CHINA: A new multi-channel surround sound system comprising equipment from Symetrix, Allen & Heath and EAW has been installed at Puyang Shuxiu International Acrobatics Theatre in Henan province - aka the Shuixiu Dragon Ball Hall. Carried out by Henan Yinxiang Co Ltd with support from Chinese distributor Sanecore, the venue is specially configured to host acrobatic performances based around its central pool. This unique configuration provided the installers with several technical considerations including speaker placement, protection of the electronics against water and signal distribution over long distances.
　　The newly constructed theatre is one of nine venues comprising Puyang’s International Acrobatics Culture Park. The 1500-seat auditorium is hemispherical in shape, resembling a giant Mongolian yurt.
　　‘The overriding ethos with the product selection was to choose high-quality, reliable units that are superior to those provided by our competitors,’ explained Sanecore system design engineer, Huang De’en. ‘Specifically, we opted for Symetrix Jupiter units to act as the main processing “brain”, which really helped us simplify the complexity of the system design, through the fixed-architecture processing, without losing functionality.’

　　The multi-channel setup features EAW KF695z full-range cabinets and SB1001 subwoofers catering for the primary left-right channels, a pair of KF650z cabinets for the central position, and KF695z speakers and SB1001 subs providing left-right coverage from the rear. An additional pair of EAW LA215s provide supplementary left-right coverage, six VX59s provide stage monitoring and 18 VFR109 cabinets distributed throughout the space provide surround effects. These are all driven by a selection of Powersoft amplifiers including the M14D, i5204, K10 and M50Q.

　　‘It became clear that finding suitable places to install the loudspeaker system was going to be quite difficult, and so after multiple discussions with the project’s directors and show staff, we made a bold attempt and installed them in some rather unusual locations. One such location was on the upper stage, which allowed us to avoid conflicts with other facilities - for example the water systems - and gave us great coverage with a lot of protection for the equipment.’
　　The mixing system at front of house is built around an Allen & Heath iLive-T112 console, with an IDR-32 MixRack and XDR-16 providing I/O expansion. A GL2600 analogue desk has been installed to provide redundancy, with Symetrix Jupiter 4 and Jupiter 8 digital signal processors tying the speaker and mixing systems together.

　　‘It was really important to have a clutter-free signal path throughout the venue to facilitate easy access to system processing and rapid fault diagnosing, for example. And so we were very keen to specify a simple, user-intuitive DSP - hence why we opted for Symetrix products.
　　The venue owner also specifically requested that the audio processing solution was simple to setup and operate. The Jupiter products have the ability to run a number of downloadable DSP applications to streamline common functions. The Theatre uses an automix app to handle the mixing, input and output conditioning required as well as a sound reinforcement app for tweaking equalisation and dynamics parameters.

　　The total project - including design, installation and commissioning - took around eight months to complete, but the management are clearly very impressed with the end-result.
　　‘The new sound system has fantastic effects and it is also quite cost-effective,’ enthused Fu Jien, CEO of Puyang Hao Yi Acrobat Group.