a sizable control room and large tracking room. The obvious and only viable choice, based on space, was the old gymnasium of the church. However, this space is located directly behind the stage of the performance space, making the upstage wall common to the stage and the studio. This requires a substantial and costly set of acoustical details to achieve sufficient acoustical isolation to allow simultaneous usage of the stage and the studio.
“We knew that eTown needed a performance space and a studio complex that would be able to operate both separately and simultaneously,” Nick explains. “This required several isolation techniques, including double walls, floating ceiling, resiliently mounted walls, isolated floors and resiliently mounted structural steel to decouple the stage and the upstage wall.”
“SIA Acoustics spearheaded the technical details for the acoustically sensitive components of the project,” adds architect Jim Walker. “We worked together to make sure the details met code, were structurally sound, and provided the best use of space possible. One such challenge was that only a hollow 8-inch concrete block wall separated the stage from the recording studio. This presented a problem where sound and vibration isolation were critical. The clever but challenging solution was to both grout-fill the wall and decouple the stage structurally from the surrounding walls. More than 17 different acoustical conditions, each requiring a specific detail, were required to achieve this decoupling.”
View of the seating area from the round window over the entrance.
To complete the isolation between the stage and the studio, the studio itself was built as a completely isolated box-in-a-box with 6-inch stud construction. With a ceiling more than 18 feet high and a pop-up section of ceiling extending upward to almost 22 feet, the 600-square-foot studio tracking room provides a large cubic volume, allowing the sound to bloom in a tonally balanced manner. Of course, the use of 6-inch studs to support free-standing walls impacts the size of the room. To offset this, a compromise was made. The wall between the control room and studio was reduced, to a relatively thin, double-stud wall construction. This eliminated the possibility of using soffit-mounted loudspeakers but returned at least 100 square feet to the studio.
One interesting way in which the eTown green ethos was used in the acoustical design was the use of the wood from the removed floor. This wood was re-purposed to become a facility-wide acoustical diffuser at the upper rear wall of the performance space. Designed by SIA and Jim Walker, this element will be an effective acoustical diffuser. It also is in line with the reused materials approach, and it looks extremely attractive!
The team also agreed upon the need for a substantial amount of connecting infrastructure — i.e., conduit and cable access throughout the facility to allow future changes in technology or equipment to be more easily supported. However, with a building less than four stories tall set on nine separate floor levels (due to the many expansions built on to the structure over more than 90 years of the church’s history), getting conduit, ductwork and power distribution throughout the facility, while maintaining acoustic isolation, proved difficult.
In several cases, the limited amount of space within the existing structure required the team to use additional acoustical treatments, which increased costs but allowed us to fit the full eTown program into the space. One example of this is the HVAC duct work serving the studio. We were able remote most of the HVAC system’s compressors and heat exchangers on the roof. However, several fan units were located in the space above the studio’s control room, which required that a great deal of the ductwork above the studio be wrapped in high transmission loss duct wrap. This wrap is both costly and heavy, which makes it difficult to work with. But without it, our control room would be substantially degraded by excessively high HVAC noise, and alternate locations were either not viable or substantially more costly than wrapping ducts.
The Sound System
As of this writing, the technical systems for the facility were still under design review. However, the main PA has been installed. After reviewing many options, a small-format line array system featuring a high power HF ribbon loudspeaker was selected. Two five-element line arrays using the Alcons LR14/90 unit (which incorporates two 6.5-inch woofers and the RBN401 pro-ribbon HF driver) were selected.
The choice of the Alcons LR14 was the result of critical listening and a deep understanding of the music eTown features. These days, there are a large number of great-sounding loudspeakers to choose from. Nick built his career in acoustic music, and he loved the sound of the Alcons ribbon driver when he heard them demoed in Las Vegas. Given the small size of the performance space, the smooth, low-distortion high frequency response of the Alcons pro-ribbon is a particularly good fit for reproduction of acoustic music.
Traditionally, ribbon loudspeakers have failed when asked to generate large amounts of energy and have been prone to reliability issues. Alcons claims to have solved these issues with its globally patented pro-ribbon technology, which is a hybrid ribbon/planar device utilizing a flat wound voice coil and unique thermal management design as part of the motor structure.
Consoles will be the Avid VENUE Series, with a Profile at FOH and an SC-48 as the monitor desk. Both of these consoles were chosen for ease of use, their ability to provide recall, plug-in capabilities and, of course, sound quality.
eTown Hall is scheduled to open this summer, with a full schedule of shows starting in August 2012.
