Kaaitheater

21-03-2022 / Live /

Founded in 1977 as a pioneer of innovative performing arts, Kaaitheater in Brussels has grown into a platform for artists of the Flemish Wave as well as new generations of performing artists across a range of disciplines. Kaaitheater is a stage for dance, theatre, performance, music and debate whose motto is 'How to be many ?' The aim is to better reflect the city's many and diverse voices. At a technical level, this means providing the best possible systems, both for now and the future, especially in view of the planned renovations that will make significant changes to the performance space. Kaaitheater turned to Amptec who designed and installed a state-of-the-art d&b audio system complete with control and networking.

Kaaitheater was one of the first theatres in Belgium to benefit from a d&b FoH system. After 20 years of loyal service, it was time for a new one. The priorities for the new system were threefold: firstly, excellent sound quality with high speech intelligibility; secondly, tight dispersion control and flawless coverage in three different room configurations; thirdly, easy to control and quick to switch between setups.

Amptec simulated the space in d&b's dedicated simulation software, ArrayCalc, to determine the right number of cabinets required to achieve even coverage and SPL throughout the room. They then had to determine a solution to achieve the same thing for three very different setups without having to reconfigure the entire PA system. The final specification consisted of a L/R Y-Series line array system comprising 8 x Y-Series tops per side (Yi8 and Yi12) plus 2 x Yi7P point source loudspeakers as a centre cluster. Ground stacked Vi-GSUBS handled the low frequencies. The set was completed with 6 x 4S loudspeakers as lip fill and a centre delay of 3 x E8s.

ArrayProcessing was applied to the L/R arrays, enabling easy switching between configurations at the touch of a button via d&b's R90 touchscreen interface. The R1 remote control software enables more sophisticated configuration for experienced technicians should it be required, but straightforward day-to-day operation is conducted via the R90. Amptec also supplied a DAD AX32R AD/DA converter and digital audio matrix from NTP Technology, which handles all the routing, plus an Appsys Multiverter which allows the PA to be controlled through all digital formats, making the system both flexible and futureproof.

Another challenge was that the system had to be able to adapt from the old, pre-renovation building to the new one once all the work was complete. All of the cabling was designed in such a way that Kaaitheater only need to shorten the cables to adapt to the renovated building. Everything was installed in specially protected cables trays to withstand the rigours of the renovation work, ready to be adapted to the new space once complete.

"We've had nothing but compliments on the new system, especially regarding speech intelligibility and sound clarity," says Jan Simon De Lille, Technical Manager at Kaaitheater. "Control is also much easier thanks to the presets in the R90 which is a huge timesaver when switching between configurations. Amptec have done a great job !"

Partners in this project

10EaZy
Amptec ntwrx
d&b audiotechnik
Digital Audio Denmark

Kaaitheater
Akenkaai 2
1000 Brussel
Belgium