The installation took place in the Gothic Hall of Stadhuis Kortrijk, the grand 16th century City Hall in Kortrijk, Belgium. Intelligibility was among the main priorities for the new sound installation, which was devised by Community distributor M-Pro in conjunction with audio installation specialist Falco.
Noting that the venue’s high reverberation time called for a “very special solution”, M-Pro’s Mario Clabots said that the venue “had had past experience with distributed audio systems, some quite expensive and nothing that worked or provided satisfactory intelligibility. So they were not prepared to make a decision again based on design work alone; they insisted on a full demonstration so the results could be heard and properly proved.”
The installation went ahead with the spec provided for the demo. From Community came two ENTASYS FR three-way full-range column loudspeakers – mounted in a single-column configuration on the short wall behind the presentation position and firing down the length of the long, narrow hall – and a single VLF212 dual 12” sub for the low frequencies. Other products specified for the new system included a Symetrix Symnet Express DSP audio matrix mixer with ARC2 control panel, Amptec A1.5 amplification, a MIPRO ACT52 dual receiver with two ACT5H handheld mics, six Astatic 915B gooseneck mics and an Australian Monitor MYMTCD tuner/CD player.
“At the demonstration, any fears of interference with presenter or mics, or lack of even coverage in the room were instantly dispersed,” recalled Clabots. “We could experience the very narrow vertical beamwidth of the ENTASYS from the front to the back of the room, and intelligibility and coverage were excellent throughout. The Mayor and his staff instantly gave the system the thumbs up and they wouldn’t let us take away our demo gear until Falco had installed the permanent system.”
