Historic venue gets a sonic upgrade with EAW KF, SBX, LS, JF and LA Series products designed in a unique two-set configuration for versatile performance
Whitinsville, MA, USA, June 24, 2009 – Mallorca (Majorca), the largest of Spain’s Balearic Islands, is home to its capital Palma’s Teatre Principal (“Principal Theaterâ€?), a venue dating all the way back to the 1600s. Through the years, it has seen a number of alterations, renovations and reconstructions, and in 2001, work began on a comprehensive project to bring Teatre Principal into the 21st century. Crucial to the theater’s update would be a cutting-edge sound system, holding up to the rigors and demands of a wide variety of current theatrical productions and musical events. Fernando GarcÃa Carrión, the head of the A/V Department of Madrid-based installer Chemtrol’s División Teatro (theater division), selected a wide range of EAW products as the system’s loudspeaker and monitor components. Chemtrol recently installed the full system, with the support of EAW’s Spanish representative Pro3 & Co, S.L.
To determine the necessary sound system components, Pro3’s Engineering Department, headed by Victor Pérez Cejas, conducted a comprehensive acoustic simulation of the theater. Because of the venue’s historic nature, it was important to integrate the system into the architecture as smoothly as possible. The theater is laid out in a horseshoe design, typical of venues built in the 17th century. Also, the venue hosts a number of different events and performers; a variety of different sounds, from a single spoken voice to a booming orchestra, would need sound system solutions tailored toward them. Taking this into account, Chemtrol opted to install what could be considered two separate sets of loudspeaker components. The first is a fixed installation, which itself can cover most of the theater. The second is a more mobile, modular/configurable system, adaptable for concerts and louder events that need extra reinforcement.
The first set of components includes EAW LS832 Line Source Loudspeakers in each of the hall’s balcony levels (10 loudspeakers in total) and four EAW SBX220 Compact Subwoofers, installed in the orchestra pit. The second, more adaptable set of components includes 12 KF730 Compact Line Array Modules, which are flown from the proscenium arch, allowing for a straightforward stereo configuration or a three-channel L-C-R array. To maintain uniform coverage throughout the venue, four EAW JF60z Compact Full-Range Loudspeakers were installed as stage frontfills, covering the theater’s first few rows. For stage monitoring, the system is rounded out by four EAW LA212 and four LA215 Compact Full-Range Loudspeaker/Monitors with LAKE processing and Lab.gruppen amplification.
“EAW products offered us exactly what we needed for this project,� stated Carrión. “We needed to be able to configure this system for a wide variety of applications and sounds, all while maintaining coverage in a challenging space and making sure the loudspeakers keep a low profile visually. And of course sound quality is paramount. EAW delivered all these things and more.�
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