Author Sam Berkow is the principal consultant at SIA Acoustics and creator of SIA-SMAART audio analysis software. Visit him at siaacoustics.com.
Alcons Audio USA Installation Profile in October Issue of Live Sound Magazine!
SnapShot
Live Sound International October 2012 http://www.ProSoundWeb.com
A recent performance at new eTown Hall.
Nick Forster and David Rahn evaluate one of the venue’s Alcons arrays.
Smooth Performer
Sound for new eTown Hall. by Live Sound Staff
RECOGNIZED NATIONALLY as a premier radio music program and broadcast on over 300 stations in North America, eTown has recently completed the renovation of its own 17,000-square-foot specialty venue called eTown Hall, located in Boulder, Co.
The weekly radio broadcast heard from coast to coast on NPR, public and commercial stations is taped in front of a live audience and features performances and interviews with top musical artists. The format has attracted former presidents and icons including Jane Goodall, Jimmy Carter, Sarah Mclachlan, Bob Weir, Lyle Lovett, JJ Cale, Mavis Staples, Willie Nelson and James Taylor.
Founder and host of eTown Nick Forster has been working to create eTown Hall for many years. “We’ve been dreaming of having our own space, one that could serve as a multi-purpose, media-making performance hall and community center – all powered by the sun – and now we have it. For a non-profit organization, the process of designing and building the space took some time, and we had to assemble an amazing team to get it right,” Forster explains. The result is a space that meets the needs of eTown’s performance and broadcast criteria while paying heed to eco-friendly practices.
The structure that houses eTown Hall was formerly a Church of the Nazarene built in 1922. Transforming the 90-year old building into a state-of-the-art music hall presented multiple challenges. To meet the ambitious design requirements, which include not only the offices of eTown but also a live recording facility, multiple edit suites, a music cafe and the main performance hall, Forster chose Sam Berkow and SIA Acoustics, based in New York City, as acoustical engineers and consultants.
“Nick had a very specific vision for this new facility. The scope of that vision included multiple spaces that required isolation in a number of areas.” Berkow explains. “We started with the structure– down to the new steel beams and all new walls and floors – and then we added treatment. Then, Nick and I listened to a few different speaker boxes. Not only did the live performance room require special acoustical treatment, but we had to choose a sound system that worked well with the size of the space and the more ‘rootsy’ type of music performed.
Left to right, key contributors to the project, including Sam Berkow, David Rahn, Marc Nutter and Preston Smits, also of Sound Sense.
Sam Berkow of SIA doing the nitty-gritty work onsite, ironing acoustical fabric.
“There were also a number of other spaces to consider. In particular, isolating the recording spaces from the live venue proved somewhat challenging, but these are the types of projects where SIA excels. At the end of the day, every detail and design consideration had to mesh with all of the practical challenges presented by eTown as an organization.” To provide even coverage throughout the space, Berkow and Forster chose Alcons Audio pro-ribbon based compact line arrays, with five full-range LR14/90 cabinets flown per side. The LR14 incorporates two 6.5-inch woofers joined by the Alcons RBN401 4-inch pro-ribbon drivers.
A stage monitor package and small café system also utilize Alcons loudspeakers, including six VR8 and two VR12 enclosures. Both are 2-way designs that are also outfitted with pro-ribbon HF devices. The compact nature of the monitor systems worked well in the design due to sightline considerations, as well as the desire to provide the same level of fidelity for the artists as well as the patrons.
A look upward at one of the venue’s five-element Alcons LR14 arrays.
All loudspeakers in the project are driven by Alcons ALC2 class g amplifiers with integral ddP digital drive processing modules handle amplification. These amplifiers are designed by the company for exceptional low-noise and high-fidelity to ensure that the ribbon drivers are able to reproduce the original source faithfully.
Sonic Sense of Denver performed the system installation, with owner Marc Nutter working closely with Berkow to measure and tune the system. On-site factory assistance was provided by David Rahn, North American sales manager for Alcons, to help achieve the final outcome.
“We spent a lot of time listening to a number of high-end systems but ultimately chose Alcons Audio for the smooth performance in the top end, which we all agreed did the best job of presenting the type of acoustic oriented performances that eTown is known for,” Berkow concludes.
Live Sound International October 2012 http://www.ProSoundWeb.com
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