This innovative and exciting project was the work of Ampco Belgium, who designed and installed a sophisticated audio system for the newly rebuilt 2,201 seat auditorium at the Kursaal, a striking modernist building on the seafront in Ostend, Belgium. Besides the auditorium, the prestigious Kursaal houses a casino, conference facilities, a café-bar and a restaurant headed by one of Belgium’s top Michelin-starred chefs.

The system combines four distinct functions: sound reinforcement for ‘concert’ mode, 5.1 surround sound for ‘cinema’ mode, voice announcements and Multi Channel Reverberation. Configuration and routing of these various modes is handled by a Peavey MediaMatrix system. Bespoke software – based on MediaMatrix – was written by Ruud Caltofen of Ampco/Flashlight Group R&D company Team Projects of Utrecht, Netherlands. This provides all routing, delay and equalization functions.

The main PA is a pair of Renkus-Heinz PN102/LA self-powered line arrays with DRS-18 subwoofers, augmented by a centre cluster of three STX4 TRAP loudspeakers and TRC 32 frontfills. The PN102/LA was chosen after evaluation of the auditorium in EASE. Crucially, the PN102/LA offered far more even frequency spectrum coverage across the wide dispersion area required by the shape of the room, compared to other line array brands tested by the team. As the room is 50 metres wide, the PN102LA’s ability to cover almost 150 degrees horizontally across the frequency spectrum proved a major advantage.

Ampco Belgium’s Steven Kemland explains:

“The arrays are flown quite low in order to cover the whole venue with eight cabinets per side. There are two cabinets focusing on the balcony, at an angle of 1°, then we have two at 5° to pass the balcony itself, then we have two at 1° and 3° and, at the bottom, two more at 5°. In this way we can cover the whole venue starting from the third row of seats from the stage, without a ground stack. The first two rows are covered with the TRC 32 frontfills (and the dispersion in this way is absolutely great also.) Another good thing about flying your line array so low is that the sound is really coming from the stage, also on the first 15 rows, and not out of the sky. Because the wall behind is the line array is almost black, it also does not disturb the aesthetics of the venue.”

The Multi Channel Reverberation (MCR) system is explained by acoustic consultant Cees Mulder of Lichtveld Buis & Partners (LBP).

"To make the acoustics in the auditorium of the Casino Kursaal variable and so suited for symphonic music, a MCR system has been installed (Multiple Channel amplification of Reverberation). This system, based on a Peavey MediaMatrix, consists of 42 independent amplification channels, which amplify the reverberant sound.

Each channel consists of its own microphone (installed in the ceiling of the hall), equalisation, amplification and loudspeaker. By amplifying the reverberant sound, the reverberation time increases and the Clarity C80 decreases. It functions like “anti-absorption”, yet no artificial reverberation processing is added to the signal. This creates natural variable acoustics using electro-acoustic means. In the Auditorium, the reverberation time can be varied in eight equidistant steps from approximately 1.5 sec. to approximately 2.1 seconds (mid frequencies).

The system is designed so that, by aiming the loudspeakers sideways, the lateral sound is increased to create spaciousness, which was required due to the width of the hall (50m).” The eight MCR ‘steps’ (plus ‘off’) allow an engineer – often in consultation with a conductor – to set the room’s reverb level to suit an individual musical performance."

34 TRC62/9 cabinets mounted on the walls and ceilings perform the task, along with four each of the TRX61s that also provide the under- and over-balcony delays and, when the room is in ‘cinema’ mode, the rear 5.1 channels. A Midas Venice console provides the front-of-house and monitor mixes. A versatile system indeed.