T-Series: neat and perfectly powerful solution for Poltava Philharmonic Hall.
When novelist, N.V. Gogol, named Poltava his favourite city, little did he know Poltava’s Philharmonic Hall would one day grace a street named in his honour. With just 350 seats, this unassumingly beautiful venue in the heart of Ukraine is compact and intimate – with an ambience and newly installed sound system to match.
“When choosing a system for this venue, we proceeded from several criteria,” continues Oleksii Malainyi, lead sound engineer at d&b partner and project installer, Lightek. “Firstly, it had to be compact, since the hall is not very big. We also needed to be able to fly a line array with subwoofers as we didn’t want to clutter up the stage.
“Secondly, this is the philharmonic, which hosts many live concerts, including classical music. Therefore, the sound had to be as natural as possible, detailed, with high quality coverage and the correct tonal balance for each seat in the hall. Thirdly, this is a municipal institution, so the budget was quite limited; we needed an affordable solution that could fully deliver all the tasks assigned to it.”
Based on the needs and dimensions of the room, all ears - and eyes - fell on the d&b T-Series: more powerful than its size suggests and of the quality required. The Ti installation specific cabinets were ordered in white, to blend as much as possible with the existing colour and architectural design of the hall.
For uniform coverage of the room, including the sub-balcony, the team decided on a L/R configuration: two line arrays each comprising five tops flown below two subs. Two Ti10P point sources serve the balcony; with the same tonal balance as the main system, they ensure a small number of seats are not lost in the shadows, but experience the same standard of sound as the rest of the room. “Every seat deserves the same high quality sound, the same performance experience,” says Malainyi, “neglecting this area was never an option.“
Just two amplifiers were needed to provide the smooth, detailed and transparent sound required for each member of the audience, with more than enough headroom.
Despite the acoustic complexity of the box-shaped hall, which has no absorbing surfaces, the team at Lightek have equipped the room with accurate, detailed sound and minimised reflections. For Poltava’s discerning listeners this means satisfying low frequencies, beautiful tonal balance and intelligibility - no matter where they’re seated. And a surprisingly good volume margin, given the size of the system.
“We can confidently say that we have created all the conditions needed for international quality concerts, performances, rehearsals and other events,” says Malainyi. “Now everything is in the capable hands of the operating services as they provide Poltava’s residents and guests of the city acoustic pleasure - at any event.”
