London’s Royal Albert Hall has upgraded its in-house sound system with a cardioid solution from d&b audiotechnik, drawing on more than 140 new loudspeaker elements.
The installation continues a relationship between the 5,270-capacity venue and the German manufacturer that began with a sound upgrade in 2018.
Matthew Todd, director of programming at the Royal Albert Hall, says: Technology within live audio moves so fast, and it’s crucial to the concert experience for artists and audience that the hall is always pushing forward and embracing cutting-edge technology within this historic space.
Matthew Todd also states: In 2019, we unveiled a £2m upgrade that gave the hall a sound system tailored to its unique requirements – and featured more loudspeakers than anywhere else in the world.
The new system relies on KSL, XSL, and CCL loudspeaker arrays to deliver controlled directivity and clarity across the reverberant hall. AV Interactive reported that the project retains most of the 2018 positions and infrastructure following a market comparison looking at alternative manufacturers’ systems, as required by the brief for this protected building, adding new equipment only where it improved coverage and capability.
Richard Sally-Lower, the venue’s audio operations manager, stated that the new setup improves on the 2018 installation. He explained that the team did not redesign the layout and kept it mostly like-for-like with newer technology, noting that the key improvement is the cardioid aspect. Richard Sally-Lower comments: The distributed system of 2018 was remarkable – way better than anything we’d had before,
and adds: The new system improves even further on that.
Steve Jones, team leader of d&b’s education and application support for EMEA, managed the designs for both upgrades. He observed that ArrayProcessing provides evenness of coverage, while the cardioid advantage ensures that most of the acoustic energy points directly at the audience and gets absorbed by them, according to AV Interactive and d&b audiotechnik. Steve Jones adds: There is very little sound going anywhere else.
The technical deployment includes 12-deep KSL arrays for the main left and right hangs. XSL arrays serve out-fills, choir positions, and two dedicated central hangs for Soundscape use.
Low-end capability comes from a reconfigured central hang of SL-SUBs alongside new XSL-SUBs on the ground. CCL arrays function as circle delays, and 42S speakers replace previous 16C column speakers as discrete front-fills for orchestral events.
Powering the main left, center, right, and Soundscape hangs are new 40D installation amplifiers. Flown subwoofers run on new D90 amplifiers, while the rest of the venue utilizes pre-existing D80, 30D, 10D, and 5D units, as AV Interactive reported.
Sally-Lower states: We also see value in using it proactively to enhance the service we offer clients – even when it’s not a specific requirement.
Dedicated permanent flown XSL hangs for Soundscape also avoid the previous setup burden that required additional loudspeaker hire, cabling, amplifiers, and labor.
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