Tannoy’s QFlex has been installed in the Mid-Berlin Town hall to remedy issues with the highly reverberant surfaces. The system’s beam-steering technology is ensuring the facility’s interior features are no longer proving to be obstacles for the delivery of audio. The main hall, where meetings are held, encompasses large windows and solid surfaces, previously leading to poor intelligibility for members. As a result, the administrative office issued a mandate to Berlin-based consultants Akustikbüro Krämer & Stegmaier, whose job it was to find a solution to the problem. Krämer & Stegmaier knew that digital beam-steering would solve the issue at the Mid-Berlin town hall, and were contemplating using a particular brand that they had tried before. They were then approached by Gerd Thielemann (General Manager & Project Engineer from Systemintegration Berlin), who informed them about Tannoy’s digital beam steering range, QFlex. QFlex uses a highly advanced beam-steering algorithm that allows precise control over the throw of the loudspeaker. Users can focus the sound on the seats and away from the ceiling, walls and partitions, reducing reverberation times without the need for acoustic dampening treatments for the space. With all the data available, the designers of Krämer & Stegmaier simulated different approaches with CATT-Acoustic. Based on the results the decision was made to go with the most effective solution – the QFlex 24. The QFlex are used in an arrangement with three Kling and Freitag CA 106 for monitoring. The STI- measurements made after the installations were 0.63 and 0.72, putting it very high on the intelligibility scale. Thielemann said: “Tannoy’s QFlex is performing excellent in the space. The hall has a lot of glass and reverberant surfaces, and the precise beam-steering technology.”
