An HK Audio CONTOUR X solution has been installed for the terrace stage at the unique A38 club, which is housed on a ship moored on the Danube river in Budapest, Hungary. The 300-person performance space, which focuses on electronic music, is a former stone carrying barge that has been gutted and reimagined by a team of architects, engineers, acoustic designers and electricians into a three-stage live performance venue.
It was more than two decades since the previous renovation in which time the venue has hosted performances from international artists in every genre, as well as live recordings and TV broadcasts. But the venue owners believed the ageing sound system was not delivering at the levels required with the subs creating a noisy stage and a difficult mix environment. The team decided a replacement was required for the 2025 summer season.
The local supplier Eurythmics sourced four CONTOUR CX 210 LT cabinets flown in pairs either side of the stage with low frequency support from the same number of C Sub CF118 subwoofers ground-stacked in pairs either side of the stage. The solution was completed with a pair of CX 8 speakers for delays and six Linear 5 MK2 110 XA put to use as monitors.
Gábor Major, managing director, Eurythmics, said: “It’s a pretty big venue and it’s half open and half closed. That makes it interesting to work on the acoustics for the space as the roof is not symmetrical. A38 wanted to have a point source solution rather than a line array but the terrace is quite a long area to cover. The CX210 LT was the perfect choice because they could throw all the way to the back of the space and still sounded great.”
A further challenge came from the location of the open-air venue. “A38 is moored in a residential area with flats very close to it, so we didn’t want the sound to leak out and disturb people,” stated Major. “The CX210 LT has rotatable horns, so we were able to alter the coverage pattern to focus the sound inside the boat. We calculated the coverage in EASE to confirm this, and everything worked how we planned it to, it was the perfect choice.”
