A multipurpose solution for an architectural marvel
The Old Town in the Polish city of Toruń is a Medieval jewel of architecture yet, at its very heart, the Jordanki Cultural & Congress Centre (CKK) is boldly modernist. The work of Spanish architect Fernando Menis, CKK provides a multipurpose cultural hub for the city and its surrounds, with two concert halls, a cinema, conference rooms, rehearsal spaces, restaurant and more.
Konsbud Audio of Warsaw was the distributor and executor of all the electroacoustics systems installed in the CKK. Along with the FoH control, digital audio network, audio playback, multichannel audio recording systems, comms systems, AV systems and the seventy five kilometres of cabling required to service this infrastructure, Konsbud Audio also installed d&b sound reinforcement systems in both the Concert Hall and Chamber Hall.
Piotr Jankiewicz, Director of the design and integration department at Konsbud Audio was the project director. “This project has without doubt been a huge challenge for us; this is the largest installation contract Konsbud Audio has undertaken to date. The amount of cabling that has been used is testament to that! Part of the challenge was due to the highly original design of the building; its shape and purpose required a very sympathetic approach to the installation. The performance spaces are designed without parallel walls and certainly during the design stage, it was often difficult to visualise the final appearance of the rooms or the shape of the walls. In a venue such as this it was crucial to have a very versatile system hence our choice of d&b loudspeakers that are known for their ability to deliver both in terms of frequency response and sound pressure level.”
The Concert Hall plays host to a myriad different performance genres and touring artists, so faith and trust in the brand played an important part in opting for the d&b label - as did flexibility. Here, in this asymmetrical room, the constant directivity control over a very wide frequency range - for which the d&b V-Series is renowned - was especially useful.
T-Series was chosen for the Chamber Hall. “Because these loudspeakers can be used both as a line array and as a high directivity point source loudspeaker they were the ideal choice,” says Jankiewicz. “Due to their extraordinary specifications and flexibility in application these devices can be used not only as front of house sound reinforcement loudspeakers, but also in any other occasions where there is a need to provide sound reinforcement in other parts of the stage or even in other rooms. We had no doubts considering them the perfect choice.”
All the loudspeakers are driven by D80 amplifiers: “The advantages are obvious. It’s hard to imagine why anyone should turn away from all the functionalities and quality guaranteed by d&b. The systems installed in the CKK are designed to be portable; using a single type of amplifier for all of the loudspeakers eliminates compatibility issues and makes it extremely easy and quick to adapt a system’s configuration to the needs of a specific event. The audio system is very flexible and sounds just amazing – I am very, very pleased.” But the final word goes to front of house sound engineer Bartosz Kurkowski: “I’ve waited a long, long time for a venue like this in my hometown. It is nothing less than a dream come true.”
Images courtesy of CKK Jordanki
