The Royal Concertgebouw is expanding its Meyer Sound inventory by adding two Meyer Sound CAL™ 96 column array loudspeakers in the Main Hall (Dutch: Grote Zaal). Amsterdam’s architecturally resplendent and acoustically magnificent concert venue, The Concertgebouw now joins two other world-renowned orchestral venues, Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus Berlin, both of which have installed Meyer Sound CAL systems within the last year.
“Here at The Concertgebouw we have been planning for some time to install a state-of-the-art permanent system for speech reinforcement,” states Wouter van Poppel, head of technical services at the venue. “After listening to CAL demonstrations here on site and at the Musikverein in Vienna, we were extremely impressed with the system’s clarity, speech intelligibility, and configuration flexibility.”
The new Meyer Sound system is supplied by Audio Electronics Mattijsen (AEM), and lead consultant on the project is Theateradvies, both based in Amsterdam.
Meyer Sound CAL column array loudspeakers employ advanced beam steering and shaping algorithms coupled with tight driver spacing and individual amplification of all drivers to provide exceptional coverage accuracy and impeccable audio performance. CAL has recently become the first AVnu-certified AVB loudspeaker product, and will be demonstrated live at ISE 2015 in Amsterdam at the Meyer Sound stand 1-M90.
In three other rooms at The Concertgebouw, Meyer Sound UPJunior™ VariO™ and UPM-1P loudspeakers along with UMS-1P and USW-1P subwoofers provide reinforcement as needed in the Small Hall, Choir Hall, and Pleinfoyer. For amplified concerts, The Concertgebouw deploys a flown MINA™ line array loudspeaker system, supplied as needed by PME-Téchnica of Amsterdam.
The Concertgebouw, Musikverein, and Konzerthaus Berlin are listed amongst the five best venues in the world for their acoustical qualities for symphonic music, according to eminent acoustician Leo Beranek. A fourth hall on Berank’s list, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, features Meyer Sound UltraSeries™ loudspeakers. See his full report here.